A confluence of circumstances has kept me from posting anything since I hunkered down and cranked out my calf count summary at the end of October.

I’ve answered approximately three million emails (give or take a handful); I’ve caught up on current events (given the way things are going, I kinda wish I hadn’t); I’ve finally rid my site of hacks that were doing all sorts of funky things (in the worst possible connotation of the word funky); I’ve had a bunch of meetings (both physical and virtual); I’ve helped judge a photo contest; I’ve hit the gym and gotten back into decent shape; I’ve organised most of my trips for next year; I’ve read a pile of research papers about cetaceans and other marine life; I’ve managed to sleep at least a few hours a night; and I’ve even gotten some work done. Whew.

By way of proof that I’ve actually been working, here is a video of sperm whales that Smithsonian Magazine posted recently to complement an article about these amazing animals in the December 2011 issue, titled Call of the Leviathan:

The footage is from recent trips I took to Dominica and Ogasawara to photograph sperm whales. I can’t take credit for the excellent editing though. Brendan, the photo editor at Smithsonian Magazine, did a bang-up job of making my footage look decent. (Thank you Brendan!)

And this is a link to an interview I did with Radio Australia recently about the humpback whales in Tonga. It’s short, but important.

Here’s the audio in case you can’t access the link:

There were suggestions by another person in an earlier interview that humpback whales use their pectoral fins to stroke swimmers in the water, sometimes even lifting swimmers en masse into the air out of exuberance. Poppycock.

I’m the first to admit that being in the water with humpbacks can be a magical, almost mystical, experience, but there’s no good that can come of people visiting Tonga and expecting to be stroked by whales. None whatsoever.

Bruce Hill, the presenter of Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat program, was kind enough to give me an opportunity to set more realistic, and safe, expectations for anyone who might be contemplating a trip to Tonga. (Thanks Bruce!)

Anyway, I’m back at the helm, and I’ll be posting more from now on, including information about upcoming trips.

To get back into the swing of things, here is one of my favourite humpback whale fluke photos. It was a stormy day back in 2005, and it’s the only time I’ve ever seen two adult humpbacks tandem tail-slapping. Their slaps weren’t in sync, plus the seas were rocky, so it took quite a few tries to nail the right timing and composition.

Humpback whales tandem tail-slapping in Tonga

Season’s Greetings…almost

I had a chance to catch up with my friend and fellow photographer Jon Cornforth yesterday.

It’s the first time that we’ve had a chance to talk since July, as I was in Tonga for all of August and September, and Jon was also away for several trips during that time.

A polar bear cub and mother walking on Barter Island
in Alaska, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

We mainly caught up on recent events and coordinated a bit for our upcoming Alaska + Tonga Megaptera Mania humpback whale trip next year, but also told each other about a few of the respective highlights of our recent adventures:

Jon told me about his quick trip to the Bahamas to swim with Atlantic spotted dolphins, as well as two trips up north to spend time with brown bears and polar bears.

As a result of our conversation, I now know what bear spray is.

I haven’t the slightest notion of when such knowledge will ever be of use to me (I am sane. I have no immediate plans to stand in front of a hungry, 800-pound bear.), but hey…I learned something new.

Moreover, Jon also taught me that it’s possible to talk in a stern, but not aggressive, voice to brown bears, in order to show them who’s boss.

I should’ve asked Jon to demonstrate for your listening pleasure, but it didn’t occur to me until later. Drat.

Injured humpback whale calf with its mother,
long-term escort whale following closely behind

In return, I told Jon about the amazing humpback whale season I had in Tonga, with at least 45 mother/ calf pairs ID-ed. In case it’s not obvious…that’s a lot of baby whales!

I also prattled on for a bit about some interesting, perhaps unique, observations I had this season with humpback whale escorts.

Finally, we spent a few minutes chatting about the open letter that I posted recently as a template for photographers to use when responding to requests for free or dirt-cheap images.

In the few days since I posted that text, I’ve literally received hundreds of emails and other messages from photographers around the world expressing frustration, anger and disappointment with respect to their own experiences.

Responding to all of the communication has taken lots of time, but it’s been educational and rewarding. In particular, I’ve seen lots of mind-blowing photography from viewing everyone’s sites. (Major thanks to Matthew Oldfield for helping out with updating the site!)

From the high number of responses across all areas of photography, it’s clear that this issue is one that resonates across the entire photographic community, as well as other creative professions.

If you’re a photographer, whether well-established or just getting started, it’s an issue you’ll probably have to face, so it might be worth a listen.

Finally, here’s a video Jon posted of himself shooting the polar bear photo above. And no, that’s not automatic weapon fire. It’s the super-amazing shooting speed of the Canon 1D MkIV.

Photo Chat: Jon Cornforth

One of the people I looked up to when I was growing up is a man named Flip Nicklin.

He is National Geographic’s top cetacean photographer, the person who was responsible for many of the wild-eyed dreams of my youth, those in which I ventured into the deep-blue ocean to swim among whales and dolphins.

That’s pretty much what Flip has been doing for his entire adult life, and yesterday, I had a chance to talk with him, thanks to the magic of the internet.

Flip has recently launched a new book called Among Giants, A Life with Whales, which contains photos and stories from his countless adventures with cetaceans.

During our 20-minute chat, Flip tells me about how he got started (turns out that cetaceans are sort of a family business!), relates a few of the tales from his book, and shares some perspective on how the relationship between humans and cetaceans has evolved over time.

If you’re as much of a fan of cetaceans as I am, it’s worth taking a bit of time to listen:

And of course, if you’d like to purchase a copy of Flip’s book, it’s available at book stores and via online retail outlets, but I’d recommend purchasing via the Whale Trust site, as the highest amount of money ends up going toward whale research.

The book is also available as an iPad App on the iTunes store: Among Giants iPad App.

Interview with Flip Nicklin

It’s been a hectic few weeks for both Jon and me. Jon was away in Alaska until just a few days ago, while I was in Papua New Guinea for the entire month of June.

And…as it turns out, both of us are headed out on trips in the next few days that will see us on the road pretty much until October.

Jon’s headed to the Bahamas soon, where he’ll be trying out a new Aquatech housing for his 5D Mark II with the wild Atlantic spotted dolphins there, and I’m going south on my annual trip to Tonga to photograph humpback whales.

So it was good that we were able to find a little time to catch up over Skype yesterday, just before I was fortunate enough to have a chance to have a brief conversation with Flip Nicklin (see next post).

Among other topics we discussed, Jon told me about how he (accidentally) dumped(!) his dad into the water in Alaska. Talk about a unique father/ son bonding experience.

We also shared our experiences with weather during our respective trips. Even though we were in totally different parts of the world, the weather patterns were off…basically we both had a lot rain.

Despite difficult conditions, Jon came back with stunning images like this:

Dwarf fireweed (Chamerion latifolium) covering the old Columbia Glacier
moraine bar on Heather Island at sunset in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Not to be outdone by Jon, I whined a bit about how bad the weather was in PNG during June and about the dearth of critter life. Again, not to be outdone by Jon, I came back with photos of large aggregations of fish like this:

Countless hardyhead silversides (Atherinomorus lacunosus) swarming under
the jetty at Samarai Island in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.

Oh…if you’re looking for an adventure in the fall, Jon still has some spaces available for his trips to photograph polar bears with Steve Kazlowski later this year.

Photo Chat: Jon Cornforth

While I was away in Papua New Guinea, Apple released Final Cut Pro X, which has been entirely revamped from the previous Final Cut Pro software.

For normal people, this isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, but for video editors (and possibly also for photographers), it is. The changes to Final Cut are so significant and at such a core level that the initial feedback from parts of the video editing community, i.e., those people who’ve invested lots of time and effort over the years to become proficient with FCP, was overwhelmingly negative.

This caused me stress. Not because I’m a video editing expert (not by a long shot!), but because I had recently invested a great deal of effort learning the basics of Final Cut Pro, and I wasn’t all that happy with the prospect of (a) unlearning and re-learning everything, or (b) possibly even having to switch to something else.

In this context, I contacted my friend Mary Lynn Price, who is an Apple-certified FCP Pro and also the driving force behind DiveFilm.com, to ask her opinion.

She’s just started playing with the new software, but she’s already come to the conclusion that she “loves it”, in her words. Since Mary Lynn makes her living using FCP, this came as a huge relief.

After talking with Mary Lynn, I’m coming to the view that…while there are certainly still teething issues for the newly launched software…for people who want to edit home videos, put together quick-and-dirty short productions, and create multimedia essays (me!), FCPX might actually be a welcome development, as opposed to the abomination that some early reviews have suggested.

In this informative hour+ conversation, Mary Lynn highlights some of the key new features that many photographers looking to create multimedia pieces may find useful…like working in native H.264 format for DSLR footage (no transcoding!), one-click color balance (similar to the white balance function in Aperture and Lightroom) and clip auditioning (think: being able to try on clothes before you decide what to buy).

So if you’re just starting out with multimedia or wondering about if and when to try FCPX, it’s worth listening to what she has to say.

Note that you can use the links in the embedded audio player above to download the file, open it in iTunes, or even embed it on another site. If that fails, here’s a direct download link for the mp3 (about 87MB): Photo chat with Mary Lynn Price

Toward the end of our chat, we also talked a little bit about the skills and art involved with telling a story, whether through words, photos, video, or a mix of all these.

Mary Lynn is currently working with researchers at Montana State University to document Weddell Seals in Antarctica. Check out both the DiveFilm HD and Weddell Seal Science podcasts.

Weddell seal pup hard at work…being cute

Note: When I was recording this, somewhere near me, someone turned on machinery that made a low-frequency throbbing sound, perhaps a large aircon unit (since it’s boiling hot right now), which I wasn’t able to hear while we were talking, but came through really loud on my voice track. I had to edit that out, which makes me sound at some points like I’m in a tunnel with cotton in my mouth.

Links to people and services we mentioned:
Philip Hodgetts
Philip Hodgetts FCPX Metadata book
Steve Martin’s Ripple Training FCPX Tutorials
Independent filmmaker Emiko Omori
Plural Eyes
Mediastorm

Photo Chat: Mary Lynn Price

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:

- 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:

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.

Another Photo 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:

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

Pro One domes
Ikelite
Subal
Seacam
Aquatica

MV Golden Dawn
Bob Halstead
Walindi Plantation Resort

Photography Chat