Remembering Jim Watt

James Watt (not to be confused with the inventor of the steam engine nor the looney Reagan-era Secretary of the Interior) was an underwater photo pro that I got a chance to dive with for a couple of weeks on two separate trips. Jim died last year, at an age many would consider to be too young. At least I do, as he was only 10 years older than me. I didn't really know him that well, but I learned some things from him that have stuck with me.

Jim didn't seem to worry too much about the details of his gear and settings. He seemed to shoot in aperture mode most of the time (for wide angle at least), and surprisingly he shot in JPG mode, not RAW. He was much more into composition and lighting than in camera settings. Some of the people on Wetpixel (pixel counters) derided him about that (probably not to his face, but on a public forum). But... Jim made some beautiful images, and he sold a whole lot of them.

On one dive in Sipadan, Malaysian Borneo, he ended up mistakenly taking my wetsuit. His boat left before mine did, so when I went to get my suit, all that was left was the same make and model, but two sizes too small. The water was warm (it was only a .5 mm suit), so I dove anyway, with no suit. It turned out on that there were Yellow Spec'd Jawfish with eggs (male Jawfish brood eggs in their mouths) on this dive. Unfortunately, they were located just so that I had to hover between two big patches of swaying hydroids. I got a shot, but came back with hydroid welts all over my torso. Ouch.


He also wasn't apparently the nicest, most sensitive guy on the planet. On one of our trips, one of the women didn't seem too happy that he brought a different woman along with him. I'm not sure what she expected, but whatever it was, she was pretty obvious in her contempt for him. A year earlier, though, when she was with him, she thought he was pretty cool. Lol.

Besides the idea of "just shooting", and not worrying too much about the technical details, one of the things I learned from Jim was the notion of merciless editing (deciding which photos to keep, and which to throw away). Basically, it means that when in doubt, throw it out. Accepting that premise has made a huge difference for me. I plan to go into the concept and how I apply it in a future post.

RIP Jim.