There are some photography lessons you learn from experience, and others you learn by watching someone else make the mistake first. When water, expensive electronics and a slippery pair of hands are involved, it’s probably best to learn from someone else!
On a recent jet skiing adventure in the Whitsundays — essentially riding motorbikes on the sea — I was reminded just how quickly an ordinary day of taking photographs can turn into a very expensive lesson. Between the wind, waves, wet hands and the constant temptation to grab your phone for that perfect photo or video, the ocean is not exactly the safest place for your most important piece of technology.
And sometimes the biggest loss isn’t actually the phone itself. It can be the photographs, videos and memories that were stored on it.
That became very real for us on this particular trip. I noticed that the guide who looked a lot like a younger Cameron Munster of NRL The Storm fame, didn’t use a hand strap on his mobile phone or any sort of underwater case or an underwater camera. I remember thinking that was risky since it was blowing a gale and he told me he went out four times a day on the bay with customers. His hands are no doubt wet from jet skiing and the phones are smooth and slippery at the best of times.
Later that evening, when the days images went up on Facebook, our whole group images were missing. I messaged them and it turned out that Cameron Munster doubleganger had dropped his phone in the drink. Not only is that a financial loss for himself or the company, it was also our whole group’s photos from the experience we had paid for.
I had purchased an OM System Tough TG7 underwater camera and used a neck strap with it, prior to the trip. I tucked it inside my life jacket and could pull it out for pics and videos whilst hanging on for dear life on the back of the double jet ski with my husband. I also bought a yellow floating handstrap so if you do drop the camera it sinks slightly but is held up by the strap. This will come in handy for all our future boogie boarding, hiking, boating, canoeing and biking adventures. I feel much more at ease using my Tough TG7 for risky events than my phone. Phones contain important upcoming calendar dates, contacts, notes, useful apps and is basically your life in a small device. It’s way too much to risk at times. A picture of the yellow hand strap is below and a montage of some of the fun we had.
