Grace

Remember that Pea Soup thing I was talking about earlier. This was taken in it. I have come to learn that some things are relatively easy to photograph. Sea Lions ARE NOT one of those things. These animals are fast moving stealth critters on speed. If you see a great photograph of a Sea Lion, You should tell the photographer of their pinnacle achievement and send them a thousand dollars. Don't worry the person behind the camera has already spent that much on alcohol to calm there frustrations. This girl even had the nerve to move into perfect position and shrug me off just as I hit the shutter release. Reminds me of an old girlfriend of mine.

Taken in the Sea of Cortez with with Nikon D3 in a Sea n Sea MDX housing with 200mm Zen Dome Port with 15mm Sigma 2.8 @8, 1/250 with a working distance of about 1 foot single YS 250 on the left.

Suduction

This young lady greeted me upon entering the water in Socorro Mexico. Giant Manta Rays seem to differ from Reef Mantas in they like the company of SCUBA divers. It is said they like the feel of the air bubbles on there undersides. They have even been known to seek out certain people in the water to interact with. Supposedly they can identify a person by there eyes.

So from the get go I was in trouble with her. Obviously this was a photo op of a life time. I had a Giant Manta all to myself with no other divers in the images. Of course I was not paying attention to the currents that were sweeping me out to the open ocean. After a bit I began to realize I had not seen anyone else for some time. Yes, it was that time to surface and see what was going on.

You know that feeling you get when you have really screwed up? Multiply that by 50 and you have an idea of what I felt when I first surfaced. Yes, open water. Fortunately I deployed my SMB and the boat found me pretty quick. Interestingly the Manta stay close by. She kept playing around doing circles and coming to the surface until the boat arrived.

Our boat captain returned me to the anchor line where I quickly returned to the ocean. It only took a few minutes before my glamor girl showed back up to hang out. This time she took me and 4 other divers back out to the blue. You would think I would learn.




Don Carpenter
eurisko Photography
www.euriskoimaging.com

Pea Soup

This image is to serve as a reference point on how bad the viability was in the Sea of Cortez. Working distance is .4 meters or 15.7 inches with the 15mm focused on the divers face. So the point is, the images that follow are taken with the animals on the dome port.