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The Ultimate Solution for Landlocked Underwater Photographers
We are honored to host Steven Miller as a guest blogger, telling us all about natural pools and how he has accomplished in building a natural marine environment in his back yard!
Click here to view Steve’s ambassador page on Ikelite. Steve is also the primary instructor for the Ikelite Photo School.
Where I live the waters (lakes, streams, ponds, rivers) are not clear- (and never were, it’s not that they are polluted- it’s just plankton and algae) .. so around here we shoot in swimming pools for clarity. But pools mean chemicals, which means no life. (the concept of chlorination is to “kill everything but people”) So when I first read of Natural Swimming Pools I knew I had to make one. The concept is that living plants (in gravel) – will filter the water and produce a stable biosystem that eventually becomes very complex in this region.
Mine was hard, because I did it by hand, (took over a year,. still isn’t done) and is actually a bit of a Hybrid in that I have aeration and a biofilter now to supplement the filtration of the plants.
A true Natural Pool does not have fish, because fish begin a cycle of water changes that can decrease clarity – thus the filters I use to supplement this aren’t always necessary.
A Natural Pool has walls about a foot below the surface of the water to separate the Swim Zone (maybe 8 feet deep) from the Regeneration Beds, (1-2 feet deep ) – the regeneration beds are filled with gravel, then planted with native water plants, floating, bog plants, anything works. Since the plants are growing in gravel instead of mud, they take their nutrients from the water, thus the clarification.
In my case all of the rain that hits the roof of my house is delivered to the pool, as is the groundwater (so I never need to fill it) -these pools are VERY environmentally friendly (Green) and help to hold back storm water which is an issue in this region – so the local soil conservation departments will encourage you to build.
The coolest thing about my pool is the life that it brings in. Other than the plants, the only life that I have ever put in the pool are 3 American Paddlefish, (they are endangered and they are filter feeders) Yet I have birds, frogs, toads, snakes, mammals, many kinds of aquatic insects that live in it year round, or seasonally – depending on the species. Around the end of April hundreds of Chorus Frogs will come to mate. For about a week they are everywhere, and the sound is deafening.. in July the Dragonflies come, you never know what you’ll see. We just had a record cold spell here, and the corner of the pool was the only water for miles around that wasn’t frozen, attracting a lot of bird species you don’t see often here.
There was 5 inches of ice on it for a month this winter, so it is a very dynamic ecosystem, and there are a million photo opportunities here, things people don’t often see. I plan on doing a lot of shooting this summer. I have just scratched the surface of the options. It was only at the end of last summer that I got a handle on the visibility, since everything I do is home made, so it’s all a work in progress.
The other thing is , I work for Ikelite! 🙂 (as an independent) so when they make something new I can test it without having to take a Caribbean vacation (not that I would mind that, but they won’t go for it :-). But Ikelite has been very supportive (indulgent even). They figured out how to let me tether a housed DSLR from a 15 ft. boom and control it with my laptop. They also made a submersible slider for shooting underwater time lapses, slave sensors for strobes, so much support that I feel bad for not having stronger images (yet!)
Check out Steve’s entries on UnderwaterPhotography.com to see some more spectacular images from his natural pool and more!
Do you have an underwater project of your own? Tell us in the comments and perhaps we will feature you next time!
Visit his personal portfolio at www.ranmorphoto.com.
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