ImageMaker Adventures: Dive In with Ken Sklute

Join Ken Sklute as He Shows You What It Took To Capture This Amazing Photo

I like to teach my students that photographers are actually problem solvers. Making decisions all day long, we figure out what lens, what ISO, what WB, shutter speed, aperture and so on. I often pack tripods, monopods, and many camera mounts to have with me, just in case. This photo session one hot, humid, summer morning had me searching thru my accessory bag to provide me with mounts to record images “out of the box” so to speak.

I reached into my bag of the Fat Gecko™ family of accessories by Delkin Devices®. I have a variety of Fat Gecko suction mounts, tree or pole mounts, a vice mount and their awesome KaBoom™! The KaBoom is a sectional carbon fiber pole that can be used to get as small camera up high or in this case, down low, underwater!

I love adventure and capturing adventurous imagery. I fly a hot air balloon, a Cessna, chase tornados, the aurora borealis, photograph 300 mph race cars and more! I tell you this because the one thing that I do not like is water. I like water but I just don’t go into it. As I was covering a swim event recently, I wanted to come back with some unique angles and impossible places to get to during swim practice. My KaBoom and Fat Gecko mounts to my rescue. I cannot affect the swimmers while photographing this swim team so these tools become an integral element in making the shot work.

I scouted a few locations where I could walk along side the swimmers and not actually run into any obstacles myself. one of the first camera positions that I chose would be directly overhead of a swimmer. I had no tall bleachers or any other way of adjusting my height, so I mounted a camera on the Kaboom. This allowed me to place the camera directly over the swimmer while they did the backstroke. (See photos 1- 3)

As the swimmers turned to change their stroke, I reached out and placed the camera just clear of the swimmer’s arm. That way, I could frame the image with their hand and arm around their face from a perspective that gave me a very intimate point of view.

I enjoy the perspective of showing the swimmer in his or her environment, not necessarily the traditional tight telephoto shot from afar. I wanted to feel the water splashing as that powerful stroke came from overhead and crashed into the water, propelling this young athlete thru the water. That camera position two feet away from the swimmer gave me that feeling. (See images 4-5)

While still using the multifunctional KaBoom, I decided to add a second length of carbon fiber section to give me the proverbial 10-foot pole. As I walked alongside the swimmers, I submerged my camera under the water with the lens tilted up to see those dedicated athletes from a perspective below them, looking up into the backlit scene—allowing me to watch them stretch through my frame. In most cases, I created a diagonal composition to help with the suggestion of movement through the camera frame. (See images 6-8)

I wanted to create various camera angles to provide diversity to my collection of imagery. While the athletes took a break, I placed a camera on a Fat Gecko Dual mount to the inside of the pool and under the water. I thought this placement would compliment my other coverage to show the swimmers making their way to the wall and actually turning to continue their lap of the pool.

The last angle that I chose to capture was the swimmer diving into the water, right over my camera. I mounted the camera to the diving board support with a Fat Gecko Strap mount. This mount is used to attach cameras to trees, poles and other roundish types of supports. (See image on the right)

I absolutely love my Fat Gecko family of camera mounts that allow me to be able to create “Impossible shots made possible” by using Delkin Devices!

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