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.
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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.
Have you ever seen a group of so many animals that it blocks out the sun? Sometimes these schools of devil rays become so compact and massive that it becomes almost like night just below the surface.
Can you spot the little hitchhiker in this photo? Swipe for a close up. Hammerheads were the first creature to spark my interest in the ocean at a very young age. I remember flipping through a kids magazine and seeing a photo and thinking it must be some strange prehistoric creature from the dinosaur era that somehow survived their apocalypse to roam our oceans. Decades later I’d go on to learn that my imagined story if them wasn’t so far off from the truth. Sadly these remarkable creatures are currently considered critically endangered with their populations decreasing worldwide.
Counting down the days until we get back in the water with these beautiful ladies for our Bimini Hammerhead research trip in December! Did you know Great Hammerheads can grow up to 6 meters (20ft long)?! It’s believe that their uniquely shaped head helps them to scan significantly larger areas of the bottom for prey than other shark species.
Shot on the @sonyalpha A7RIV in a @nauticamhousings using @seaandseaimaging strobes
There’s something really special about seeing a wild animal look you in the eye and check you out. Watching their eye track you while wondering what they are thinking about. Like hmmm, that’s a very strange looking fish... 🤔 What wild animal would you like to be eye to eye with?
Photo shot in @sonyalpha A7RIV with @nauticamhousings - captured while on expedition with @diveninjas in Bimini. Can’t wait to go back next year!
One of my favorite things about visiting Bimini is getting to catch up with @biminidolphins and seeing how the dolphins interact with her in the water. It’s beautiful and you can tell they recognize her and will swim right up to her like they’re greeting a long lost friend before spiraling around her playing. Seeing these wild spotted dolphins interact with humans on their own terms is a jaw dropping experience and a reminder of why these beautiful and massively intelligent creatures should not be held in captivity. Want to learn more about how you can help stop cetacean captivity? Check out our friends over at @emptythetanksworldwide and @dolphin_project for details!
As we were finishing up our second day on the water we jumped in with this small pod of spotted dolphins. At first they were just playing under the boat but then something magical happened. The pod was joined by another pod and they began to tightly swim around each other. Spiraling all together, rubbing against each other, ‘chatting’ with each other, and forming into a larger pod. The baby in the group was greeted by the other members of the pod as if they all wanted to say hello to her as if the 2 pods were old friends meeting for the first time after a long period apart. It was so incredible to see how the two pods socialized and all wanted to meet the new addition to the pod.
Have you ever played catch with a dolphin? Yesterday we found a pod of spotted dolphins that were playing catch with seaweed. They’d first grab it in their mouth then release it and somehow catch it on their pectoral fin then throw it to their tail fin and then pass it off to another dolphin. Other times they’d bring it right up to you and throw it over waiting for you to grab it and join in on the fun. Plus we had freediving with tons of sharks and at a wreck in the morning! Needless to say, the @diveninjas dolphin expedition kicked off with an awesome first day on the water!
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena... Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. ~Carl Sagan
This past week I had the chance to catch up with incredible @sonyalpha photographer and just awesome human @stanmoniz We went out at 2am with @memali108 to catch the lunar eclipse and shoot some photos. I took this shot as a self portrait as the moon reached full lunar eclipse. It’s mind blowing how truly insignificant we humans are on an astronomical scale. Yet in our personal lives we feel so overwhelmed by every thing going on around us. It’s such a strange, yet humbling experience.
Massive thanks to Stan for all the tips and workshop! Can’t wait to shoot more of Baja’s night sky now. Shot on the @sony A7RIV with the Sony 16-35mm lens and shout out to @photopills for making it possible!