Del Mar Housing Projects was started for the pure love
of water photography, a passion that started more than a decade ago.
I was lucky enough to start my water photography career
with a housing made by Steve Ogles. Steve's meticulously-crafted camera housings, and incredible workshop, created
aspirations of making my own custom housings for special
purposes, which quickly became a top interest. A few years
later, after studying Mechanical Engineering for a short
time, it was clear I needed to get out of the classroom and start traveling and shooting from the water.
Before I hit the road, I needed a new housing to shoot
with. Unfortunately, Steve had since stopped making housings for
surfers, and moved up his business to making incredible
housings for Hollywood productions. I had no choice but to
set out on my own, disappointed with what was currently on
the market.
Steve Ogles gave me so much excitement,
inspiration, and insight into the word of camera housing
manufacturing. He helped me a great deal in building my
first housing. I built that first housing to be bomb proof:
thick fiberglass walls, no controls, just a shutter
release. Built solely for wide angle, in-the-tube
photography, it was the perfect tool to travel the world
with. The housing was indestructible, and perfect for the
job.
As I pressed on in my interest of camera housing
design and fabrication, David Troyer was great in
discussing some of the various aspects of housing design
and materials. Dave was making some really cool housings on
his 6x8 foot 3rd floor patio of his condo in Oceanside.
Through this stage, I continued making numerous camera
housings for my photography as well as for several video
productions with which I was involved. Those housings
served me well, The video footage of mine on the media page
were shot with those rigs.
Shortly thereafter, friends would
call me to inquire about where to go to buy a camera
housing, with nowhere else to turn, I would end up making
their housings for them. This served as a great opportunity
to refine my skills and to explore and experiment with the
ins-and-outs of camera housing design and manufacturing.
Fast forward to early 2004, where I realized if I were to
do this right, I needed to do this right! In my mind, there
was a very clear void in the camera housing market, and
someone needed to step up and fill it! The majority of 2005 was spent in research and development, testing
all aspects of fabrication, materials, and design, in order
to create the necessary prototypes for our new line of
camera housings.
We have now released our first models of
the new line, and have plenty more in the works. 2007 will
be a big year for the company and its housings, I am also
looking to get out of the garage and back into the water,
to shoot some more photos, the passion that started it
all...