Craig and Bob. Poor Macs…sigh.
Quintessential depiction of the saying: “Pearls Before Swine”
Archive for People 
Another Photo Chat
It’s almost time for me to head out to Papua New Guinea. I’m submerged in my normal pre-trip chaos (which, come to think of it, is inevitably followed by trip-long chaos, and then post-trip chaos), trying to sort through which bits and pieces to take along, and which other bits and pieces to leave behind. The fact that I have so much junk equipment and so many crazy notions photo ideas doesn’t help much.
Despite my discombobulated state of being, I did manage to catch my friend Jon Cornforth for another photography chat yesterday, along with another photographer friend, Steven Kazlowski.
Jon and Steve were on a trip together recently to photograph stuff in Alaska, shooting images like this one that Jon sent me:
Sea otter on an iceberg in Prince William Sound, Alaska
Adorable, but brrrrrrrr…..
Jon manages to get to reasonable climates (read: warm places) on occasion, but Steve specialises in cold-weather stuff. Like, all the time. (You can hear the incredulity in my voice if you listen to our conversation.)
Among Steve’s images, I particularly admire his photographs of polar bears, perhaps because he makes them look so cute:
Polar bear cub along a barrier island, Alaska
I mean…how can you not fall in love with that furry face and floppy paw raised in ursine salutation?
Anyway, the three of us spent just over an hour talking about a range of topics, including:
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- The ins and outs of polar bear photography;
- The importance of understanding/ relating to your subject for nature photography/ animals;
- Equipment we use for photographing polar bears, humpback whales;
- The role of pig-headedness in developing a sixth sense for animal behavior;
- How we address requests for free images; and
- The outlook for the professional nature photography market.
If you’re interested and can bear (like the pun?) listening to us ramble for over an hour, here’s the recording:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
I’ve posted the audio file to my iTunes podcast as well, and here’s a direct link (80MB, m4a file) if you prefer to download a copy of our mellifluous voices for later listening pleasure.
To close out this post, here’s a photograph I took in Papua New Guinea, where the water is blue, warm and filled with pretty fish…just the way I like it:
I prefer warm blue water with lush, colourful coral and pretty fish!
Here are links to equipment, places and people mentioned in our discussion:
Equipment:
Nikon 12-24mm f4
Nikon 500mm f4
Nikon 200-400mm f4
Nikon TC-20E II
Nikon D700
Canon 500mm f4
Canon 400 f4 DO
Canon 70-200 f2.8 + Canon 7D
Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 + Canon 1DMkIV
Aquatech
Zen Domes
Ikelite
Light and Motion Sola 1200 light
Scubacam
xit404 tripod tray, legs and quad ball adapters
Ultralight Control Systems
Places:
Misool Eco Resort
Jim Abernethy
Mike Ball
Golden Dawn
Walindi Plantation Resort
Upcoming Trips:
- Steve: Svalbard polar bears, glaciers, etc. 1 spot left for 3-24 July.
- Jon and Steve: Polar bear trips, 23-26 Sep; 26-29 Sep; 30 Sep – Oct 3.
- Tony: Minke whales: 28 Jun – 7 Jul 2012. Trip full.
- Jon and Tony: Humpback whales in Alaska + Tonga: 23 Jul – 1 Aug 2012 + 21-28 Aug 2012.
Dumb and Dumber
In the course of going through images to prepare for my upcoming talk, I found this self-portrait I took with Craig during an adventure around the Feni Islands of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.
Self-portrait with Capt Craig Dewit
It was an exploratory trip, and we were diving in a channel with a ripping current between two large islands. This is the description of the dive from my journal for that day:
Flying through the channel was fun. Craig took off his fins and “ran” in the water Matrix-style. I did flips and hung upside-down.
It’s a good thing there weren’t too many witnesses.
Photography Chat
Over the past several months, I’ve had a series of enjoyable Skype chats with photographer Jon Cornforth, sometimes about nothing in particular, often about equipment and other toys, and most recently, about an amazing dual-hemisphere humpback whale extravaganza that we’re planning for next year (trip details to come soon).
Jon is probably best known for his landscape images, but also loves the underwater world; I spend most of my time submerged, and only occasionally photograph stuff above the water line.
Despite the differences in our areas of focus (whoa, majorly bad pun), there are many common themes and issues that crop up. I also find that when I talk with fellow photographers like Jon, I learn a lot, get new ideas from time to time, and occasionally get smacked by one of those (rare) Eureka! moments.
At one point, we joked that some of the stuff we talked about might actually be interesting for other people who are into photography, whether for work, passion or both. So…we decided to record a recent conversation, embedded below:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Among the topics of discussion, I asked Jon what his “go-to” equipment is for landscape photography (in large part so I can work out how he takes those jaw-dropping images), and Jon queried me about dome ports for his housing. To make it easier to find the stuff we talk about, there’s a list of links at the end of this post for the equipment and manufacturers we mentioned. (Please don’t read any meaning into whether a particular brand is listed or not. It’s just a roster of the products, manufacturers, destinations and people that happened to come up during our chat.)
The conversation is about 49 minutes long. If you’d rather download a file and listen offline, the audio is also available via my podcast on iTunes.
Update: By request, you can download the audio file (m4a format, 61MB) by right-clicking this link: Photography chat with Jon Cornforth.
Sample image Jon took with the equipment we discuss,
dramatic clouds and ocean waves at sunrise from Koki Beach near Hana
Since we’ve taken the time to figure out how to do this, we’ll probably record another discussion in the future. If there’s anything you’d like us to address, let me know via my contact form.
Example of half-half image shot with small dome,
a topic we touch upon in the discussion
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EOS 7D
Canon 17-40mm f4L
Canon 16-35mm f2.8L
Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS (Jon has version 1)
Canon 70-200mm f4L (Jon recommends non-IS version if you’re just taking landscapes)
Tokina 10-17mm f3.5-4.5
Zeiss 28mm f2
Zeiss 35mm f2
Lowepro
Gitzo GT1541 tripod
Acratech Ultimate Ballhead
Kirk L brackets
Singh-Ray filters
Canon infrared remote RC-6
The Three Stooges
First, let me state up front, for the record, that I take my work very seriously. 24/7/365, I’m always looking for the optimal way to portray subjects in a flattering, aesthetically pleasing manner.
I have to confess defeat, however, at the hands of this terrible trio:
The three stooges: Larry, Curly and Moe (aka Julian, Phil and Andy)
Julian and Phil (left and middle) were two of the participants on the recent Ambon Night Safari trip at Maluku Divers with Eric, me and others from Wetpixel and the FiNS Flickr group. Andy is the owner of the resort (who admittedly deserves more respect than I can manage to muster for him…but c’est la vie).
I did my best to make them look good, but I learned a valuable lesson in the process… Sometimes, there is just no going against Mother Nature.
In the end, I settled upon shooting them from a higher vantage point, not just so I could look down upon them (I already do in any event), but also, so I (and by extension you) wouldn’t have to gaze further upon their gruesome grimaces:
Three of one, a half, half-dozen of another
And finally, more for my amusement than theirs, I asked them to sit-and-shuffle, in a shell game with no clear winner:
One Year Later
It’s been exactly one year since Ongo passed away. There will be a memorial this evening. His family, as well as friends from the community and around the world will be present.
One of the things we most (and yet least) wanted to do this season was to visit Ongo’s resting place.
We did so not too long ago, to spend a bit of quiet time with Ongo and say our goodbyes in private. We even managed a few jokes to try to ease the pain. It didn’t work.
Saying goodbye
Ongo’s charm and impish grin were difficult not to like, no matter where you’re from. He has a lot of friends and fans in Japan, many of whom have visited Tonga with us time and time again, in large part because of him.
It says a lot about Ongo that everyone he knew in Japan wanted to add their name to the flag we brought as a final present…a way to say hello, and farewell, to our dear friend.
Rest in peace Ongo. We all miss you.
Putting up a flag with names of Ongo’s friends in Japan
Serious Research Stuff
There were two people from China who joined me for my recent humpback whale acoustics research trip in Tonga.
One of the two, Song Ye, is a former member of the Chinese national swim team, and goes by the nickname Mermaid.
In addition to being a talented swimmer, she is also a natural when it comes to cetacean acoustics research, as is clear in this video:
I was tempted to tell her that the hydrophone wasn’t effective for two-way communication, but in the end, I didn’t have the heart to spoil her fun.
Humpback Whales 2010: Part 2
Singing whales weren’t the only ones we encountered during the Jocara trip.
To be upfront, it’s been a relatively slow start to the season. There are certainly whales here. I’ve seen them every day I’ve been out on the water. But qualitatively, there don’t seem to be as many interactive whales (i.e., ones you can spend quality time with) as normal for this time of year.
Over the past week and a half, I know there were two mother and calf pairs in the area. We saw one in the water, but were unable to get in with the other. There certainly might be more, but I haven’t heard any credible reports.
Usually by now, there should be more, though there have been other years with relatively few babies early on, such as in 2007, but quite a few later in the season.
When you get right down to it, there’s really no way of knowing how things will play out until the end of the season.
Working the ropes on Jocara
Besides the mothers and babies, there seem to be a lot of young whales here, say between one to five years of age or so, i.e., sexually immature whales. The first two singers we recorded are good examples, and we’ve sighted many others either playing alone, or travelling in pairs.
Other boats have reported large heat runs, and I know of encounters with at least three separate mating pairs of whales.
As I alluded to above, it’s far too early in the season to generalise about how things are going, but if I can indulge in a bit of speculation…
Over the past three years, I’ve ID-ed over 60 calfs. Since there’s no way I saw all the babies, I think it’s reasonable to assume there were well over 100 calfs in this group of whales over the past three years.
This number would suggest that a significant proportion of the breeding females in this humpback whale group have had babies in the recent past. Females that have just had babies are relatively less likely to have them again right away (though I’ve ID-ed two moms here that had babies two years in a row in 2008 and 2009).
Not all the young would have survived, but the number of babies could help explain the seemingly high number of young whales we’ve seen so far. Other explanations, of course, could be that the young whales arrived earlier than the others, the older ones are busy elsewhere, or I’m just imagining things.
I’ve also sensed in the past that high-baby years seem to run somewhat countercyclical with seasons with a relatively high number of heat runs and mating pairs. This seems to makes sense, since females with babies are relativley less likely to be engaging in courtship/ mating (though it does happen), while females without babies are relatively more likely to do so.
So…one of the things that will be of interest to me as the season progresses is to see how the baby count goes versus the relative frequency of heat runs and mating pair encounters.
Ongo
On 6 August, the last day that we were out on the water, I made my first calf ID for the season. It was a relatively new calf, perhaps in the two- to three-week old range, and absolutely adorable.
The visibility was poor, and the mother was skittish, so I wasn’t able to take any prize-winning photos, but I was able to get a good enough look to ID the baby.
Both mommy and baby are nearly all black, with the baby having small white patches just behind both eyes. The mother has an easily recognisable pattern on the ventral surface of her fluke…mostly black, with white areas toward the the upper corners on both sides. In short…it’s easy to ID this pair again.
I decided to name the baby Ongo, in honour of my close friend and mentor here who passed away just days after I left Tonga last year. For the community as a whole…it’s difficult to overestimate the importance Ongo had on establishing the whale watch industry here. For me personally…Ongo taught me just about everything I know about humpback whale behaviour. To top it off, he was a terrific person.
Ongo. 1st ID-ed calf of 2010 season.
Mating Pairs
On 4 August, we came across three whales travelling together. After watching a while, I guessed that they were a mating pair with a third wheel who couldn’t or wouldn’t take the hint to get lost.
Perhaps it was the tail end of a heat run, or a lone male interloper that hoped to interrupt a lovey-dovey pair that had already decided on one another.
Over the course of an hour or two, we watched the whales’ ups and downs until the third was finally chased away, doing a big, violent tail splash as it left, an obvious sign of frustration.
The pair then settled down to spend quality time with one another. It was late in the day by then, so we left them to get down to business.
The next day, we swam with another mating pair in roughly the same area as we had left the first pair the previous day. Based on the whales’ behaviour and my memory of the fluke patterns, I initially thought it might be the same pair. I didn’t have in-water photos from the previous day for comparison, but Gina and Frederick had video, so they were able to compare the whales later in the evening.
As it turned out, they were not the same whales. In a way, it was a letdown, as it would’ve been nice to have seen the same whales again (it’s happened to me before), but in another way, it’s better, because that means more mating pairs, which is good for the humpback population!
One of the most intriguing aspects of this second pair was the behaviour of the female. The two whales were clearly in resting mode. The female’s preferred resting position was to float with her fluke at the surface, flopped over so the ventral surface was flat (or nearly flat) on the water.
Female humpback whale hanging in the water with fluke flopped over at the surface
I’ve seen other humpbacks stick their flukes/ caudal regions out of the water for a while, but this female was single-minded. After every dive, the pair would surface and the female would take up the exact same position…just hanging out with her tail in the air. The male rested just below her.
Difficult to know why she kept doing this, but I can only speculate that it must have felt good.
Surface view of the female humpback whale’s fluke
At the end of our encounter, the male swam up and allowed several of us to swim alongside for quite some distance as the pair cruised at the surface.
When the whales finally dived, I took a few photos, only noticing what should have been obvious after I reviewed the images:
No doubt about what’s on his mind
People
It was an unusual week for me. After so many seasons here, I have somewhat of a fixed pattern of doing things. This past week+ broke the pattern (different boat, different procedures, different focus out on the water, new gadgets, new software to wrangle), which made things difficult in a way, but also highly rewarding.
Besides the whale-related stuff I described above, I spent time with terrific people, who may not have participated in my usual gung-ho whale photography trips.
Without exception, they were terrific(!), and I am delighted to be able to call them friends (not sure if the feeling is mutual of course).
One of the best discoveries from my first few days in Vava’u was the new Chinese restaurant, Golden Lily. One of the most difficult things for me about extended travel is being away from Asian food. I’m perfectly adaptable and can get along just about anywhere, but I can’t help but crave for Asian food every once in a while. This place solves the problem!
The food is…let’s just say awesome. Richard and Song Ye, my two guests from China, and two of their friends who were also in Vava’u, approved of the food, so I suspect I’ll find myself here a lot:
Final feast for the inaugural acoustics research trip
More people start arriving today, and we hit the water again tomorrow. Can’t wait to see what the whales choose to share next!
Cast of characters for my inaugural Humpback Acoustics Adventure:
John fiddling with gadgets
Casper giving me a ride to the dock
Christy surveying the seas ahead
Ali looking cool on the aft deck of Jocara
Frederick imitating The Thinker
Gina, not posing at all. Nope. Not posing.
Richard, Song Ye (aka Mermaid) and their two friends from Beijing
Related Posts
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 1
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 3
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 4
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 5
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 6
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 7
Humpback Whales in Tonga 2010 | Part 8
Dances With Seahorses
Richard Smith is an eager young marine biologist and underwater photographer who lives in Brisbane, Down Under. He is writing his PhD thesis about pygmy seahorses, and from what I gather, he may actually even finish it.
I’ve only met him once, by chance in the Lembeh Strait last year, and I only had the opportunity to speak with him for half an hour or so.
He seemed pleasant enough, and he’s even planning a trip to dive in Japan with my friends in Izu.
It struck me as somewhat odd, however, that the dates he picked for his visit to Japan coincide with dates that I specifically told him I can’t possibly join him.
I mean…we share common interests, and we had a terrific talk in Lembeh, so why…I wondered…could he possibly be avoiding me?
After thinking long and hard about this conundrum, the proverbial light bulb went off in my head.
This short video clip of Richard explaining the mating rituals of pygmy seahorses to me when we met in Lembeh probably has something to do with it:
(In case it’s not obvious, the point of this post is that if you meet (or already know) Richard, you absolutely must ask him to do the pygmy seahorse mating dance. Even better if you video it and post to the www.)
C.N’a
The countdown to Tonga has begun, and I’m scrambling around with more than the usual level of chaos, since I just got back from Bangkok and have had less time than normal to sort through my piles of stuff to get (somewhat) organised.
Vava’u has become like a second home to me over the years, and I particularly look forward to seeing friends and their families…including pets.
This is C.N’a:
Ever-curious, but camera-shy C.N’a
C.N’a stands for “Crow’s Nest”. Many words in Tongan have the ‘a syllable appended to the end. I don’t understand enough Tongan to know if there’s a meaning to the ‘a or if it’s for emphasis, but in any case, it’s pronounced “Sienna”.
There’s a touching story behind C.N’a. The short version is that she was one of the many stray dogs in the area, but different enough from the other dogs that it’s possible she was left behind by one of the boats.
In fact, she apparently visited the area in front of the Crow’s Nest, which is a bakery/ restaurant adjacent to the main harbour, each morning. The owners of the Crow’s Nest, Stephen and Tess, gradually befriended her, and at this point, she’s a permanent fixture, arguably the boss.
She apparently still hates being left behind though, and has been spotted chasing Stephen and Tess’s car down the main road when they inadvertently forgot her. That must be quite a sight!
C.N’a is very friendly, especially if you happen to have one of Stephen’s fresh-baked banana muffins with you. Stephen makes fresh bread and pastries every day, no doubt to keep C.N’a happy:
C.N’a's caretaker and sometimes chef, Stephen
C.N’a is camera-shy, so it took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to pose. I suspect she can hear the high-pitch tone of the autofocus mechanism. I had to switch to manual focus to keep her from wandering away.
If you’re ever in Vava’u, stop by the Crow’s Nest to say hello to C.N’a and Tess (and yes…I guess Stephen too).
…back to packing
Ayutthaya
A couple of days after TDEX wrapped up, a few of us drove up to Ayutthaya. Actually, a couple of us drove. The rest of us sat in the back asking: “Are we there yet?” at 30-second intervals.
The primary goal was to have lunch at a restaurant called Ton Nam that’s famous for serving river prawns.
River prawns at Ton Nam restaurant, Ayutthaya
We also tried a thai dessert/ snack called roti sai mai, which is sort of like stringy cotton candy that you wrap in a thin roti. I’m not really a dessert person, but it was good, as you can see from the expression on Mean’s face:
Mean enjoying roti sai mai
To work off some of the calories ingested, we spent a bit of time walking around a couple of the temples, mostly Wat Mahathat and the reclining Buddha. If you live in Bangkok or have occasion to visit Thailand, it’s worth travelling to Ayutthaya to learn a little about Thai history. The first time I visited the old part of the city was over 20 years ago.
Aey and Mean at the reclining Buddha in Ayutthaya
It was a weekday during rainy season, so there weren’t many other people around. This gave us the perfect opportunity to conduct extensive tests of our photo and video gear…as you can see in the two series of gif files below.
Among us, we had a Canon IXY220IS compact camera, an Olympus Pen camera, a Panasonic GF-1, a Canon 5D Mark II and a Sony CX550V handycam…so we had to put all the hi-tech hardware to good use.
It probably says a lot about us that this was what we decided to do:
Despite appearances (particularly Eric’s Calvin-like grin), this was a serious camera test. Eric was running through us with the video camera set to capture slow-motion footage.
One of the clips actually turned out quite nicely. I’m sure Eric will post it once he’s back home…if for nothing more than to demonstrate that there really was a (somewhat) constructive purpose to his running a slalom course in the middle of the old city of Ayutthaya.
And of course, after getting back to Bangkok, we went for more food, starting with incredibly good Som Tam Gai Yang (green papaya salad, grilled chicken, plus other stuff) and sticky rice:
Eric Cheng with sticky rice
…followed by my all-time favourite dessert, mango with sticky rice, from the vendor on the corner of Thonglor and Sukhumvit:
Fresh mangos…for mango with sticky rice!
Eating so much in one day was certainly hard work, but someone had to do it.
Eric’s Adoring Fan Club
Eric and I gave two talks each at the Thai Travel and Dive Expo in Bangkok this weekend.
Here’s a snapshot of Eric showing a photo he took of flamboyant cuttlefish while we were in Lembeh back in March, using the Inon wide-angle macro lens:
Eric Cheng speaking at TDEX 2010
Both of us are accustomed to public speaking, so for the most part, things went smoothly…nothing unexpected or out of the ordinary…except, of course, for a spontaneous gathering of a gaggle of giggling girls expressing undying adoration for young Mr. Cheng (no doubt related to his adroit handling of the aforementioned phallic lens):
Eric enthusiastically explaining his mastery of all things long
Being the consummate professional that he is, Eric took things in stride (note the dopey expression on his face, visible even from behind), even deigning to pose for a group photo with his doey-eyed fan club after he had finished expounding on f-stops and lens angles:
Eric trying not to show how pleased he was with the situation
Despite relishing the attention lavished upon him, young Eric did appear somewhat uncomfortable at times, particularly during the photo session…when he was careful to keep his hands in his lap, lest he inadvertently infringe upon the modesty of one of the innocent young lasses around him:
It is, however, a sad fact of life that all good things must come to an end. The captivated co-eds soon lost interest in my friend, leaving him alone, staring into the distance with a forlorn, pensive expression:
Eric, after being abandoned by his harem
Actually, I was with Eric for the rest of the afternoon, but he seemed rudely disinterested in any attention I attempted to lavish upon him.
Go figure.
