diving for rays
"Diving for Rays," highlighting LGBTQ+ representation in marine science. With limited resources, Angel collaborated with Nova West, secured a Jackson Wild grant, and later received Ocean Culture Life’s 2022 Storytelling grant. The film's success led to a deal with WaterBear Network, underscoring the impact of community and resources.
In 2021 I set out to make my first independent film, called Diving for Rays. I wanted to follow my wife Nicole’s journey to becoming a marine scientist as a queer woman in the field, after feeling it was not a career fit for people like her due to a lack of LGBTQ+ representation in the industry. This film was important to me for so many reasons, but mostly because I wanted to provide visibility for those in the LGBTQ+ community who are looking to take on a career in conservation, but are hesitant because they don’t see themselves in the position…
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Similarly to Nicole’s journey, I was late to come into the field of conservation filmmaking because of a lack of visibility and opportunities as a queer person. Because of this, I had little to no resources available to me to make the film besides my one DSLR camera. I was incredibly lucky to meet my co-producer Nova West, who took on all of the underwater filming. Together, we used the gear we had, borrowed gear from friends, and relied on other resources such as a small grant from Jackson Wild in order to tell this important story.
However, once we were in post-production, we realized that we would need to find a way to fund our post costs. In 2022 I applied for the Ocean Culture Life Storytelling grant, in hopes of not only purchasing some equipment and storage for the editing process, but also helping set us up for future projects Nova and I wanted to embark on, including more stories centering diverse voices in the marine science community.
I was incredibly lucky to receive the runner-up grant of $500! We were able to put those funds toward purchasing a 14TB SATA drive to store the footage, a double drive reader, and a protective case for the drive. These elements may seem small, but they made a world of a difference in the post-production process. Having a fast drive that holds a ton of space can make or break the editing workflow, and since I was editing this film in my personal time outside of my full-time job, I needed to make sure every minute went smoothly.
In addition to the equipment that we were able to secure through this grant, I was also introduced to an incredible community of ocean advocates through Ocean Culture Life. Tamsin and the rest of the OCL team have been incredibly supportive by providing further resources beyond just the grant. I’ve been able to network with like-minded people from all over the world, and I’ve gained valuable connections that will last beyond my filmmaking career.
In the end, I was able to complete my film and actually sold it to WaterBear Network, a streaming platform dedicated to showcasing stories in conservation. I never expected my first film to land on a streaming platform, and a large portion of why I was able to get to that place was because of access to resources provided by organisations like OCL. Overall, Ocean Culture Life and the supporting partners of the grant, Ocean Born Foundation, made such a huge impact on my project and my career as a whole, and I couldn’t be more thankful and excited to see what the future holds!!
Diving For Rays is available to watch on Waterbear Network here.
“Tamsin and the rest of the OCL team have been incredibly supportive by providing further resources beyond just the grant. I’ve been able to network with like-minded people from all over the world, and I’ve gained valuable connections that will last beyond my filmmaking career”