Located along the equator in the remote Indian Ocean, 1,192 distinct islands make up the Maldives, a world renowned destination for diving. The incredible reefs and crystal clear water are home to thousands of species of fish, including massive manta rays and whale sharks. Recently, a handful of friends had decided to meet up in the Maldives for a couple weeks to dive, and as I hadn’t seen some of them in quite some time I decided to jump on board at the last minute. With 20 rolls of film and my Nikonos V, no less.
Photographing underwater tends to be a shot in the dark for me most days, even after a decade of experience. I first got into shooting in the water through surfing, so naturally during the emergence of action cameras I started out with a GoPro 2, sometime around 2012. From there the hobby followed me to university in Southern California where I lucked into a DSLR with a water housing to shoot at the Wedge, a huge and famously volatile wave. Now, after selling my digital rig, I’ve spent the past three years using the legendary Nikonos V while freediving.
The Nikonos V can be frustrating, forcing shaky metering and range focusing—the fact that I never bothered to attach the separate viewfinder hasn’t helped—but I think this lack of control is actually what is so alluring. It leaves me with little idea of what will actually happen, especially when I use the 15mm lens. I’m more or less guessing with it. But using the wide 15mm lens gives me a lot of room for error even when I’m holding the camera out in front of me and not looking through the viewfinder. It hasn’t really let me down. Well, not that I’ve realized at least.
