I was on a palm-fringed island in the Maldives when I saw two girls, both instructors with the dive centre at Vilamendhoo, coming in from the beach and looking happy in their bikinis. One, Leila, was Swiss married to a Maldivian while the other, Sylvita, was Spanish and partnered an Austrian.
I asked them to go back and recreate the moment and photographed them for use on the cover of Diver Magazine’s Travel Guide. They were happy to oblige and I grabbed a few images of them acting it out again. It took only a few minutes to do but it seemed to me to encapsulate what a tropical island holiday was all about.
The trouble started when I innocently posted one of the pictures I’d shot at 6fps on the FaceBook page of a closed group of photographers that I was a member of. I thought it was a good example of the spontaneity obtained with a DSLR and rarely possible with compact cameras thanks to the time-delay in getting a picture and the absence of a buffer. It represented a moment that was grabbed. From some of the reactions you would have thought I’d posted something pornographic.
I received vitriolic messages accusing me of all sorts of perversion. One was even from a man but no doubt he was told what to write by his partner. The terms ‘priapism’ and ‘phimosis’ were mentioned. These messages were so upsetting that I deleted them immediately rather than let one of my daughters stumble on one and be upset too. Deleting them was a mistake. You might have enjoyed reading them.
The girls in the picture saw some of the reaction that was posted and were confused and upset about it. What had they done? It was no more than being photographed in what they wore on a day-to-day basis.
As Leila wrote to me, “My God, what is going on with this picture? If it would be completely naked I could understand it. But on some places you really don’t need a drysuit for diving.” (SIC)
When the Travel Guide was announced on the magazine’s FaceBook page, it attracted a lot of ‘likes’ but some predictable objections from the same people. The few objectors were both vociferous and aggressive in their reaction to it. They had decided to set themselves up as some sort of moral guardians.
One, the man, said, “Yep, lovely photo and no problem with that on a 1970’s Travel Agency poster. There’s a significant number out there that cringe when they see this sort of stuff though. It doesn’t shock. It’s just boring and past it.”
Another, a woman, obviously angry, wrote, “The guy who came up with the rubbish belongs to be shot. Go back into the cupboard with this crap. Honestly, it shows the wrong image of the industry, which prevents people taking up this sport, puts their partners off because they come under the impression diving is a dammed swinger club. All down to the shortfall in somebody’s own swimming trunk! Wake up. We are in the 21st century! You have to come up with something better than some cheap image! By the way the girls are nice, but the image is more related to a warehouse sale than to diving! An absolute let down!” (SIC)
This again appalled the girls who appeared in the picture, when they read it. They were photographed wearing the sort of swimming costumes they wore every day. Those that felt they were offended by this innocent picture had very much offended the girls featured in it.
One of the girls wrote to me and said, “They obviously don’t get it.”
I assume she meant they didn’t understand that people wear swimming costumes and bikinis on tropical islands. Well, I think that’s what she meant.
So while it truly represents what happens on tropical island holidays, it seems the ‘Taliban’ of diving want it stopped. Of course their reaction is not typical. The bookstalls would not be full of women’s magazines with similar pictures if it were. If women didn’t like looking at women, magazines like Vogue would not exist. Comparing both the Merrybet desktop version and the new mobile Merrybet version, you won’t find much difference.
There were some uncharitable reactions to the negative reactions too. One Englishman in Mexico said, “Don’t get me started on the business of political correctness.”
Another supporter even went as far as to email me privately from the USA with the following message:
“Oh my God… women in bathing suits… you should be burned as a witch or infidel. We used to get the same complaints in the early 1990s about the same thing in our magazines by a militant group of about a dozen fat chicks who called themselves “Women Who Dive”.
We simply chose to ignore their bitter philippics and attempts to influence our advertisers to pull their ads. It was ridiculous. Seriously, what do women wear to the beach? And if you can’t handle women in bathing suits, you better not go to the tropics or on dive trips. I will never underestimate the supreme idiocy of a certain portion of the diving industry.”
Here’s the offending picture. I hope you’re not offended.
I guess there is something wrong with me. My first reaction was “Wow, beautiful, well composed photo” “Look how the palm fronds frame the two women” Then I started looking at what made it so good, the women in the dappled shadows of the palm, the slight reflection on the wet sand, the white splash of the kicked up water, the gradient shades of blue of the water and sky. The genuine smiles of the girls, I’ve seen this scene on countless island beaches, I just never noticed it, and this guy has captured it perfectly in this shot. My gripe is I can set out and take 100 shots with the purpose of capturing something beautiful or interesting and I’d be very lucky if even one turns out somewhat decent, and this guy just gets this on the spur of the moment. Oh well, I’ve come to accept that I’ll never have the eye for it.
Wow…they’re beautyful ,why can’t they be single and attracted to me??? Lol
It’s true. I was caught by the magic of the moment. I have picture of an obese male diver but it only ever got published in my book THE SCUBA DIVING HANDBOOK as a warning!
Nice photo, worthy of magazine cover. BUT be aware no matter what you say or do, or photograph–someone will find it objectionable. Let people object, or praise, but ignore them all and do whatever makes you happy.
Great photo! Wish I had taken it. I am sick of all the Political Correctness and other bashing that folks deal out on social media.
I too, wish I looked like the women in the photo.
I certainly appreciate the picture, and it does seem that some of the reactions have been over the top. But, here’s the problem: would you have taken the picture if these two women were NOT young, thin, and attractive? Please don’t take the willfully ignorant stance of saying “But it’s just a picture of two real, live, scuba instructors.” Admit the truth: you weren’t just taking a picture of 2 scuba instructors heading back to their homes after a day’s work; you were taking a picture of 2 hot girls with some equipment in their hands. If the women were older, or didn’t have long hair, or were more like most of the women I see when diving; i.e., not young hot bikini-model-types, would you have stopped them, asked them to reenact the moment, and taken their picture? And would that picture have been published? That’s the problem. Do you have a published picture of two, older, fat male scuba instructors heading back home? The people who complained to you didn’t complain because of this one photo, they complained because this is one in a continual series of pictures in the world of scuba (as well as the rest of the world) that show only young, attractive women, and only young attractive women.
It is a funny thing. The societies that have the most taboos on scantily clad women are also, in the main, the most repressive of women in terms of education, voting rights and viewing them as no more than the property of men.
Somehow i doubt the woman who called this photo “rubbish” would care to have her
picture here.
Personally When I encounter friendly bikini wearing divemasters beauties I immediately complain and demand to be reassigned to a short fat ill tempered one. now where did you say they worked?…..
obviously have no life and apparently bitter about it… maybe if they got off their asses and participated in some activity… they would have less time to troll on the computer bitchin at everyone…
Awesome picture. Next time, show some ripped up dudes coming out of the water in speedos!
Lovely photograph. It really would make a great travel poster. Wish I still had a body like that.
Those people are nuts…or don’t have any.
WOW I cant believe the audacity of those palm trees to sway like that! just kidding, you have to remember some people are so uptite about people that if they do not dress, act, behave or talk the way they do its a crime! I honestly belive you did nothing wrong at all, so the heck with them!
We have become prudish, uptight humans. Get a grip, smile and have fun, life is short.
BTW, I usually wear a thong, oh my, my, my. 🙂
I only wish I looked that good!
How dare you post such filth. Women are supposed to ware those one piece suits with the frilly material around the bottom and the matching head dress. They are not to smile or frolic about. And take away the masks and fins, sorry, flippers away. The trollops.
A beautiful photograph, with lovely women. Bella.
Perversion is in the minds of the viewer, not in the photograph.
Nice work John.