Sitting here in a hotel room in Key Biscayne, Florida - wishing I was out photographing today. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park is down the road from the hotel I am staying at right now, and it looks like there should be some decent birding opportunities there. But I am here to finish up a TV show shoot I was part of that we filmed in the Bahamas, back in December. A few key interviews are left, and I was on stand by all day waiting to see if they needed me. Sadly they didn’t. So I made the most of my time, reading, writing, and my favorite, editing images.
While I was editing and thinking up a blog to share with you all, I realized that I did not create an end of season highlight video for you guys. Well, this year was pretty crazy for us all, so understandable that I did not. Of course, it makes me think that an end-of-year video is extremely needed - especially because of the crazy year we all shared.
Maybe later, but for this blog, I figured the next best thing would be to share my favorite images I captured from the 2020 season from the trips we did get to run. I know most of you have already seen most of them, but just in case you guys are new to our blog and social media pages, I thought I would share them, along with short stories behind the image, my setting used, and why I like them.
The hard part was choosing my favorites, because I really liked so many of my images I captured for so many reasons. But I decided to pick just one from each trip to make things easier.
So with no further delay, on with the photo show…
Pelagic Thresher, Malapascua Island, Philippines. (1/250, f9, ISO 1000). This was our first day in the water with these sharks. I had been dreaming of visiting this magical place for years, and finally having the opportunity to dive this spot was a dream come true. Of course, everything I had heard and the images I have seen come out of this place, I did not have high hopes for capturing anything worth sharing. Thankfully since I shoot almost exclusively natural light, I have an advantage over strobe shooters when diving places like this, where strobes are not allowed. So when this thresher came up from the depths into the shallower water, I had plenty of light, and my settings were spot on to try and capture some images I could get excited about. The available light hit the shark's dorsal surface perfectly, and I was able to get her beautiful golden color as she swam by my buddy Chris as he was snapping images of her.
Orangutan, Dermakot Rainforest, Borneo (1/400, f5.6, ISO 3200) - This was our first encounter with a truly wild orangutan. We encountered orangutans earlier during the trip, but these were habituated to humans. This guy was 100% wild, which made the encounter extremely special. We were driving in our safari truck looking for wildlife, and I spotted this big orangutan sitting in the shade of the forest floor next to the road. We screeched to a halt, and we all jumped out. The orangutan started climbing up the trees into the safety of the forest canopy to hide from us. We lost it in the thick vegetation, but we could still hear as it climbed up. The branches were snapping under the weight of this animal; I thought it was going to come crashing down.
I remember standing there on the muddy road with our friends who joined us on the trip; my feet were sinking in the mud. We were all on fire, knowing there was a wild orangutan just a few yards away from us. We could not see it; the vegetation was just too thick. Thankfully the area where we heard all the crashing sounds had an opening up above. That spot was our best chance for getting a glance at this beauty. The orangutan kept climbing up, and then… I see a hand appear. Seconds after that, this massive animal emerges from the thick bush. It was a male orangutan, and he was huge! He kept climbing up, then reached across to another tree. He stopped for the briefest of moments and looked down at us, damn he was beautiful. After that, he swung over to the other tree and disappeared back into the bush. I snapped a few images of the encounter. They are not the greatest images, but I don’t care. I love these shots, because they take me back to that moment that I will never forget. And that is what images are supposed to do. They are supposed to bring you back. I just get so wrapped up sometimes in trying to capture a perfect moment, that I forget to just enjoy it for what it is. Well this image reminds me to do just that.
Grey Whale. Magdalena Bay, Mexico (1/320, f8, ISO 800) - This was my first decent over/under of a grey whale. There was a lot of cloud cover thais day, so the sky looks blown out. However, I still really like this image, it is just fun. Our grey whale trip is one that is often over looked by our guests, because there is not much water time with the whales. We spend more time in the Bay playing with the whales and leaning over to snap images of them. But I often think people miss the forest for the trees with this one. There is something so special about whales that want to interact with people, it is just an indescribable feeling. Let the idea of that truly sink in. A whale is asking for attention from a person, because it wants to have it’s head scratched. The experience is true magic.
American Crocodile, Banco Chinchorro, Mexico (1/320, f10, ISO 200). This by far is my most favorite capture ever from our croc trips. The stars just lined up for this one; Gambit swam up and over me, I got super lucky that the water conditions were just perfect and that the sun was in the right position, and my camera settings were spot on. It was a perfect moment and I love this shot.
Whale Shark, Isla Mujeres, Mexico ( 1/320, f10, ISO 800 ) - When you swim with whale sharks the moments you are seeking out is when the shark is coke bottling at the surface. Coke bottling is when the shark is floating in one spot, suck feeding in the currents. This means you can enjoy watching a whale shark in one spot, vs. trying to keep up with it, as its’ swimming along, ram feeding at the surface. And as a photographer, it allows you to try and set up different angles, seeking out that perfect shot. When I captured this one, the sunlight above was just right, and it lit up the water bubbles around her, which really adds to the image I think.
Free Jumping Striped Marlin, Magdalena Bay, Mexico ( 1/2000, f5.6, ISO 800 ) - Now this is a shot I have been after for quite a few years. Whenever we go searching for striped marlin hunting baitballs, we always see free breaching marlin. I have always wanted to capture images of one, but it is so hard to predict, when and where they will jump. Well this year, the stars aligned, it seems like it was a good year for that.
Earlier in the day, we ran into a super pod of dolphins, so my topside camera was already set up for fast action. So when this marlin started breaching, all I had to do was grab my camera from my dry bag and fire away. Not only did this marlin jump several times for us, it was also jumping near our boat. Often when marlin jump, they keep jumping. Once we counted almost 20 breaches in a row. Of course I still had to track the fish, but thankfully, after practicing with the porpoising dolphins, my eye was trained to follow fast moving animals and thankfully it all worked out.
Tiger Shark, Tiger Beach, Bahamas ( 1/250, f9, ISO 2000 ) - I ran three trips to Tiger Beach this year, so instead of picking three images from this amazing place, I decided to pick my favorite from this season, and it was for sure a shot from one of our night feeds with the tigers. I bought a pair of video lights this year which I was planning to use for our anaconda dive this past September, but that trip was postponed until 2021, thanks to covid. So I brought them out to try shooting some stills with them, and I know that I will be criticized by my strobe shooting buddies for using video lights for stills, but I was just having fun and trying things out. Anyway, I was really happy with how this image came out. My buddy Ryan is doing the feeding, and Maui the tiger shark, gave us all a good show.
Great Hammerhead, Bimini, Bahamas ( 1/320, f9, ISO 1600 ) - I did not have to think at all about my favorite great hammerhead image. This shot I snapped of Finch dancing with this hammer was so cool, I was on fire when I saw it on the computer. The hammer just looks so amazing here and my buddy Finch looks like a badass, especially because he is wearing his pink unicorn shark helmet. Well, it is really a little girl’s bicycle helmet, but when Finch wears it… it’s a Shark Helmet!
Well, there they are. My most favorite images of the 2020 season. I could of kept going, but I did not want to overwhelm anyone with too many images. Hope you enjoyed these and I will see you guys next week!
Cheers and thanks for reading.