Photography
I find it crazy that you can just push a button and stop time. Pausing life to investigate or replay just a single moment or even a fraction of a moment. Photography has gone from just pushing buttons to a full-blown passion for me over the past few years. 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 who have never had the chance even to smell the sea air. To me, that 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 nature to fall in love with it.
Jay works full-time as a professional photographer & cinematographer covering multiple genres from underwater and nature to adventure travel and lifestyle. He is available to hire for commercial photo or film shoots in Baja or anywhere around the world. To date, he has worked on projects in over 30 countries across the globe for a variety of magazines, brands, and media outlets. Scroll down to check out some of his work. For information on Jay’s current availability, rates, and potential partnerships, or to pitch a project, please send a message here.
Make sure to follow Jay Clue on Instagram for more pics! If you want to purchase a print or license a photograph, please contact us for more information.
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Wildlife & Nature Photography | Lifestyle & Model Photography | Nightscape & Astrophotography
Wildlife & Nature Photography
Did you know a sea turtles shell is actually made up of roughly 50 bones? They’re ribs, vertebrae and shoulder bones are essentially fused together to create the shell. This is covered in scutes, the panels we see on the shell, which are made of keratin. You can actually identify sea turtle species by looking at their scutes. Any idea which species this is?
Today their shells are considered one of the most highly evolved forms of armor in all vertebrates, but surprisingly this might not be why they first evolved to have them. Research into an ancestor of modern turtles that lived about 260 million years ago has shown that the shell actually might of evolved to help them with digging underground to escape the harsh environment they lived in.
Captured on the @sonyalpha A7R IV in a @nauticamhousings using natural light at 35mm, 1/250s, f8, ISO 200
The timelapse vs. the shot
A little look at the timelapse used to create a star trails shot of the Cat Island Hermitage. The skies over Cat Island are some of the darkest I’ve ever seen 🤯
Star trails created from 360 shots on the @sonyalpha A7s III mounted on @sliktripods Carbon Fiber Pro CF-635
Finally getting a chance to go through shots from last months Cocos Island trip with @diveninjas! Love that crazy little island and can’t wait to head back for the next Cocos shark conservation trip in 2025!
Shot on the @sonyalpha Alpha 1 in a @nauticamhousings with @seaandseaimaging YS-D3 strobes
Last year I had the opportunity to spend a few days exploring the forests of Sequoia National Park. Seeing the worlds largest trees was surreal, but walking through a recently burned forest from one of the wildfires that tore through California last year is a memory I’ll never forget.
Every step lifted ash into the air creating this apocalyptic looking dusty fog as the sun slowly sank to the horizon. It was heartbreaking yet eerily beautiful in its own way. It’s hard to bring to words the feeling of walking amongst these towering giants decimated by fire. And even harder not to think to yourself, did we humans cause this.
Captured on the @sonyalpha Alpha 1 using the Sony 16-35mm f2.8 GM
Picture 1: looking up from within what’s left of the forest. Shot at 16mm, f6.3, 1/160s, ISO 320
Picture 2: The sun setting through the forest and ash. Shot at 16mm, f22, 1/160s, ISO 640
I have some really special news today fam! I’m super excited to announce that I have become an @onlyone ocean ambassador! 😮 Feeling incredibly grateful to be recognized alongside such a remarkable team of passionate humans working in all different mediums to protect our oceans and planet. Massive thanks to the legendary, @shawnheinrichs for inviting me to be part of this awesome team & platform.
If you’re not familiar with Only One, I highly recommend checking them out. They’re doing really amazing things for our planet and make it super easy for you to get involved and support critically important projects around the world. Living up to their words, “There is only one way to save our planet. Together.” Only One creates opportunities for you to take small, simple steps that when combined help us all work together to drive massive impact for our ocean planet. Go check out their website and let me know what you think Ninjas!
Monday vibes
Trying to keep it chill even though my to do list before I fly out on Thursday is currently 3.6 miles long. 🤣
Nurse shark cruising over the beautiful white sands of the Bahamas.
Captured while freediving using natural light with the @sonyalpha a7R IV in a @nauticamhousing at f9, 1/320s, ISO 100.
In late June I had the opportunity to head to the Florida Keys and get an inside look at the world’s largest coral restoration program, NOAA’s Mission: Iconic Reefs.
For those that know me, you know I’m not really a coral person. But as I began to research into the project I found myself completely awe struck and wanting to learn more every time I turned a new page.
From gigantic coral nurseries to being on the forefront of scientific research to AI driven coral growing robotics and remarkable bioengineering to bring these reefs back to their former glory. The project is beyond vast. But after all my years in conservation, what really hit me the hardest was the heartfelt collaboration between so many passionate humans from different backgrounds and organizations working tirelessly together to try and change the world. It is one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen in a long time and really brought me a new sense of hope for our oceans.
Keep an eye on my stories and posts these next days to learn more about this incredible project and why it’s so critically important right now.
📷 story behind the shot: @sarah_hamlyn_ of @motemarinelab and Kai of @noaasanctuaries working together on a monitoring project at Horseshoe Reef, Key Largo. This is one of the reefs that has recently been hit hard with a bleaching event. Check todays story to see what it looks like now, just a few short weeks after I took this photo.
Shot on the @sonyalpha Alpha 1 in a @nauticamhousings Massive thanks to Sony, Nauticam, and @backscattervideophoto for supporting my passion to tell these incredible stories.
It’s been a crazy few months on back to back projects, but finally have some downtime to catch up. I’m really stoked to finally share everything that’s been going on and why I’ve been so quiet online. Plus I have a bunch of really awesome news coming up! There’s so much stuff that I’ve spent the past few days driving myself crazy trying to figure out where to even begin. Then today I woke up and thought, forget all the noise, let’s just post a tiger shark! 😂 🦈
Tigers are one of my favorite sharks to dive with because of their big personality. They remind me of big silly dogs that just don’t realize their own size. What’s your favorite shark to dive with?
Shot on the @sonyalpha Alpha 1 using the Sony 16-35mm f2.8 GM in a @nauticamhousings at 16mm, f8, 1/400s, ISO 320 using natural light.
Lifestyle & Model Photography
Landscape & Astro Photography
