Diving Deep

Hadag caught up with Jeddah-based diving enthusiast and underwater photographer Cherine Hamdan to learn more on what keeps her excited about exploring the ocean.

How and when did you fall in love with the sea?

I started when I was young – we’d go swimming or just sit by the sea. Since I came to Jeddah, most of my friends are scuba divers and instructors, so they encouraged me take up diving, so I thought “ok let’s do it!” especially because it’s a new activity and there’s not much else to do. It was on the very first time that I went into the sea that I fell in love with the colours and the fish under the sea – it was the first time I saw something like this in my life, especially in the Red Sea, here in Jeddah. After that I attended many different diving courses and fell in love with the techniques and different elements of diving. At that point, I wanted to share and teach other people about it so I decided to become an instructor and here I am now.

When did you get into photography?

During one of the earlier diving courses, I really thought “I need to take visuals and make memories of this” so I casually started taking pictures under the water. I didn’t want to lose all the fun I had so I started with just a cheap underwater camera and as time passed, my hobby advanced and I moved on to getting better cameras. It’s not something that I was getting paid to do so it took some time to get all the different equipment.

in underwater photography, what has been the hardest challenge you’ve faced?

Diving wasn’t really the challenge as I was doing that every weekend. If I didn’t go diving, I’d almost feel sad and unwell. Diving is the fun part! But when it came to photography, I started small and really had to perfect things like getting a good angle and acquiring the right lights – these were the biggest challenges.

Where are your favourite diving spots?

Definitely the Red Sea and the Maldives. I love it in the Maldives, it’s beautiful and different. But, the Red Sea is still at the top of the list because the amount of Coral in it is crazy!

What is your favourite sea creature?

The shark. People fear it and it is a dangerous animal, but not as much as it’s perceived. If you don’t disturb the shark in the waters, then it will likely not harm you. On the diving courses, we were taught how about how sharks behave around divers. It’s actually a very useful animal – its main job is to keep the sea clean of sick and dead creatures. Sharks sense the pulse of the heart with their nose – they don’t actually advance towards a regular heartbeat, but the thing is that when people see a shark, they panic so their heartbeat actually goes into overdrive, high and low – this confuses the shark and they will think “is this creature sick or not? Shall we eat it or not?”

Do you have a wish list of anywhere you’d like to go diving?

I would love to dive in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and be able to take more pictures of the Great White Shark. I believe that would be an incredible challenge because it’s one of the hardest sharks to photograph.

Do you have a message for the youth?

I really would say to go out there and experience diving for yourself – you’ll fall in love with it. It’s a very cool way to explore the world. But, remember to follow the safety guidelines and rules – get all the proper training. Don’t be a hero, just enjoy it! A must is to visit the Red Sea here in Jeddah – there’s too many beautiful things to see in it.

تانئاكلا نم رحبلا ةفاظن لاو اهفنأ للاخ نم بلقلا ضبن شرقلا ةكمس ،يعيبطلا ضبنلا نم ةداعلا يف برتقت نأ اهيوهتسي شرقلا ةيؤر دنع رعذلاب باصي ءرملا نأ وه لصحي ام

يذلا رملأا ،يعيبطلا اهراسم نع بلقلا تاضبن جرختف

همامأ دوجوملا نئاكلا نأ دقتعي هلعجيو شرقلا كبري .هلكأ قحتسملا نم يلاتلابو ضيرم نئاك

؟اهترايزب نيبغرت يتلا نكاملأاب ةحئلا كيدل له

ميظعلا يناجرملا ديحلا يف صوغلا عيطتسأ ول بحأ روصلا نم ديزملا طاقتلا نم نكمتأ نأو ايلارتسوأ يف فوس هذهك ةلحر نأ