My UnderWater Phobia
I remember when I was in first grade Junior High, my friend Bram mocked me for being afraid of a picture of an octopus in the biology book. I've always been afraid of underwater world since I was a little. (Well, I am still little now, but I meant the age.) Sometimes the fear is really intense, sometimes its a little calmer. During my elementary school years, I had swimming lesson every weekend. I like swimming. I remember I used to swim until it was quite late and people had gone out of the pool. At times like that I often got this scary feeling that crocodile was behind me. Every time I got this feeling, I always went out of the pool as soon as possible with my heart beating very fast.
It doesn't have to be pool. I was also afraid of fishes in aquariums; even small aquariums scared me. My aunt and uncle sell koi fish. I remember I used to be so scared every time I go to this one place in their house where they have fishes (not koi) in aquarium. I never really scared of koi unless the pond is dark or if I'm around koi pond at night or when I'm completely alone.
When I was in China, we went to this good restaurant where they have big dark aquariums full of lobster. I was so scared. It felt almost like someone is pointing a gun at me. That is how scared I was. Same thing happened when I was trying to fight my fear by trying to do snorkeling in Thailand. The fear was quite controllable when I was about a couple meters away from the boat with a friend beside me at all times. The fear got out of control when I tried to go a little further to the deeper side of the sea.
About a year ago, I found this underwater photo gallery by Ken. I was scared to look at first but my curiosity won. I braced myself and I went back to the page a few days after and I was amazed. The photos are clear, colorful and superb. I spent hours looking at his photographs. I knew if I kept looking at those pictures, I could fight the fear and soon I would be free from this stupid phobia.
Months after I found his site, I went to Philippines and tried to snorkel. The fear was still there, but I was doing better. I am now doing a lot better than that. I organized a Flickr Meet-up in Long Beach Aquarium a week ago and proud to say that I am making big progress. I think I am now ready to start doing underwater photography.
It doesn't have to be pool. I was also afraid of fishes in aquariums; even small aquariums scared me. My aunt and uncle sell koi fish. I remember I used to be so scared every time I go to this one place in their house where they have fishes (not koi) in aquarium. I never really scared of koi unless the pond is dark or if I'm around koi pond at night or when I'm completely alone.
When I was in China, we went to this good restaurant where they have big dark aquariums full of lobster. I was so scared. It felt almost like someone is pointing a gun at me. That is how scared I was. Same thing happened when I was trying to fight my fear by trying to do snorkeling in Thailand. The fear was quite controllable when I was about a couple meters away from the boat with a friend beside me at all times. The fear got out of control when I tried to go a little further to the deeper side of the sea.
About a year ago, I found this underwater photo gallery by Ken. I was scared to look at first but my curiosity won. I braced myself and I went back to the page a few days after and I was amazed. The photos are clear, colorful and superb. I spent hours looking at his photographs. I knew if I kept looking at those pictures, I could fight the fear and soon I would be free from this stupid phobia.
Months after I found his site, I went to Philippines and tried to snorkel. The fear was still there, but I was doing better. I am now doing a lot better than that. I organized a Flickr Meet-up in Long Beach Aquarium a week ago and proud to say that I am making big progress. I think I am now ready to start doing underwater photography.
