Artivist Series - Romina Bayer
Underwater photography
Romina Bayer is a professional diver, photography coach and founder of OceanSnaps. Romina’s diving experience ranges from Mexico to Indonesia. Throughout she has been inspired by the beauty of the ocean. Now living in Germany she’s created OceanSnaps, an online platform to teach the fundamentals of underwater photography. She wants to help aspiring underwater photographers hone their skills and, through their photos, expose others to the beauty and fragility of the ocean.
Video conversation with Romina Bayer…click here
What artist Romina talks about …
Romina talks about growing up in an industrial area in Germany, far from the ocean. It wasn’t until she took a vacation in Playa del Carmen in Mexico that she developed a passion for the ocean and diving. Ironically, it was the rainy weather on vacation that drove her into the ocean. She discusses struggling with some of the lessons, particularly the exercise of clearing her face mask after it fills with water. She pushed through the discomfort in order to get the chance to dive in the open ocean. The conditions in the ocean weren’t ideal. The visibility was limited and the waves caused her to be sea sick. But she kept at it because she wanted to dive with bull sharks. In the end, Romina felt rewarded for her efforts.
At one point, Romina ran a dive center in Indonesia. She talks a little about what it is like diving to dive there. The area has amazing diversity including corals, sponges, sea turtles, and sharks. Romina also discusses how she got interested in underwater photography. She began by taking videos but quickly realized the footage piled up on her hard drive and she didn’t have time to review and edit. That’s why she switched to taking photographs.
A few of the fundamental problems of under underwater photography she discusses:
- Artificial light. Color quickly disappears due to declining light.
- Awareness of motion. Most things underwater are in motion including the diver. Divers should not focus on photography until they are comfortable diving.
- Patience. Take time to understand a subject before taking a photograph. Find an engaging angle.
Romina uses photographs of nudibranchs (colorful sea slugs) to offer examples of some of the common pitfalls of underwater photography.
Romina says: “Oceans are under a lot of threats. Plastics are obviously the most common, obvious threat…It’s horrifying how much plastic on a daily basis is being added into our oceans.” She also cites climate change, overfishing, and ocean acidification. She believes that sharing your love for the ocean will inspire others to discover the beauty of the ocean. Help people fall in love with the ocean and they will help protect them.
Show Notes
Pam Ferris-Olson (00:01): Today on the Women Mind the Water podcast, I'm speaking with Romina Bayer. Romina is a photography coach and founder of OceanSnaps. Romina hopes to raise awareness about the ocean by teaching divers how to take engaging underwater photos. The Women Mind the Water podcast engages artists in conversation about their work and explores their connection with the ocean. Through their stories, Women Mind the Water hopes to inspire and encourage action to protect the ocean and her creatures.
Pam Ferris-Olson (00:33): I am pleased to welcome Romina Bayer to the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series. Romina learned to dive in Mexico. Later she managed to dive shop on a remote island in Indonesia. During her years in Indonesia, Romina was inspired by the beauty of the ocean. She was also made aware of the threats facing it. Now living in Germany, Romina has created OceanSnaps, an online platform to teach the fundamentals of underwater photography. Romina hopes her coaching will help aspiring underwater photographers hone their skills and through their photos expose others to the beauty and fragility of the ocean.
Pam Ferris-Olson (01:14): Romina, thank you for joining me on the Women Mind the Water podcast. I look forward to learning more about underwater photography and your experiences diving.
Romina Bayer (01:26): Thank you so much for having me, Pam.
Pam Ferris-Olson (01:29): It's a pleasure. Romina, when did you develop an interest in the ocean?
Romina Bayer (01:35): So it was actually not until I started scuba diving because I come from an area in Germany that is very industrial. It's the [Ruhr 00:01:44] Valley, and it's not close by the ocean. So I didn't grow up by the ocean. So it came a little bit later in my life when I started to scuba dive.
Pam Ferris-Olson (01:54): So what got you interested in diving?
Romina Bayer (01:57): It's funny because it's actually a coincidence that got me into scuba diving because I was on vacation in Mexico, and it was raining all the time. I mean, I was there in the middle of rainy season, so that was a little bit to be expected, but I felt like there was not much to do or to explore on land in heavy rains and so I thought if I'm going to get wet anyway, I might as well go underwater.
Romina Bayer (02:19): And I was very naïve back at the time. I just walked into a dive shop and I heard about cenotes. It's these caves in Mexico, very special to the area, very unique also to the area. So I was like, "Cool. I just want to go dive there." The people at the dive shop were like, "Okay, but are you certified?" I'm like, "No, I'm not certified. I just want to dive the cenotes." And they were like, "Okay. Well, you need to take a course first before we can take you diving. So this is how I actually got started.
Pam Ferris-Olson (02:49): So apparently those first experiences were a little bit rough. What made it difficult and what made you persevere?
Romina Bayer (02:56): Yeah. So I remember clearly I had a lot of trouble on my first dives, even in the pool. So you do the theory part and then you have some practical parts in the pool first or in shallow water, and then only afterwards you go into the open ocean. I remember I was struggling a lot with a certain exercise that is to fill and then clear your mask. So basically you're letting water into your mask and then you need to blow it out again so that you can see again. And I was doing this exercise, but I kept water getting up my nose and it was very uncomfortable. I kept coughing and then I felt like I was drowning even though nothing was happening. So it was a very uncomfortable experience, but somehow I pushed through because I really wanted to get to open water.
Romina Bayer (03:40): Then once we were in the open water, since it was rainy season, also the conditions were not that great. There was a lot of sand. It was very silty underwater. The visibility was not so great. It was very rough seas, so I also got seasick. I got seasick underwater-
Pam Ferris-Olson (03:57): Oh, gosh.
Romina Bayer (03:58): ... and on the boat. Yeah. I kept having the same trouble with the mask clearing. And so I remember it was very, very uncomfortable and I just had to push through it. But the good thing is I knew I really wanted to get my certification because after I was certified, I was either going to go dive the cenotes or another special thing that they have in Playa Del Carmen in Mexico, where I did my certification, is the bull sharks, and it was the bull shark season. So I was really excited about either of those dives, and so I was like, "Okay, I'm going to push through and I can do this. I'm sure I can manage." So this is actually why I pushed through the whole thing. And I'm so glad that I did because afterwards my first fun dive, I just to go with the bull sharks, not the cenotes, and it was an incredible experience, just being surrounded by a couple of wild animals like this underwater, it's just incredible. It totally made up for all the trouble during the course.
Pam Ferris-Olson (04:54): That's really remarkable, first because you can't see underwater and then because you're seasick and then finally a thing that's pushing you through is to go diving with sharks. It's-
Romina Bayer (05:05): Yeah. It was totally worth it. I'm so glad that I pushed through. Now I'm encouraging anybody who is having trouble in the beginning to just keep going because it's really, really worth it.
Pam Ferris-Olson (05:17): Right. You went to Indonesia and ran a dive center?
Romina Bayer (05:23): Yeah.
Pam Ferris-Olson (05:23): How did that happen?
Romina Bayer (05:25): Yeah. Good question. I don't know. So after my travels, at some point I had the little German man inside my head who was saying, "Oh, you should go back to Germany and get a real job." You know? And so that's what I did for a while. But then I went to the Ocean Film Festival, and over there I was at the screening of a documentary that's called “Racing Extinction.” And that documentary really, really touched me.
Romina Bayer (05:54): There was this one scene where basically they're talking about shark finning. They show how a shark gets cut off its fins and it's thrown back into the ocean, but because they need to move in order to breathe and survive, without its fins, it can't really move anymore, and so it's left in the ocean to suffocate. That was such a horrible scene for me, and that just made something with me. I don't know. It really moved me. In that moment, I decided that I want to go back to ocean and I want to do something also and help protect not only sharks, but the oceans.
Romina Bayer (06:30): So this was the moment where I decided to go back to Indonesia. My partner luckily was also a diving instructor, and so we decided to move back to Indonesia for while. Then we got the opportunity to manage a dive resort on a tiny, tiny little island that was absolutely beautiful.
Pam Ferris-Olson (06:49): So, what's it like to dive in Indonesia? What sort of things do you see underwater there?
Romina Bayer (06:54): It's fantastic. Honestly, I think everybody should do it. It's just really like paradise. The island we were working on, it's inside the Coral Triangle, and so you have a huge biodiversity. The island is called Siladen. It's in the north of Sulawesi in Indonesia, and it's also inside a marine park. It's called the Bunaken Marine Park that consists of five islands. So you have five not uninhabited, but there's not many people living on the islands. So all the islands are surrounded by very shallow top reefs. So it's also not only great for scuba divers, but also for snorklers. You have beautiful corals. You have huge biodiversity. You have lots of animals and Marine life. And then after the top reefs, it really drops down to hundreds of meters of walls. So you can imagine those really steep, steep walls that are just full of corals, of giant barrel sponges, of soft corals, of Gorgonian sea fans. It's really teeming with life.
Romina Bayer (08:00): It's full of life. And you have [inaudible 00:08:03] fish. You can have lots of turtles, green turtles for example, Hawksbill turtles as well. We have nesting grounds also on the island, so if you're lucky, you can even see some turtle eggs hatching. Really fantastic. Underwater you can see trevallies. You can see snappers, sometime sharks as well, pilot whales sometimes if you're very lucky, but those are mostly from the boat. But lots of small things also, lots of micro life. So all different kinds of shrimp, of nudibranchs. Nudibranchs, I don't know if the listeners will know, are sea slugs. And I never thought that I would say that I'm a fan of slugs, but sea slugs are really cool. They're a little bit like Pokemon, I like to say, because they come in all different colors and shapes. So it's really like collecting all... I mean, in your mind, not actually collecting them... or on your pictures-
Pam Ferris-Olson (08:55): Right.
Romina Bayer (08:55): ... all the different kinds of nudibranchs species. Yeah, you have, I mean, just so many fantastic things to see.
Pam Ferris-Olson (09:01): Well, I can see by the smile on your face and the way your eyes light up how wonderful it is. So I'm going to ask you maybe not a fair question, but what sort of challenges do divers encounter when diving in Indonesia?
Romina Bayer (09:15): Yeah. It's not much different than in other places in terms of challenges. What you can get a little bit more maybe than in other places is currents underwater. So there, it's just important to be aware of them and to know how to position yourself and how to behave in currents and always stay prudent basically. But other than that, it's really... I mean, as a diver, you should always stick to your safety limits. It's always very important to pay attention to what you're doing because it's not our natural habitat, right? We are still dependent on air that we take down, so we need to pay attention that we have enough air supply, that we're not staying longer than we're supposed to with the no decompression limit, things like this. But this is no different than in other diving places.
Pam Ferris-Olson (10:01): Okay. So you have to be aware, but now you add to it taking pictures-
Romina Bayer (10:06): Yes.
Pam Ferris-Olson (10:06): ... which means sometimes you get sucked into what you're taking pictures of. So at what point did you get interested in underwater photography?
Romina Bayer (10:16): So for me, it was actually very quickly. Basically it was soon after I did my advanced open water qualification. I actually started with videos, not with pictures. So I had a little GoPro and I started to film everything on my dive. Sometimes I would just leave the camera running for 20 minutes, but then quickly after a couple of dives, you realize how much video material you actually have and that you need to go through it again and edit it, and cut out, and maybe do some color changes and things like this. And this just takes a very, very long time.
Romina Bayer (10:49): Back then, I knew nothing about editing. I had to teach myself the whole thing, and I realized very quickly that the material was just piling up on my hard drive without me actually having or taking the time to go through all of it. But I really wanted to share everything that I saw in the water with my mom, with my grandma, people who don't go underwater or who have never been there, to show them what it's actually like. And so this is when I actually switched to photography because I figured it will be much quicker to edit one or two pictures than a 20-minute video.
Pam Ferris-Olson (11:23): Right. So I have no experience diving, but I have snorkeled, and on a few occasions, I've tried to take photos. Several times I used a disposable camera, and once I used a 35-millimeter camera in a plastic housing. The problem is that everything I had was blue. Besides the color problem, what other things do people typically encounter in trying to take underwater photographs?
Romina Bayer (11:51): Yeah. Yeah, that's a very good example, Pam. The being blue pictures is one of the most common ones. If you know a little bit about diving or if you've been in that situation before, you might know that underwater color disappears. So this is why they actually turn out so blue. Red is the first color to disappear. And the deeper you go, the less colors you have and the less light you have available.
Romina Bayer (12:17): So in underwater photography, I found that it really comes down to that light is the biggest problem most of the time and one of the biggest challenges for underwater photographers because you have less natural light underwater. And this depends on so many other factors as well. So basically being in this environment that is water makes it much more difficult to take pictures than taking pictures on land. So because you have less light underwater, you usually need to use an external light source, so either a torch or the flash of your camera, or even better an external strobe... strobe is just another word for underwater flash basically-
Pam Ferris-Olson (12:58): Right.
Romina Bayer (12:58): ... that you can use to bring back those colors.
Pam Ferris-Olson (13:01): Okay. So there's another problem besides the blue and needing artificial light. Because I take a lot of pictures of wild animals, but I tend to take or I always take them on land, and I know that animals don't stand still. But when you take them on land, typically they move along on the ground and they don't often move upwards. But in the ocean, animals can easily move up and down. So how difficult is it to take photos of animals underwater?
Romina Bayer (13:34): That's a very good question, Pam, and I actually never thought about it that way, but it's true. Underwater, they can just move in any possible direction. And not only the animals, but also you, because you are also weightless underwater.
Pam Ferris-Olson (13:47): Right.
Romina Bayer (13:48): You're basically like an astronaut in outer space. You don't have any gravity. So it's not only the animal moving, but also you. So this is a very big challenge also, and here it really comes down your buoyancy. You really want to make sure before you start taking pictures underwater that you're really comfortable with your diving skills, that you don't need to think too much about all the things that you're doing because it's basically just adding up another difficulty level-
Pam Ferris-Olson (14:18): Right, right.
Romina Bayer (14:18): ... let's put it like this. So I think this is a big difficulty for beginners especially. So make sure you have good buoyancy. You can do exercises for that on every dive. Then it also really helps to pick some subjects that are maybe not so fast moving, so maybe not a fast Sweet lip fish or a fast-moving shark or something, but to start with subjects that are a little bit more stationary or slower like, for example, the nudibranchs or sea slugs. They tend to move very slow even underwater. So they are a very good subject to practice on because there you can really take your time, yeah, and take it easy. It's really important also that you don't just lie down on the reef or even on the sand just to take a picture, but that you learn to control your buoyancy with your breath and your BCD in order to keep yourself maybe not completely still, but to move very slowly. And that really helps [crosstalk 00:15:18].
Pam Ferris-Olson (15:18): I never really thought about that, but, yeah, you are moving too.
Romina Bayer (15:21): Yep.
Pam Ferris-Olson (15:23): What are some of the most common mistakes that people make in taking photographs underwater?
Romina Bayer (15:29): Yeah. I think one of the first ones is to start too early. Usually when you learn how to dive, you get very excited about it because it's this completely new world that you're entering and obviously you want to document all of it, and so it's easy to just pick up a camera and start taking pictures. But as you said, you should really pay attention also to what you're doing first because there's already so many things. So I recommend first getting comfortable with your diving skills and not start in the first two dives already to bring down a camera.
Romina Bayer (15:59): Then another thing that is a common mistake is basically to be too fast or too impatient. If you want to take really good pictures underwater, it really helps to take your time, to take it slow, to get to know the subject maybe a little bit, and to look for this really good photo opportunity and not just to rush in, take a shot and then rush onto the next subject. But take it easy and maybe also try to spend a little bit of time with the subject before moving on.
Pam Ferris-Olson (16:28): All right. It would be great if you'd share some photographs and comment on what makes them successful or point out the mistakes that might have been avoided.
Romina Bayer (16:37): Yes, for sure. I have brought this first picture here. So maybe to explain or describe a little bit to the listeners as well, this is a nudibranch. This is a Tambja nudibranch. On this picture, we can see, I mean, it's an okay picture. It's in focus, so that's already a good point. But other than that, the composition is not very engaging. What we also tend to do underwater is to just point our camera downwards. This is the natural position for your body. If you imagine that you're scuba diving in a horizontal position, your head will automatically be tilted downwards. So naturally when you start to take pictures, this is also the first position that we start taking pictures in, so taking from the top pointing downwards. But from a photography perspective, this is not a very engaging composition or angle, let's put it this way, most of the time.
Romina Bayer (17:38): And then other than that, also on this picture we can see that there's a lot of grains of sand that I have not edited out on this one here on purpose. So you can see this is a little bit disturbing as well. It's not too bad on this one. Sometimes it gets way worse. Back scatter is also a very common problem. The coral where the nudibranch is crawling on is very bright and it looks very cluttered as well, so it's not really adding anything to my image either.
Romina Bayer (18:06): (silence)
Romina Bayer (18:53): ... this perspective as well. I have those other pictures. So here on one of them, you can see the [Chromodoris coy 00:18:59], and the other one is a [Chromodoris wellani 00:19:01], so two fairly common nudibranchs. And you can see when you really get down on the eye level of them, or basically on the level of the animal, you can create a perspective where the composition is much more drawing the viewer in.
Pam Ferris-Olson (19:16): Okay. Can you tell me, is there a particular photograph that's special that you're proud of and what's special about the photo?
Romina Bayer (19:27): Yeah. This I find really difficult because this for me is always when my imposter syndrome also sets in.
Pam Ferris-Olson (19:34): Right.
Romina Bayer (19:35): So, it's not only new photographers who get it, it's also older photographers who get it. But here I chose a picture that it's also a nudibranch. This is the [Flabellina 00:19:48] nudibranch. I think it connects well to the other pictures that we've just discussed as the nudibranchs are great subjects also for beginners to take their time. So on this picture here, I have a Flabellina nudibranch. What makes the Flabellina special is their cerata, so-called, on the back. So you can see it looks all almost like hair, so feathers, that it has growing on its back, but it's actually like an organism through which the nudibranch can breathe, but it's also used for the self-defense. Just at the tip, they have tiny little spines, so to say, which they can defend themselves as well.
Romina Bayer (20:29): So, why I think this is a better image than the others, for example, is because it has a certain dynamic in it. You can see the nudibranch here is in a different position, and this you can witness when you're really patient. It also comes down to when you find a subject, sometimes it will not be in the best position, especially nudibranchs. They're usually crawling somewhere on the bottom or on the reef, so the background can be very disturbing. But if you take the time and you follow it for a little bit, or you give it a little bit of time and you observe also the environment, sometimes they will go into a better position.
Romina Bayer (21:07): Please never, never move a subject yourself. We don't want to touch anything underwater. But just by being with the animal and following it and seeing what it naturally does, you can create better images like this. So you can wait for a special moment like this. When the nudis do those, it always reminds me of horses that get onto their back legs and really just show all their beauty. So here, the cerata are basically just swaying in the ocean current and it's a moment where you can really beautifully see those, yeah, characteristics of the nudibranchs.
Pam Ferris-Olson (21:40): These are wonderful pointers. I can tell you're a wonderful coach and an enthusiastic dive master. So I'm going to ask you, have you noticed in the pictures that you've had, either from the people you're teaching or that you've seen online, that people are documenting changes in the ocean and is there anything particular that concerns you?
Romina Bayer (22:09): Yes. So not only in other photographers or pictures, but also I've heard from other divers who've been diving much, much longer than I have, for example. Yeah, there's a lot of things that concern me, to be honest, regarding the health of our oceans because our oceans are under a lot of threat.
Romina Bayer (22:31): Plastic is obviously one of the most common, most obvious things or most obvious threats, that there is much more plastics in the oceans, and while living in Indonesia, we could also see that on a daily basis. It's really horrifying how much plastic gets washed into our oceans. But I think a lot of issues are also connected to climate change, so ocean acidification, for example, which causes coral bleaching. Then there's overfishing as well. So there's the fish stock is really depleting. There's much, much less sharks in the oceans nowadays than there were just a couple of years ago. Shark numbers have really depleted horrifically. It's... I don't know. It's terrifying. So there's unfortunately a lot of things that are threatening our oceans, and I think this is why it's so important that we really protect it.
Pam Ferris-Olson (23:30): So before I end the interview, what kind of things can you suggest that people can do to make a positive difference for the ocean?
Romina Bayer (23:41): Yeah. I think there's a lot of things that we can do, even if we don't realize it. As divers or underwater photographers or just people loving the ocean, I think it's really good that we share our love with anybody that we meet and try to inspire others also to discover our oceans because there's so many wonderful things underwater that we might have no idea about yet, that we haven't seen yet. I mean, so few of our oceans have actually been discovered yet or explored. And so I think it's important to share that passion with other people to inspire them to learn more. Because if people fall in love with the oceans, they will also help protect them. And yeah, I think this is one of the biggest things.
Pam Ferris-Olson (24:26): Well, that's why I'm so glad to have you on because I think we're both trying to do that, you with your photography and me with the podcast. So I'm really grateful to you for being on the Women Mind the Water podcast. It has been great to hear from someone who has spent considerable time underwater and who's helping to document the world below the surface.
Romina Bayer (24:50): Thank you, Pam.
Pam Ferris-Olson (24:51): Thank you.
Romina Bayer (24:51): Thank you.
Pam Ferris-Olson (24:52): I'd like to remind listeners that I've been speaking with Romina Bayer for the Women Mind the Water podcast series. This series can be viewed on womenmindthewater.com. An audio-only version of this podcast is available on the Women Mind the Water website, on Itunes and on other sites such as Spotify and Stitcher.
Pam Ferris-Olson (25:14): Women Mind the Water is grateful to Jane Rice for her song, Women of Water. All rights for the Women Mind the Water name and logo belong to Pam Ferris-Olson.
Pam Ferris-Olson (25:25): This is Pam Ferris-Olson. Thank you for listening.