Vintage Carthaginian II Creativity
I had a lot of fun putting these images together and creating some really interesting fine art and vintage photos of the Carthaginian II shipwreck in Maui Hawaii. When I dive on a particular site a number of times I tend to equate a certain feel or mood for the site. The Carthaginian II, originally a German cement transport ship, is almost 100 years old and was originally built and launched in 1920. The ship was purchased by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and extensive refitted to make the ship resemble a 1800’s period whaling ship. The ship was
used as a floating museum in the harbor of Lahaina for over 30 years. Remembering the ship floating in the harbor and now seeing her laying on the sea floor just outside of the harbor brings up a certain sense of nostalgia.
Age and Mystery
What I wanted to create was a sense of the age of the ship and the purpose that she served in Maui and even in Hawaii more generally. When I dive on the ship, although she is not large, I sometimes get a sense of the “ghosts” of periods past associated with this aging wreck. The ship’s main mast collapsed in the summer of 2011 and is now situated on top of the ship. The hold is buckled significantly but makes a great shot if you lie down on the floor of the cargo hold of the ship. There are a number of
hard corals that have attached themselves to various portions of the wreck and you can usually find a reasonable variety of marine life on board.
To get the feel I was looking for in Vintage Carthaginian II, I choose to take a number of wide angle shots where I can see the entire ship and also a few photos where I would have interesting features that would lend themselves to a sense of age and provide a certain forlorn aspect to the photo. As many of you can appreciate, getting a great photo to work with is the first part of the endeavor and I then went to work in Photoshop to give the images the exact look
and feel that I wanted. As I began to work
with the images I kept coming back to black and white images with good contrast with interesting textures and/or features to bring out the moodiness of the dive site. These photos will go well with whale song form the Humpbacks that you can typically hear if you dive the site from late December up to late April or May.
Fine Art
I hope will agree the final images for Vintage Carthaginian II provide a sense of mystery and intrigue as well as a sense of discovery. Though the ship continues to age and various parts continue to deteriorate the wreck still continue to be a
great dive for a long time. The key on this dive as most dives is to go very slow. This is a small sight and while she lies at about 80 feet you still have plenty of bottom time to explore. Let you imagination run away with you and imagine the life of the whaler and the importance of whaling in the development of the Hawaiian Islands.
Go to my website and see theCarthaginian II Gallery for a complete photo review of the ship.
The pool is open…