Review by Jeremy Cohen
JEREMY COHEN REVIEWS THE PROFESSIONAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE
“Enlightened teaching, that raises the bar in underwater photography instruction…”
by Jeremy Cohen, PhD, Professor, Emeritus Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Education at Penn State, PADI Instructor
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER, Jeremy Cohen grew up in southern California, where he started snorkeling in the tide pools off the coast. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington and today is Emeritus Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Education at Penn State. He is an avid scuba diver, PADI Instructor and underwater photographer and, with his wife, Catherine, has explored thousands of reefs worldwide. Cohen served on the Dive Safety Board for Penn State’s Science Diving Program, which ensures the safety of faculty and student research that takes place underwater.
“Liquid Motion Academy teaching adheres to a fundamental principle I’ve learned in thirty-five years of higher education teaching and senior administration.
There is no substitute for one-on-one personalized instruction delivered hands-on by a master artisan”.
“My work with Guy Chaumette during the Professional Underwater Photography Course was wonderfully challenging. Every detail was tailored to me, and focused always on what, to me, is most important.
Far from formalistic, Guy took into consideration my diving history that began in 1966, my photographic strengths and opportunities for growth, my current photo kit, and my familiarity, or lack thereof, with cutting edge editing, lighting, and point-of-view subject development.
Across ten days of image making underwater, in town, and at the seashore, and at my laptop becoming familiar, occasionally accomplished, with tools that included Lightroom, Photoshop, an electronic pencil and slate, and even the unexpected creative possibilities of an iPad, the pace was always tailored to my interests, aptitude and energy”.
“Guy’s enlightened teaching, supported by Anita’s welcoming attention to all detail that makes Academy attendance worry-free, raises the bar in photography instruction and has opened for me new vistas of where I can take my image-making, topside as well as underwater”.
“I learnt to see the familiar and make conscious decisions about what to highlight, and why. I discovered how to see the subject matter as a foundation for sharing a feeling, or describing a truth to others.
I learnt, or re-learnt, to give myself permission to take my photography seriously, to see it not as a simple portrait of interesting landscapes and individuals — critters as well as people — but as an image poem that allows the viewer to hold her breath for a moment and in doing so to find the gift of interaction all about us.
These elements captured my imagination, became the centre of my concentration, and will be foundations of my photography well into the future”
“In Cozumel I had the opportunity to put aside routines and responsibilities, and envelop myself in the joyful, challenging, and in very special moments, all-encompassing work of doing photography.
“Guy’s enlightened teaching, supported by Anita’s welcoming attention to all detail that makes Academy attendance worry-free, raises the bar in photography instruction and has opened for me new vistas of where I can take my image-making, topside as well as underwater”.
“Finally, it’s worth noting from the perspective of someone who has served on a major research university’s science diving safety board and who initially earned an underwater instructor rating in 1975, that Guy is exactly the diving buddy you always hope for — safe, professional, and even underwater, there with an encouraging smile”.
“Thank you”.
Jeremy Cohen, PhD
Bainbridge Island, WA