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Fish For Ideas-Indonesia Sea Creatures


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Just returned from a month long trip

Spent the that two weeks on a remote Island which is part of 4 islands called Wakatobi.

If you google this you will find our paradise for diving.

It was a three hour flight east from Bali in  extreme southern Sulawesi.

The plane fly's once a week-we spent two weeks there diving. I dove 3 dives a day and shot 1,000s of underwater photos

I have yet to see them all.

Here are a few-the 1st is my setup-a Nikon D300 in subal housing with two strobes-weighs about 12#s

the second is a bubble coral shrimp

next-leaf fish

poisonous banded sea snake hunting fish

clown fish

nudibranch

crocodile fish

pufferfish close up

pigmy sea horse

fire dart fish

clownfish

One last note about these shots is this underwater photo thing has been a passion of mine since 1983

 

 

 

 

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I'm exhausted as the dive schedule was grueling. The resort I will add was world class. So the eating was good.

I'll post more Cambodia photos later on another thread.

Threw 8 pots this afternoon-last one was thrown in Cambodia at the Japanese chamber kiln.

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Nudibranchs are in almost all oceans world wide-I have many books on then which I use to key them out as with all the fish and invertebrates .

Learning the habitats and habits of all the  creatures Makes it easier to find them.I have a huge library on these critters .

Life is short and I tend to over reach in interests .Not enough time to get it all done.

I shot macro lens and wide angle with a dome port on this trip

the lens on the Nikon d300 cropped sensor DLSR used are macro

60mm 2.8

105mm VR 2.8

and my new macro 85mm 3.5

18mm 2.8 wide angle 

Nudibranchs and flat worms 1st 6 photos

lion fish

goat fish eye at night 

two box fish photos

hawkfish

 

 

 

 

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Your pictures are amazing!! How deep were most of them taken? Wow just wow.

All dives less than 60 feet maximum (20 meters) except for the Pigmy seahorse which was just over 79.

Most of the best life on any reef is in the shallows where sunlight can penetrate . So the best zone is 40 and above. Most of the world speaks in meters and 20 meters or less for most divers there.

When I was younger and a wreck diver I went to Truk Lagoon 3 times and did extensive decompression air diving as deep as 200 feet taking underwater photos which today is done very easily with mixed gas with no worries .At the times I went that was not the case.I worked hard at diving  early on and became a dive master in 1985 in Little Cayman Island all while doing pottery as well. That was when I was younger traveling with some ex military folks who loved wreck diving and photography-in fact I got this U/W photo bug from them in the early 80's. Now as an older diver with a huge amount of dives in I limit myself and would never dive deep .You have to know your limits as to narcosis (which sets in like a two martini drink at depth which makes you a little drunk and is dangerous )It used to hit me at 120 feet and and now I have no idea what that depth may be. This fuzziness can effect everyone much differently . As a life time of non smoking and not drinking I tend to have less issues at depth. Things like sleep and body mass also factor into this as does age.Working with this takes training and training . I have seen just about every thing go wrong underwater-its like flying airplanes it not the 1st thing going wrong or usually the second it the 3rd and who you train for that and if that takes clear thinking and no panic.  

The last note on deep diving is a recompression chamber for the bends. There was not one on Truk but the plane came 3 times a week. In Wakatobi the flight into the only airport on another Island is once a week-That flight is 3 hours and would cost 18 K for a special flight so safe diving is key. In most remote world spots recompression chambers are days or week away and that factors into all dive plans. All dives at Wakatobi are maximum 70 minutes and usually 20 meter maximum depth. I spent lots of time at 35-45 feet and long safety stops on the shallow reef tops in 10-15 feet off gassing .

As I mention habitats are critical so knowing that nudibranchs like it 35-50 feet you can find more of them there or say Pigmy seahorse like the currents deep. Or sea fans and crinoids like more current all makes for getting better photos.For every good photo I have 10 times more bad ones. It used to be for one 36 roll of slide film I would feel good with 3 good photos now with digital I can see them underwater and make adjustments but with current and location it not for the impatient.In fact my biggest asset for underwater photo is my patience mixed in with my experience. Which is the same as in my pottery business and all things ceramic.

OK I'm rambling and need sleep as its still 18 hours ahead for me and day is night.

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Photos are really amazing, excellent depth of field allowing the view of all of the textures and how the creatures are able to blend in to the surroundings in so many ways. Great stuff! Am truly jealous!

 

best,

Pres

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One of the projects I'm working on is a series of porcelain bracelets with animal skin patterns painted in underglazes. I'm particularly inspired by your nudibranch photos but if I did patterns that bold viewers would probably think it was 60's pop art and not get the references to nature. Beautiful, Thanks for sharing. 

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Nice photo's Mark.  Not sure my computer screen or the upload limitations you probably faced is doing them justice.

 

Interesting to see nature's bold and extensive use of high-vis contrasting colors and shapes to warn off predators... 

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