Mishaps and mistakes

In a perfect world, all our pictures would come out as masterpieces, and we would never make any mistakes. However, we are human, and shit happens.

- MICHEL GILBERT & DANIELLE ALARY

We used to look at famous photographers’ work and think they never failed. Life taught us otherwise. All photographers make mistakes. We just see their best images.

Based on physicist Neils Bohr’s definition, we probably qualify as experts: “An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.” From the stupidest error to the subtle one seen only by trained eyes, we made them all—and we survived.

In this column we delve in our archives and disclose four embarrassing moments. This whole magazine would not be enough to list all the others we experienced over the years.

Number 1 - The lens cap 

With more than 40 years of underwater photography behind us, we had never experienced something like that despite the countless hours spent in the field.

In 2018 we ran out of luck. Of course, it did not happen during a confidential dive in a local puddle; it happened during a special photo trip organized by Atlantis Resorts and Liveaboard. Altogether, the pros gathered at this occasion represented probably more than 120,000 hours of bottom time. Let’s call it good company.

On one dive, Michel jumps into the water and the boat captain lowers his housing overboard. The mighty photographer begins his descent toward the reef, making sure no bubbles escape from the enclosure or the strobes attached to it.

Upon reaching the bottom, my buddy searches for a suitable subject and soon find the perfect one. As he brings the viewfinder toward his eye, he notices something strange: everything looks black, as if the mirror of the DSLR is locked in the ‘up’ position. He turns the camera on. Nothing changes.