Hello, and welcome to my latest Oceanographic Column and this time, we’re going to be talking about gear. The type of gear you’re going to prepare will depend on what you want to shoot and how you want to enter the ocean environment. So, today we’re talking about photography in the open ocean.

Now, this style of photography was crucial to my ‘open ocean’ story in Oceanographic Magazine – a story that was all about the high seas and the protection of it. It’s an experience I will be drawing upon heavily as I talk us through the subject here today.

One of the very first things you’ll need to get accustomed to is some very long days at sea. Because you will be spending some very long days at sea, and most of that time will be spent searching – searching for wildlife, searching for the big, beautiful creatures that make the open ocean their home. this quest will come with no guarantees, so when it comes to your photography, you have to be ready; you have to be rapid, you have to be able to shoot quickly and able to move quickly yourself.

Now, to achieve all this – on the move and on the turn of a sixpence – you’re going to want to be very selective with your gear. So, let’s take a look at the gear I would bring along with me on a shoot like this to be able to react as best I can when the opportunity presents itself…