Dive 3-27-2011 – Missing the Boat
I pulled out the old Inon Macro lenses this weekend.
So I wake up at 8:00 am on a Sunday, get everything together, and drag all my equipment down to the port to go diving with the CIPA. I arrive right on time, and lo and behold… The boat’s not there, and everyone is gone. Now anyone who knows me knows that 9:00 am is not my best hour of the day for higher level cognitive function, so I decided to sit and ponder my situation. About five minutes later, I get a text from my girl noting that it was daylight savings this weekend.
I forgot the change my clock forward and I literally missed the boat.
Having hauled all my gear down to the port, I decided to make the most of it and I went for a quick dive out at Coco Beach. It didn’t let me down. I ran into the same Doris Dalmatien that I ran into a few weeks ago. Only this time, he left his feeding tuft open long enough for me to get a really nice shot.
Other than that, I have a few nice macro shots (I worked heavily with my Inon Macro Lenses this weekend) from my afternoon at Cap D’Ai. I spent the day out there on Saturday, and boy was the weather nice.
I leave you all with a wonderful quote that I came across this week. These are supposedly the last words of Shakespearean actor John Barrymore (1882-1942). “Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.” That guy sounds like he would be awesome to meet.
2-12-2011 First Dive of 2011
Small Spider Crab in Anemone
Where to begin? Since my last post plenty of things have changed. I moved out of my new place, made some new friends, got closer to some old friends, and started learning how to live the single life again. I can’t say I’m unhappy, life is too full of wonder to curl up into a ball for too long. At some point you have to start living again. I recently read a quote that I think it sums it up:
“Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence.”
The last five months have been a heck of a ride, and I feel like I’ve finally come out on the other side. That means it is time to get back to what is important: my real work.
This week, I went on a couple dives and managed to FINALLY get a passable picture of a crab in an anemone. These are super hard to shoot, because they usually either hide themselves well, or the anemones are moving around so much that it is hard to focus on the crab itself. In this case, I was lucky enough to get close enough, and catch the crab a bit out in the open. It worked out well I think.
Also, in this week’s shots is the largest Doris Dalmatien that I have ever seen. As I came up on it, it had it’s feeders extended and it looked really impressive, but due to a flash malfunction, I missed the very first shot I took. After that, it closed it’s feeder tuft and became much less impressive. Ahh c’est la vie.
This week’s shots are taken either at the Phare in St.Jean Cap-Ferrat, or at the Cap de Nice.
Enjoy:
12-19-2010 Last Dive Of The Year
Nudibranch
Well, I dove my last dive of the year today, closing the book on an excellent season. My photo work certainly grew by leaps and bounds this last year, and I fully expect next year to be full of growth as well.
I’ll be heading to England over the Christmas holiday, and definitely won’t hit the water until at least the weekend after New Year’s. I guess there is a lot of snow up in England just now, but I am still hopeful it will be a good little vacation. I know everyone says the food isn’t that great up there, but I am looking forward to trying the beef Wellington! Ha.
Anyways, I didn’t take many shots, and there is nothing spectacular in this week’s set, but there is one pretty nice shot of two nudibranch feeding. I’ve never seen two specimens that close before, and it was at least something cool. I didn’t get any time to really shoot them, because it was just at the end of the outing. I had to take a couple of quick shots then roll out. Enjoy, and have a Merry X-mas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Super Kwanzaa, a Bo-Delicious Boxing Day and a Happy New Year!
Dive 11-6
My new shrimp discovery: Crevette drimo
I finally got back to the water after several weeks, and got to work out my new strobe again. I made a few new discoveries, one of which I have yet to identify. The first of these discoveries was a type of shrimp I had never seen before. It was tucked way back in a small crevasse, and I had some serious trouble even getting a shot at it. I did get a couple decent shots, but it took some serious acrobatics on my part to get my equipment even near enough to shoot it. I was able to track the identity down, and it turns out it is a “Crevette drimo” or Mediterranean bumblebee shrimp.
My second big discovery of the day was a type of starfish that I had never seen before, and I cannot identify. It looks much like the “Etoile de mer épineuse”, or Blue Spiny Starfish, but it was quite yellow. Maybe this is a seasonal change, or perhaps a close cousin? I have yet to find out. [Update: shortly after publishing, I was able to track the starfish in question down. Turns out it is a "Eoile de mer glacialis". It is related to the Etiole de mer epineuse. So there you have it.]
One last note, I saw five octopus during my outing, which is a lot. I think that breaks my previous record by at least 2. I saw several different varieties, and got quite close to a number of them. I actually had one cornered out in the open where he had no hole to squish into, when he went after my strobe light. I had it detached from my camera in an effort to line up some cool lighting, but he grabbed it and gave it quite a tug. I wrestled it away from him, but in the struggle, I lost position and he got away. I got a little ink for my trouble, and missed the shot. It at least makes for an interesting story.
Anyways, enjoy this week’s shots.
Dive 10-23
Macro shots show much improvement with the new strobe
I had some distracting life-type things come up recently that have kept me from posting my most recent shots. Sorry to anyone who was waiting on them.
This set of shots is interesting, as it is the first set of shots I took with my new strobe! Yes, I finally got a strobe for my underwater rig, and I can already see the difference. I was really able to get some more dramatic light, and there is a significant difference in color. However, the most impressive thing is that I was able to drop my F-stop value way down for my macro shots. This means that I can get a much larger depth of field and much more sharpness than before.
I was very impressed with the results that I got on my very first attempt, and am looking to get back out and try again.
Be sure to check out the sea cucumber shot. It was coming out of some sort of strange sac. I’m not sure if it was hatching, shedding, or reproducing. If anyone knows what that is, please let me know. Enjoy!
Weekend 10-16-2010
I was pretty happy with my anemone shots this weekend.
I will probably post an update to this post later this weekend, but I wanted to get these up since I am pretty happy with my anemone shots. Today was an interesting day, I saw several small bio-luminescent animals today. They were very small (a few millimeters), and I tried to point them out to others. However, as soon as I could get close enough to point them out, they would “turn out the lights”. I am not sure if anyone believes me, but I know I saw them. I am pretty sure I am not crazy, but how can anyone be absolutely sure on that point? Anyways, enjoy.
Weekend 10-10-2010
My favorite shot from the past couple weeks
For all those who have been bugging me, sorry it took so long to get these up. I’ve been in an odd mode lately. I have been a schizophrenic melange of extremely overbusy/super lazy. When I have not been busting my tail with some household or work project, I have been a crazy couch potato. I think it is a combination of my U.S. trip, and winter creeping in that has my energies so messed up.
Anyways, nothing really new beyond that. I have some shots from club dives through the last couple weekends, and I wanted to get those up before people start getting mad at me. I had one or two pretty nice shots that I liked quite a bit from the last couple weeks, as well a bunch of other so-so shots.
Weekend 9-22-2010
Oeuf au plat with crowd of Oblade
Well, I got back at it this weekend. Felt good to finally be able to spend some time in the water and do some diving. The last month has been a real whirlwind. I had a great time in the ‘States, and got in some quality time with the family, and that is always a good thing but I really fell behind at life. Since I got back, my life has been pretty stacked up with work, but I finally feel like I have been able to dig myself out just enough to get things back to normal.
Anyways, I got more oeuf au plat shots this weekend. They are invading over here. I have seen them almost every weekend I have been out for a couple of months now. Everyone I have talked to tells me that they are normally only rarely seen, but this year they are everywhere. Is this an effect of climate change or changes in the ecosystem? Or could it be just a fluke? I hope to learn more on the topic.
Weekend Shots, TF1, Oeuf Au Plat, Wide Angle Issues, and More…
TF1 Cameraman shooting the CIPA this weekend
Well, this is going to be my last post for a bit. I might pop on to link to the CIPA TV appearance if it gets online, but no photos for a few weeks since I will be “state-side” until mid-sept.
TV appearance you ask? There was a news crew that came out for one of the major French TV stations (TF1) on Saturday to film the CIPA (my diving club). I assume there were mostly there to catch Guillaume, but they were shooting the whole club, so I think I’ve got a good shot to make my French national TV debut in the near future. I have no idea when the piece is going to air, but I will post it when I get it.
Other than that, the weekend was a good mix of awesomeness and frustration. I had a great couple of outings this weekend, with lots of stuff to shoot, but I had some issues with my new replacement Fantasea BigEye G Series lens that made me miss a lot of shots. I chipped my old one (which I NEVER had a single issue with), and I had to pony up to get it replaced since I found it an incredible tool. To make a long story short, my new one came, and it seems to have either some errant moisture inside it, or some sort of subtle chemical stain on the inside of the glass that likes to ruin photos. It is not fogging that I am having a problem with. Moderate fogging I could probably deal with; it is a definite defect that really sucks. I have reached out to Fantasea technical support to get it resolved, and I will keep you all posted as to how it goes. [Update: I posted an email to support, and they responded within a few hours on a Sunday, which is a good sign. They asked for a receipt, and a photo of the defect, which I promptly supplied.]
“Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish
Last but not least, after having seen my first “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon at least seven that I counted earlier today. When it rains it pours I guess. As of a few weeks ago, I had never seen one, but now I’ve seen at least eight in the last few weeks. I wasn’t too pleased with my shots from last time, and while not perfect, I am quite a bit happier with the ones I got today.
Enjoy, and I’ll be back with more shots in late Sept.
Weekend 8-1-2010 Critter Shots
Méduse œuf au plat, or egg jellyfish
Here is the second batch of shots from last weekend. There are a few shots of macro critters, plus a “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish. It was the first one I had ever seen in person, and even thought it was a very small one, I am happy to have seen it. The mini crabs are the exact same ones I shot the week before. I just wasn’t thrilled with the results, so I went back and tried a few new techniques for getting them shot better. I think I succeeded, but I’ll let you be the judge.
Weekend 8-1-2010 Apnea Diving with the CIPA
Freediving in Villefranche
Well, I as in northern France all last week for a buddy’s birthday bash so I didn’t get a chance to update my photos from last week. I’ll post them in two updates, since I kind of had two different themes going on last weekend. The first half was pretty heavy free diving, and the second was mostly practicing my macro techniques as you will see in the next post. If my photos from this week look an awful lot like the ones from my last batch, they are. I had so much fun a few weeks ago, that I decided to go visit the exact same spots and do the exact things again. This first batch is the freediving part, taken in two sessions at Villefranche.
Weekend 7-24-2010
Monopalm coolness
Well, this weekend was a get-back-to normal weekend after the big vacation to Corsica, and so I decided to get back to the old freediving club. I hadn’t been out with the club since about mid May, and I figured it was about time to actually do some serious training. My intentions were good, but after 2 warm up dives of less than 20 meters, I found myself snap, snap, snapping away. I ended up taking a bunch of shots between the 10-15 meter mark, and never ended up getting any deep water work in. It was great nonetheless, as it gave me a chance to string multiple shallow dives together for the purposes of lining up a shot. Plus, I found some good shooting positions and got some practice in at shooting freedive subjects.
In addition, I went out Sunday and discovered some strange little shrimp or crabs under a rock. They were so small I couldn’t even tell what they were with the naked eye. All I could see were some little leg-like things waving in the water. I just threw on my dual stacked macro lenses and started shooting, figuring I would be able to tell what exactly it was once I got to shore. I really like the shots, mostly because we can now see details that would not be really possible withouth the camera.
Back from Corsica
The waters in Scandola were incredibly clear
We got back from Corsica on Monday night. All I can say is wow! What a paradise. We went scuba diving near St. Florent (Ludo Beach), The Cape of Corsica in the north, as well as near Calvi. We were supposed to have done one dive in Porto, farther south, but if got cancelled because of weather. The diving was good, especially near Calvi, but the best thing we did (and indeed one of the best things I’ve ever done on vacation) was to rent a boat out of Porto and cruise up the coast of the Scandola reserve, stopping to snorkel and freedive along the way.
The Scandola reserve is a protected nature reserve with no roads and foot access. The only way to see the area is by boat, and the only way to dive it is without a tank, as scuba diving is not permitted. The shoreline is absolutely stunning, the water was crystal clear, there were critters everywhere, and the water was warm and wonderful. If you are heading to Corsica, I highly recommend the town of Porto and a trip out to the Scandola reserve by rented boat. If you don’t have a license, that’s okay, you can rent a little boat that takes about an hour and a half to get you there, but it still leaves you a load of time to explore if you leave early enough. The next time I am in Corsica, I will be heading back to Porto/Scandola as quickly as I can.
Nudibranch near Calvi
The whole trip was amazing, and I have to say, I was amazed at the things we saw. Right away, from the boat we came in on, we saw dolphins as we arrived. They were jumping and playing next to our boat. We also saw a pod of dolphins playing near The Cape of Corsica in the north on our way to a dive. One thing I didn’t expect at all was to see a gigantic pod of whales on our way out, they were rolling parallel to the boat in the distance. I never thought I would see whales in the Mediterranean but we certainly did. In addition to those two marvels, we also saw rays, conger eels, moray eels of several varieties, nudibranch, barracuda, grouper, cuttlefish, several species of octopus, a triggerfish, and much more.
All in all, it was a fantastic week of sunshine, water, diving, and discovery. Corsica is truly a marvel, and I can’t wait to get back. If you are planning a trip, an want to go scuba diving, make sure to head over towards Calvi. Oh yeah, and one pro tip: if you see a wild pig on the island in Corsica, don’t feed them with your hands. Evidently, they will take everything you hand to them, even a finger or two!
[Update: For those of you who want to see where each shot was taken, I have attached geo-locationing to my shots on my flickr account here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83275239@N00/sets/72157624429872639/map?&fLat=42.6194&fLon=8.9532&zl=10&order_by=recent ]
[Update 2: I have added the terrestrial shots to my other site. There are photos of Scandola and Piana there: http://www.w3rks.com/?p=63.]
One Year Anniversary
My first passable Rascasse photo
The 20th of July will mark the one year anniversary of www.azur-diving.com. I started underwater photography just under one year ago, and it’s fun to think of all the things I’ve gotten to experience and see, courtesy of mother nature. The photos in this site represent only a small fraction of the beauty that mother nature has presented for us, and I’m looking forward to capturing more of it on camera. I posted this today, since I am heading to Corsica for a week of camping, hiking and diving. I won’t have any updates next week, but I’ll likely have a huge update once I get back.
Looking back at my first pathetic attempts at underwater photograhy (we’ve all got to start somewhere), it is amazing to me how far this site and my work have progressed in such a short time period; it has gone from point and shoot documentation to what I hope is beginning to resemble art. I understand that I’ve still got a long, long way to go before I can reach the level I want to reach, but it is comforting that I’ve been able to at least get this far. I wouldn’t been able to get where I’ve gotten without the encouraging words of friends, family, supporters, and of course the patience and (sometimes harsh) opinions of my lovely partner. So thank you all, I can only hope to get even better with your support. I’ve got to push even farther if I want to reach my ultimate goal of being at least able to compete at the World Festival of Underwater Photography in Marseille. I am at least going to enter for the first time this year and see how I stack up.
Okay, down to business. This week’s photos are, in my opinion, average at best. I missed a few great shots,and this morning, I struggled with shooting racscasse (scorpionfish). The rascasse, in my opinion, is a beautiful and varied fish that can change colors to blend in with it’s surroundings. This makes them incredibly hard to shoot, since they either blend in so much with their surroundings that the pictures look flat, or they have such variation in color that you get “hot spots” which are blown-out white areas. Using flash makes their eyes turn yellow, and gives instant hot spots, so that just makes it that much more difficult. I’ve taken perhaps hundreds of shots of different rascasse, and I’ve yet to get one that I am completely happy with… Until today. I managed to get ONE shot finally that I like, and that is a good place to start.
Otherwise, in this week’s shots I have a picture of my partner crossing a thermocline. It’s not a wall-hanger, but you can see where her body and oxygen tank are all distorted in the photo. That distortion happens when you move to another warmer or colder layer of water. I also have a few shots of octopus, a shell I have never seen before, a nacre ( a relatively rare and large mollusk) and a rather large chapon. We also saw a Poisson Lune (or Mola Mola) from the boat, but I didn’t get a shot. Enjoy the shots, and I hope I’ll have some better ones when I get back from vacation!
Photos for the Weekend of 7-4
Tried some water silhouette shots
The holiday weekend passed quickly and without anything extraordinary happening. I got a couple of nice shots in, but nothing as dramatic as last weekend. I did, however, find the same nudibranch that I missed my shot of last week, and I got a passable shot this time. I also got to shoot a bizarre type of miniature spider crab that I found habitating an anemone. I barely saw him, and he’s even hard to pick out in the photos. Finally, I decided to do some more wide angle work (as wide as I can), and came up with a few fun water silhouette and surf shots.
Jellyfish Invasion (Seriously)
Rainbow Tail Jellyfish
Last weekend I mentioned that there were a lot of hermit crabs out, and kind of cried wolf on the invasion part, but this weekend the REAL invasion started with beaucoup jellyfish arriving near Cap D’Ail. I probably saw several hundred just this afternoon; more than I’ve ever seen in one day.
Needless to say, there weren’t a ton of people in the water. Fortunately for me, I like jellyfish (when they are not stinging me). I jumped right in and got some really fun shots. I actually got a shot of rainbow colors in the tail of one jellyfish. Very, very cool.
Also, I went on my first scuba dive of 2010 this weekend. There are a few shots from that mixed in (not many). Among those shots were a chapon (a variety of scorpionfish), some soft coral, a crenilabre (the very colorful tropical-looking fish) that I have never seen, and a nudibranch that is very particular to this area, called a “doris dalmatien” (dalmation is dalmation in french). It’s got black spots just like the dog, hence the name.
Hermit Crab Invasion
The hermit crabs were out this weekend.
Okay, maybe it’s not an invasion, but I found a bunch of them chowing down on whatever they can scavenge. There are definitely more than usual out, and a good thing too, because these particular ones were pretty colorful once I got into macro range. Normally, they hide when I get my camera close, but whatever they were eating must have been too good to worry about me. Oh, and I got a shot of the spaghetti monster too (that’s what I call them, I have no idea what they are really called). I am guessing it is a worm that is related to the spirograph. When you get real close, it contracts rapidly and hides, much like the aforementioned spirograph. I also got what I consider a couple of decent shots of a scorpion fish. They are deceptively hard to shoot.
Took my cousins out snorkeling this weekend.
Took my cousins out for their first snorkel
Had a nice family visit over the weekend, and took a couple of my cousins out snorkeling. They loved it. They had never done it before, and they just thought checking out all the wildlife was amazing. We saw a cuttlefish (I got him to spray ink for the boys), saw some scorpionfish, and I found my first ever lobster (pic below). Here are just a couple shots from the adventure.
Photos from Giens and the Island of Porquerolles
I faced off with MEGA Spider Crab... and survived
We were planning on hitting the island of Port Cros, but due to my partner being kind of sick, and some other changes on plans, we never quite made it. However, we did make it to the Island of Poruerolles, and I have to say it was very beautiful. We ended up renting some bikes and making our way to a very secluded, hard to find little beach. From there I made my way to the sea where I discovered MEGA Spider Crab! He was pretty enormous, and I managed to cut him off from the algae bed he was trying to escape to. I got him out into the open where I was able to get some pretty sweet shots. He kept trying to get around me to safety, and I kept having to stop my photo shoot to cut him back off. I cut my knee up and broke my new light reflector in the action, but I got my shots, and he escaped unharmed.
Anyways, I got some other pretty hard to find stuff as well. I got my second nudibranch in as many weeks. He was almost microscopic in size. I also got a shrimp, an eel, some nice spirograph shots, my first triptérygion jaune, and some nice algae shots. Take a peek below to check them out.
RSS readers click here for the gallery.
Photos From Cap de Nice May 23, 2010
The highlight of the day: a tiny crab macro shot
Today was almost ideal shooting conditions, the water was as calm as I had ever seen it, and the sun was out full force. The only thing not completely perfect was the visibility, which was better than it has been of late, but still not ideal for panoramic shots.
The best part is that I FINALLY got to really use my stacked Inon Macro lenses when I found an absolutely tiny crab, no bigger than 50mm across. I was able to get my lenses right up next to him for a super shot. I am glad I even saw him. I am always on the lookout for stuff like that, but tiny little things like that are just hard to find. Scroll down for the pics.
RSS readers click here for the gallery.
A Few Shots From The Weekend.
Centure de Venus
Check out some weekend shots. I went diving with the CIPA on Saturday, and caught a decent photo of a “centure de Venus” (translates to “Belt of Venus”). Plus, I caught some shots of a seche or cuttlefish on Sunday, plus a few extra macro shots as well.
Blog Readers, Check out the pics here: http://www.azur-diving.com/2010/05/16/a-few-shots-from-the-weekend/
First Shots From My G9
Macro shot with stacked Inon lenses
It’s been awhile since I posted anything on the old blog, but summer is just around the corner, and I have gotten a little photo time the last couple of weeks. My initial thoughts so far on my new Canon G9/WP-DC21 housing and stacked Inon UCL-165 combo is that it is a solid combination, but I disagree with anyone who says a G9 can function as a valid dslr replacement. The image quality and speed are just on different levels.
Photography is all about trade-offs, and this is especially true with underwater photography. On land, I’ll take a full dslr camera over a point and shoot any day, but underwater, a solid point and shoot has several advantages: 1. It is so much more portable – I have to lug enough gear around, my camera shouldn’t be heavier than the rest of my gear. 2. It is much more flexible as far as focal length goes. With my G9 I can shoot everything from 1 cm to as far as the lens can see, in everything from 35-200mm equivalent. With a DSLR you don’t have that sort of flexibility underwater since you can’t change lenses on the fly. 3. It’s so much cheaper – my rig cost me around $850 (including camera, case, stacked inon macro lenses, and adaptor, plus all the taxes, shipping, and a few extra bucks for mods I did), and I have a feeling that I am going to get my money’s worth with this system before I am through with it.
It's much easier to shoot stationary objects due to the G9's slow focus speed
We got the good stuff out of the way, but as I said, photography is all about trade-offs. I really noticed that there are a few things that I had to give up: 1. Image quality – Not to say the G9 is bad. In fact, many folks might consider it just fine. But I really see the difference, especially around the edges. You just can’t expect compact zoom glass to be on par with a prime lens. 2. Speed – For me, this is the worst part of the deal; My G9 focuses and recycles so much slower than my DSLR with a pro speedlight. When the flash fires, it can take up to 6 seconds to prep for the next shot, even in continuous mode, and that’s with a stationary target in good lighting. You really have to make every shot count. 3. Low light performance. The G9 is terrible at anything above ISO 400 (some people might not even find 400 acceptable, but I do in certain conditions). Grain is noticeable at 400, and intolerable at 800. This, I think I can work around, but it sure would have been nice to be able to have little to no grain at 800. I’ll just have to make sure to get more light on the subject.
Overall I am quite happy with my system, though I will say, it will likely take me a few months to just get comfortable shooting it. It has many of the features of a high-end DSLR but it’s not built like one. It seems much more cumbersome to use than the familiar interfaces for both Nikon and Canon DSLR’s. I believe that, in order to really get good shots out of the G9, I will have to get good and fast at navigating the menus and making on-the-fly adjustments. That is much harder to do than it sounds, especially in an underwater case, but I have confidence that I will see vast improvements in my portfolio this year.
Without further ado,here is the photo gallery (rss readers, click here):
Video of Our Club by Francois Gautier
Below is a video created by Francois Gautier a long-time member of our CIPA (our diving club). I think it’s pretty freakin’ awesome, mostly because I am in it. 
Look for the guy in the wetsuit, and you’ll find me . Anyways, I’d like to give a special thanks to Francois for posting this. To everyone else, I recommend stopping over at his site: OceanColors
CIPA En Hiver by Francois Gautier
First Encounter with a Rhizostome
I had a very unique encounter today.
This morning while on our Saturday dive, I happened to look down, and I saw an unfamiliar shape moving beneath the surface. Turns out it was a Rhizostome; a relatively rare jellyfish that lives in open water, and can grow to 100cm/40 inches across! The one we saw wasn’t quite that big, but it was very impressive. Take a peek at the gallery. I am thrilled with the shots I got.
I couldn’t find much information about this beautiful creature, but I did find a couple of links on it:
Doris Link (French): http://doris.ffessm.fr/fiche.asp?varpositionf=1&fiche_numero=217
I found a short article on it here in English: http://www.vattenkikaren.gu.se/fakta/arter/cnidaria/scyphozo/rhizocto/rhizoce.html
