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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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!
Happy World Turtle Day from Baja! Sea turtles are some of the most remarkable animals on earth. Sea turtles are able to find their way back to the beach that they were born on - even if she hasn’t been there in over 30 years! They are also ancient species that once lived alongside the dinosaurs 110 million years ago. But they also need our help, worldwide 6 of the 7 sea turtle species are classified as threatened with extinction or endangered due to human actions. And many of their populations are steadily decreasing around the world.
Shout out to @sonyalpha for the insane detail I can get with my A7RIV! Want to hear the story behind this close up shot? Leave a comment and let me know!
A school of Munk’s devil rays spiraling up to the surface off the coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico. This years annual aggregation season has been incredible. We’ve seen orcas, whales, super pods of dolphins, and new mobula behaviors. This shot was taken about 8 days ago while we were watching a school of rays spiraling around each other like a screw, diving down to 5-10 meters underwater, then turning vertical and swimming slowly back up to the surface. We were lucky enough to spend about 3 hours in the water with this one school - making it one of my top 5 mobula encounters in the years I’ve been working with them. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings!
Did you know Munk’s Devil Rays can launch themselves up to 3 meters (10ft) out of the water? That basically sums up I’m feeling right now to see some of my photos featured on @sonyalpha!! Go check It out and let me know what you think!
Above & Below...
The Munk’s Devil Rays of Baja California Sur, Mexico always put on such a spectacular show. Whether it’s their gigantic schools, acrobatic leaps from the water, or just cruising along like gigantic underwater squadrons. The first shot is of a female swimming just below the surface leading a mating train - can you spot where the male is hiding in the photo?
We had such an insane encounter yesterday on the @diveninjas mobula ray expeditions! For 3 hours we were in gorgeous warm blue water with this giant school of rays just circling around us coming right up to the surface. But not only that we got to witness some behaviors I’ve never seen before in my 5 years working with these remarkable creatures and also seen a bunch of small juvenile rays mixed in with the school too! I’m still in awe by it! Perfect way to finish out this weeks expedition! I shot over 1000 photos and I don’t even know how many videos! Can’t wait to sort through them all, but in the meantime here’s a little sneak peak of @jfur07 freediving with them. Can’t wait to see what the next weeks bring!!
Did you know that although Munk’s Devil Rays (Mobula munkiana) créate these mind blowing schools around the coasts of Baja their population is estimated to have declined by up to 49% in the last 38 years? Current predictions show an even further decline over the next years too. There is some great work being done to try to protect and preserve them and other mobula rays by the incredible humans behind the @mobulaconservationproject as well as @mantatrust and @projectaware I highly recommend checking out the work these organizations are doing with mobulas around the world and help support them so that we can preserve this amazing experience for generations to come.
