Photography
I find it almost crazy that you can just push a button and stop time. Pausing life for a moment to investigate or replay just a single moment, or even a fraction of a moment. In the past couple years photography has gone from just pushing buttons to a full blown passion for me. I feel that it is such a powerful tool for conservation, especially when combined with today’s media platforms. You can capture jaw dropping encounters and bring the beauty and mystique of our oceans to humans that have never had the chance to even glance across the ocean. To me, that power is almost surreal. Not only can we bring a voice to those who can not speak for themselves, but it means we can inspire even those living the furthest from the ocean to fall in love with it, and all of its beautiful inhabitants too.
Make sure to follow Jay Clue on Instagram for more pics! If you are interested in purchasing a print or licensing a photograph, please contact us for more info.
Great White Sharks are incredible creatures. These remarkable and highly specialized apex predators have been patrolling our oceans for millions of years. Some scientists even believe that they are partly responsible for the extinction of the massive megalodon shark, since their initial appearance on earth coincides with the decline of the megalodon.
Being in the water with them is a humbling experience, but not for the reasons most would think. They have this incredible beauty and grace to them yet at times remind me of very large playful, and quite misunderstood, puppies. Sadly some estimates state there are only around 3,500 of them left in the world. Even more heartbreaking is that the primary reason for the decline in population of this millions of years old ocean titan is us… humans. It’s hard to imagine a world without great whites, they seem so entangled in our popular culture, but in a not so distant future it could be the case if we don’t act soon.
Shot on the @sonyalpha A7RIV in a @nauticamhousings
NINJAS WE NEED YOUR VOTE!!
I’m super excited to announce that @diveninjas made it into the 2021 Dive Travel Awards finals for Best Dive Center in the world! It’s insane to see our small conservation focused dive shop rank amongst massive dive centers & resorts around the world! But we need your votes to help us win! Currently we are ranked #3 in the world, but this could all change in the next few days without help from all you awesome ninjas out there!
⚠️ Takes only 5 secs to vote ⚠️
Show some ninja love! Plz go to the link in my bio to vote for us today. Just write Dive Ninja Expeditions as your nominee for best dive center in the form and click submit! You don’t have to fill in the rest but we’d love if you can add Mexico as best dive destination! Then they will send you an email to confirm your vote and make sure you are a real human. Just click the confirm button and you’re all done!
The competition ends on October 31 at midnight UK time, so only 4 more days to vote! Please help us spread the word and share the post! Much love and thanks to all the awesome ninja family out there that have been voting for us!
Mexicos Isla Guadalupe is highly regarded as the best place on planet earth for up close encounters with Great White Sharks. I had to see for myself if this season lived up to the hype so @nautilus_liveaboards invited me out and let me tell you… It was epic!!! 🤯
This week we’re going to take you on a little trip back to Guadalupe to see how awesome it really is. Make sure to check out the stories for the full experience!
We’re so thrilled with the experience diving with great whites that we decided to run an expedition back there next year! Who’s with me? 💦
Join me and @diveninjas next August for a very special trip back to Isla Guadalupe! Hit the link in my bio for more info.
Did you know Great White Sharks are not only massive, but can swim at bursts of up to 35mph (56kph)?! Want to learn more about these incredible creatures? Next week I’ll be kicking of a special week of stories and posts dedicated to them! In the meantime check out today’s story to ask me your questions about Great Whites and be featured next week!
It’s that time of year again in cabo. When thousands of tiny sea turtles begin one of the most difficult life journeys on our planet. They’ll dig themselves from deep in the sand, then rush to the ocean trying to escape hungry birds & crabs, only to have to then fight their way through crushing surf. Once they make it out to sea they’ll begin what scientists call their ‘lost years’ because we know so little about this period of their lives. For the next decade or so these tiny warriors will ride ocean currents, dodge a multitude of threats & predators, and hopefully find a safe haven far away from land to grow. For every 1,000 hatchlings that begin this grueling journey it’s estimated that only 1 will make it to becoming an adult. Some estimates even put it as high as 1 of 10,000. This is why sea turtle research and conservation organizations are so important. Groups like @sycomaloscabos in Los Cabos help increase their odds of survival so that these incredible creatures can continue to roam our oceans. The team at SyComa works tirelessly trying to protect their nests and make sure these little warriors have a better chance of survival. Show them some love and give them a follow or make a donation to support their work. Or join @diveninjas for their Turtle release tours with SyComa to help support their efforts.
Just getting back on land from an insane week of Great White Sharks at Isla Guadalupe with @nautilus_liveaboards It was such an amazing trip! I have a ton of awesome shots and a bunch of great stories that I can’t wait to share with you Ninjas! Here’s a little sneak peak for now 😉 Want to join me next August to experience these incredible creatures face to face? Drop me DM for details!
Couple quick shots of my favorite encounters from our recent Cocos Island Shark Conservation trip with @diveninjas and @girlsthatscuba Can’t wait to dive into the rest of the images from this trip! But first, time to board the Nautilus Explorer to head to Guadalupe for Great Whites! See you in a few days Ninjas!
One of the hundreds of scalloped hammerheads we seen on the recent @diveninjas & @girlsthatscuba Cocos Island Shark Conservation Trip with super awesome shark scientist @marta.kambra It’s unreal to dive somewhere where hammerheads are so common on the dive sites that you start to forget how special it is to see them. Cocos Island National Park is a true testament to the incredible things marine protected areas can do for our oceans.
Here is something you don’t see often - a photo of me! Taken by @shawnheinrichs while diving in a tornado of jacks at Cabo Pulmo.
When I began my journey into the conservation world I was in awe with how Shawn and the @sealegacy team were utilizing photo & video. Their work inspired a generation of us to not only fall in love with the ocean but want to fight to protect it. Personally, it pushes me to work harder to become a better photographer so that one day I could hope to inspire others too. A few short years later and I find it almost surreal to be working projects alongside such remarkable humans. It’s like a dream that I definitely don’t want to awake from. But I feel that many times in the conservation world we get bogged down from being surrounded by so much negativity, and lose track of that human element. We forget how powerful one human, or even one single moment, can be in changing someone’s life. Instead, we should start every day remembering this and hoping today that we can inspire just 1 more human to want to protect our planets natural beauty. So today I want to give thanks to everyone that has shared their passion with me over the years and helped me become who I am today. People like @shawnheinrichs & the @sealegacy team, @coffeethentravel & @girlsthatscuba , @regisunday & the @nakaweproject team, Dr Robert Rubin & @pacificmantaresearchgroup , @katia_biomar , @martapalas, the @savingloscabos team, @mattporteous & @oceanculturelife, @jackfish44 & the @padiaware team, the entire team at @pelagioskakunja and so, so many more. You are the inspiration and change our planet needs. Much love ninjas!
Súper excited to see my mobula shot on the cover of @aquarevista issue #52 this week! But even more blown away to see the 20 page portfolio feature interview they did on my photography!! Wow!! 😍 it was really awesome to sit down and chat about conservation & photography, as well as my journey as a photographer. Here’s a sneak peak! But you can also download it for free right now at www.revistaaqua.com or check my IG story to swipe up for the link!
Back from leading an incredible shark conservation trip to Cocos Island with an amazing group of humans for @diveninjas and @girlsthatscuba Whale sharks, tiger sharks, so many hammerheads, and the list just goes on and on. Plus we were able to raise over $1000 to help out the park rangers thanks to our awesome guests. Massive thanks to @aggressorliveaboards for a great week on the Okeanos II and helping support our fundraising! Get ready for a bunch of awesome shots and stories coming these next days!
One day on the ocean we came across this small pod of dolphins with a very young calf that couldn’t of been more than a couple months old. As we were swimming along with the pod, another pod came rocketing in from out of nowhere. The 2 pods quickly joined together checking out the young calf as if they were being introduced to her. One by one they would come in to say hello and rub their nose or fins against her. Then slowly the pods began to merge into what you see in this photo. Spinning around each other and rubbing against one another as if showing affection for the new mother. The mother of the calf is in the middle of the group, and the young calf is beneath her. It was a really beautiful behavior to witness. Have a good week Ninjas! I’ll be offline the next 10 days leading a special shark conservation trip to Cocos Island with our friends at @girlsthatscuba and hopefully getting some awesome shots to share with you all! See you in September Ninjas!
One of my favorite ocean moments of all time was finding this really special mobula ray encounter with @shawnheinrichs and the @sealegacy and @betadiversidad teams earlier this year. After a couple days of not having the best luck with water conditions we went to check out one of my secret spots far away from our normal Mobula areas and discovered something thats never been documented before. And then proceeded to spend over 5 hours in the water documenting it! @martapalas and the team at @mobulaconservation are currently working on a research paper about it that will be released soon, so that’s all I can say for now! But I Can’t wait until we are allowed to share the images and videos of the encounter with you all. I’ve spent countless time in the water with Baja’s mobula rays over the years, so you can imagine how special it must of been to warrant this! But best of all, it has been really incredible to work on this conservation project with such passionate and amazing humans like Shawn, Marta, and Mario. Can’t wait to see how it all pans out. Here’s a pic of @shawnheinrichs that I think sums up the entire teams excitement from that week!
Theres something very unique about encountering the largest predator on our planet. Their teeth can grow to 20cm (8in) long and weigh almost 1 kilogram (2.2lbs) each. But spending time with them in the water you almost forget they are even predators. They’re remarkable creatures and actually boat the largest brains on earth. Swipe for a closer look.
