Kiril Vidimče: Photography

Kiril Vidimče

www.vidimce.org

I love photography. My grandfather was a professional photographer, as was his father before that, so, I spent a good chunk of my childhood running around his studio, helping out with film development and running errands to help grandpa prepare his prints. His studio was strategically located next to the biggest military base in Macedonia, so, almost every soldier would stop by while on leave to get his photo taken and sent to his parents or/and sweetheart.

I started shooting film way back when and then switched to digital about 10 years ago. I never looked back. These days I use a Canon 7D, with my older 40D serving as a backup. I use a variety of lenses, from my Canon 60 mm macro to my trusty Canon 70-200 mm F/4 L IS.

I am also an avid underwater photographer. I love shooting almost any subject underwater, from reefs, to critters on a muck dive, to large animals such as manatees and sharks. I have always been fascinated by lighting as it relates to photography. Studio lighting can be quite involved in order to achieve a particular look. I find underwater lighting to be even more challenging, especially in the presence of particulates in the water that cause the dreaded backscatter effect. Rapid underwater light absorption also allows for shooting nighttime-like photographs during daytime with sometimes spectacular results that highlight one's creativity with strobe positioning.

Equipment wise, I use a Sea & Sea underwater housing, flanked by a couple of Inon Z-240 Type IV strobes and a FIX LED 1000 video/focus light. I use a variety of arms and floats to mount all of that gear on top of the housing. My favorite underwater lenses are my 60 mm macro and my Tokina 10-17 mm fisheye lens. The latter is a fabulous underwater lens that lets me get pretty much right up to a critter and take an almost 180 degree field of view image. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 2.5 cm! That's me on the left on the image above, posing with my dive buddies on Oahu, Hawaii at the top of Hanauma Bay.

Below you will find a selection of some of the photos I've taken over the years. In the past I've kept these on a private web site mostly for consumption by my friends and family, but I intend to make more of my photos public moving forward.

	Sharks of the Bahamas - January 2011 The last week of January I boarded the M/V Shear Water lead by the infamous Jim Abernethy and headed to open waters in the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of the Bahamas. Jim is a force of nature - a shark conservationist who has spent most of the last 12 years living out at sea, hanging out with and tending to the sharks of the Bahamas. We spent an unforgettable week - releasing juvenile green sea and loggerhead turtles into the ocean, taking snaps of lemon and tiger sharks trying to catch fish at the surface, and diving and interacting with reef, lemon, tiger, bull and great hammerhead sharks.

	Crystal River Manatees - January 2011 The Florida manatee, also known as a "sea cow" is the largest manatee species. It is a very tame and friendly herbivore whose greatest threat is recreational boat activity. Every winter they swim upstream of rivers and spring in search of warmer waters. One day in January I headed north to Crystal River and the world famous Three Sisters springs to snorkel with and photograph these gentle giants. The ambient temperature was 27 F but the springs maintain 72 F degrees year around. It still took a 7 mm Farmer John's + 7 mm jacket to keep me warm both in and out of the water.

	Cozumel, Mexico - December 2010 I spent the week after Thanksgiving on the island of Cozumel in Mexico, right across from Playa del Carmen. It's quite a touristy destination with lots of dive operators and dive resorts, resulting in more than average busy dive sites. Overall, the diving was pretty good - all drift and with great visibility, although the reef and the variety of sea life was not quite on par with say, Little Cayman. We did have spectacular night diving, though. I was also able to see almost as much sea life while snorkeling as I did when diving, which came in handy the two days when the harbor was closed due to windy weather.

	Little Cayman Island, Cayman Islands - June 2010 Every year Backscatter Underwater Photo and Video (one of the most successful outfits that specialize in underwater photo and video equipment) organizes The Digital Shootout - a combination dive trip, photo classroom, art critique, contest event. Every day the attendees get to make several dives, listen to lectures on underwater photography or video, and get their daily photos critiqued. The week-long event concludes with a juried contest in several categories. This was my first attendance of The Digital Shootout and I was able to win several prizes including first prize in the wideangle unrestricted category. Little Cayman was a total blast!