I got to photograph the Devil Pups camp this week as they jumped from a 35-foot diving platform. The Devil Pups program is a 10-day camp held on Marine Base Camp Pendleton and was created back in the 50’s to instill a sense of self-confidence and respect in kids aged 14 to 17 (The name “Devil Pups” is a play on the nickname U.S. Marines were given by the enemy in World War I — “Devil Dogs”). Activities range from daily physical training to the tower jump that I photographed. Although it is not a “mini boot camp,” these kids do get to go through a lot of the same training marine recruits do.
I originally wanted to follow someone in this camp for the entire week, but after 2 months of getting all the appropriate approvals, I was eventually denied because there wasn’t anyone to escort me around the Marine base for the whole week. Bummer. It was still fun to shoot this event though.
I also got a chance to try out the new underwater housing that Chelsea has procured. It is an old Nikon D100 camera inside a very nice Ikelite underwater housing. We eventually plan on using it for scuba diving, but the pool was a good place to test it out.
