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BUBBLE SHELL

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Bubble Shell, Papua New Guinea

These animals bury themselves in the black sand and come out at night to feed. They are extremely rare and I believe I have only seen them three times on any of my dives. Neutral buoyancy is absolutely key to diving in sandy environments. There is an art to how you fin. I teach all of my students a special class for neutral buoyancy with a camera because it is imperative to shooting. You can learn to settle in the sand and lift off the sand without creating a dust cloud for your self or any one else. I believe there needs to be photo etiquette rules that everyone follows and nobody should even pick up a camera to film underwater unless they know how to achieve neutral buoyancy.

SCHOOLING FISH

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Schooling Fish, Darwin Island, Galapagos

Living in Galapagos was the best three months of my life. I dived at Darwin and Wolf Islands every week for three months. The very first time I saw a whale shark my buddy looked at me and gave me the out of air signal at around 60 feet. I looked at the whale shark and I looked at my buddy and knew what I had to do, but was upset!!! Lucky for me I had encounters on nearly every dive we did at Darwin, I created a club called the Darwin Arch Club. To locate the whale sharks we would sit on the side of the rocky reef and wait for a shadow to approach. So many times after we dropped into the water we would see a school of jacks in the distance and wait for the shadow to approach to know if it was a whale shark. Many times the shadow would be an animal moving slowly towards us in the water, but others it was just a school of jacks. But it was always some school for sure!

KELP NEMATOCYSTS

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Kelp Nematocysts, Channel Islands, California

The first time I dived in a kelp forest off the coast of California, I was hooked. I truly felt like I was diving with mermaids. Nematocysts are gas filled bladders responsible for keeping giant kelp afloat. Kelp needs to float towards the surface because it is an algae and needs the sun to create food through photosynthesis. The forest can grow up to three feet a day in good conditions with clean water and sunlight. Many people think kelp is a plant, but it does not have a root system but anchors itself to the ground with a hold fast.

TOAD FISH

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Toad Fish, Belize

On a night dive when I used to search for these fish I would turn off my light, hold my breath and listen. Toad fish croak and make a deep gutteral sound in their throat. It used to make me laugh thinking that the toad fish croaked like a frog and that is why they have their name. The males make the call when they are searching for females. They have these amazing growths on their face. Extremely shy animals, they lie in wait but if you are not quick with the photo they will go back into their holes where they hide all day long.

GIANT CLAM

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Giant Clam and Soft Coral, Papua New Guinea

I love muck diving, coral reef diving, kelp forests, cold water, warm water�I just like breathing underwater. I feel like I have gills. Truly, I show kids behind my ears when I talk to them and ask them if they can see my gills. Because of how much time I have submerged myself in �the octopuses garden� I know when I see something special. And here I was swimming through a white sand desert and like a still life painting of fruit on the table, I came across a giant clam between two pieces of my favorite soft coral. And lucky for me, I had a wide angle lens so I experimented with some close up wide angle photography and captured this moment.

CUTTLEFISH EYE

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Broadclub Cuttlefish Eye, Komodo National Park, Indonesia

As I am fascinated with symmetry, I also enjoy capturing the look of an eye. I have several different themes I enjoy filming and it is important to think of one you personally like to shoot. You give purpose to your photography when you do this.

HARLEQUIN SHRIMP

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Pair of Harlequin Shrimp Eating Sea Star, Indonesia

I think the ocean has animals that are better than cartoons. Harlequin Shrimp are these amazing crustaceans that love to feed on giant blue sea stars. It is funny because the sea stars on continually on the move as these animals use their claws to cut an arm off and drag it back to their den. I find this humorous. These are teeny tiny shrimp no bigger than the size of my ring fingernail would do battle with sea stars that were often two and three times the size of my hand. And for as colorful as they were, they were elusive. I think the entire time I lived in Indonesia (three years) I spotted them less than five times.

SCHOOL OF JACKS

Sunday, 17 May 2009

School of Jacks, Papua New Guinea

I lived in Papua New Guinea for nearly four months. I would say it was my favorite diving consistently in warm water for one reason, the water temperature and the visibility. The water was 86 degrees and I dived in my board shorts and rash guard on almost every single dive except night dives. The water was consistently great visibility and it is one of the only places that I could predict when we were going to see schooling barracuda and jacks, dolphins and sharks. It truly was AMAZING. There was a dive site called Crack-A-Fat�.because I am a lady, I cannot tell you what that means, but it is Australian Rhyming Slang. There were sometimes incredibly strong currents here and we could not dive this site every week, but when we were able to we had schools of fish that I would become a part of. I used to give lectures on how to school with the fish. You have to use your fins differently. I want to be there right now so badly that I can almost feel the warm salt water on my skin.

OCTOCORAL

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Octocoral, Papua New Guinea

When I am underwater in the ocean habitat I feel so free. It is hard for me to put into words what this experience is like. When I film and photograph, I never have to worry about my buoyancy, my breathing, I have no FEAR! It is just me and the ocean. And sometimes I just swim around. It is the silence that I LOVE so much. It is silent but there is so much activity. I like to dive because I think about nothing. I get to meditate. I laugh as I think of all the years I worked on live aboard boats. There were some days that I spent more than eight hours underwater. Can you believe that? Eight hours underwater every day for months at a time. I believe that was heaven. But what I really believe is during that time because of my skill level it was my personal meditation. As I advanced in my career and had increased responsibilities in getting a production done or getting a job finished, it changes. I yearn for the days that I can simply be underwater and be free. This image captures part of the beauty that I love so much. It appeals to non-divers as well as divers. And although it may look like a flower, it is an animal feeding on plankton. This is an Octocoral polyp feeding on plankton.

UNDERSIDE CUSHION STAR

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Underside Cushion Star

Patterns are really important to look for on the reef. We can find patterns everywhere. And when you can focus on the composition and color sometimes you can make something look really cool by cropping the image and focusing on only a part of it. I know we should not touch marine animals, but I have always been fascinated with the underside of sea stars. I am always looking for crabs and shrimp, squat lobsters�all the symbiotic relationships, yet I am absolutely fascinated with the symmetry of the undersides of these animals! The greatest thing about photography is we get to capture how we personally view the world!

OCTOPUS DEN

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Octopus Den

When living in a sandy environment animals need to get really clever about where they will hide. These Octopus would use their left over dinner shells to escape into if they felt danger lurking. And danger always lurks for octopus because they are giant blobs of protein that everything wants to eat!