I was at a lake with my partner and my father, after having left the company of a childhood friend.

I am with my partner and my father out in a boat.  They are both marine biologists doing research together.  They have to catch some fish.  The fish are not good for eating but are for research purposes.  They are writing everything down while I am sitting watching.

I realise they have no camera to take photos of the fish they catch.  I suggest going and getting the camera from the car.  They say its a good idea and I head off in a seperate smaller boat on my own.

As I stand on the shore getting the camera out of the car I watch them reeling fish in together.  I feel strange about this, it is a good thing they are working together and I am happy about this, but I realise the camera is not important at all.  I realise that I am not important at all.

I don't think I need to epxlain a body of water and a boat to you anymore And you regularly dream of your partner and father, they often appear in your dreams as help, guidance or someone you worry about. In this dream it appears you feel kinda left out. The dream starts with presenting them as a team you don't have much place in... third wheel on the wagon as they say in my country. But what are they doing... they're studying fish. Fish is a food symbol as well, related to the emotional world (like a fish in water), but also related to the spiritual (a fish was one of the early Christian symbols, not just the cross). So, the first thing you mention about this spiritual food is that it's not eatable at all. They can only be studied. So, once again we see something in your dream with regards how to learn from the spiritual... not to enlarge the experience in it, but to just study it from a more scientific point of view, acquiring information rather than experiencing knowledge. Incidentally fish in the water indicate insights from your unconscious water, and to catch fish is bringing those insights to the surface. It seems to me that you're not supposed to use them yet, just study them. And then there's a third related symbolism: a fish out of the water is out of its element. Something is making you feel like you are on the wrong place. And fourthly the fish can also be an extra pun to "cold fish"... as if things are going on and you feel left out because of hte lack of emotions towards you.

You try to adjust to this by getting a camera. A camera is what you use to take pictures... so you can hang on to the past, but also to change your focus, your point of view. The dream ends with a feeling that was already clear from the start of hte picture of the dream... something is going on in which you have no input.

Conclusion: things are progressing, but you feel left out... learning is being done, but it's theoretical, not putting into practice yet.

Thanks SSR

Its funny how when I look at it beforehand it makes no sense but when I get your interpretation it all falls into place.

sweetsunray is very wise.
sometimes the trouble with dreams is knowing how much to take literally. ie: although your partner appears as his/herself in your dream, perhaps you could think less about your partner, as a person, being present and more along the lines of what that person might represent. ie: something exclusively yours, something treasured and precious.  or maybe your partner is, in this instance, representational of your territory, upon which you have you have staked your claim.  so, ask yourself similar questions about what, instead of who, the people represent.  and, of course, the water, fish, boat, as sunray has mentioned.   (to me, the people, the water, the boat, all of it screams of something/s (a notion, perhaps) cherished in very deep, emotional way). also, maybe note that the 'people' are familiar but, the place is not.

so, what do each of them represent individually and, when you pair those two things together, what do they represent as a unit?  
when you're with them, although you are aware that you aren't a marine biologist like they are, something you are able to assist them with becomes apparent and, without hesitating, you act.   it's only once you have separated yourself from them, alone on the shore viewing them out there without you in the bigger boat, that you question your action and, question the value of your contribution.

where in your life are you reacting within a field for which you have no experience/expertise? where is it that you are not an authority?  and why, after acting on instinct to contribute and assist, do you suddenly compare yourself and come up short? why do you question both your instinct to help and, the value of what you bring?  it was a natural reaction to help in some small way before you took the opportunity to compare yourself.  why are you, afterward, less sure?

ps: on an observational side note: i think the way your subconscious has harnessed the metaphor of the water and run with the progression of it through to the boat, the fish, the marine biology, the shore, is a fabulous thing, Rook!  it speaks volumes to me about you.

I think your right Sabs.  I watched a doco on dissecting a whale the other day.  Then last night we dissected a bear.  What I really need to do is dissect this dream...

Thanks,
Rook