Tony Wu's Underwater Photography Blog

Archive for Trips, Workshops

Night Safari

Wed, May 27th, 2009 | Featured, Trips, Workshops 15 Comments

bobbit worm I suppose this goes without saying, but night dives can be amazing experiences…particularly in critter-filled locations like the Lembeh Strait.

When I was in Lembeh in March, I allocated more time than usual to diving at night. Partially, this was driven by the fact that I was with a bunch of really enthusiastic people who were always up for a night dive, and partially, my schedule was determined by the need to get other things done during the day.

As a result, I saw some incredible stuff.

red octopus

Besides the usual collection of nocturnal creepy-crawlies like bobbit worms, squid, octopuses and the like, I witnessed all sorts of predation, flounders mating, Inimicus scorpionfish mating, crabs mating, shellfish mating, nudibranchs mating, pufferfish mating…you get the idea.

After each action-packed dive, I found myself wondering what it would be like to keep diving through the night. I mean…it’s not like the hunting, mating and other behaviour stopped at the end of our night dives. Nope. The critters of the night just kept on doing what they were doing…and it just killed me that I wasn’t able to go back in.

fish

After the trip, I discussed this with my friends David and Sanah of Scubacam, and Aey and Mean from FiNS Magazine. As a result of my obsession with nightlife, we’ve put together a trip to Lembeh from 27 February to 6 March next year to focus on diving at night…an outing we’ve dubbed The Night Safari 2010.

The objective of the trip is to dive at night, with a heavy emphasis on photography and video. To do this, we’ve again enlisted the cooperation of Kasawari Lembeh Resort, whose owners and staff have agreed to switch over to a night-schedule for this crazy little project.

With its efficient layout, amazing camera room, and dedicated staff, Kasawari is the perfect place to try something like this.

As far as I know, nothing like this has been done before in Lembeh, perhaps because not too many people would like to dive only at night, or perhaps just because no one ever thought of it.

In any event, this trip isn’t for everyone. If the thought of getting in pitch-black water filled with mostly poisonous creepy things that tend to sneak up on you doesn’t make you positively giddy with excitement, ~~then something’s wrong with you~~ then this trip probably isn’t for you.

flathead fish

If the prospect of exploring the dark, mysterious waters of Lembeh ’til the wee hours of the night tickles your fancy, consider joining us for this unique trip. The prospective schedule looks like this:

27 Feb: Singapore-Manado/ 1 evening/ night dive possible
28 Feb: Normal diving schedule
01 Mar: Switch to night schedule: 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
02 Mar: Night schedule: 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
03 Mar: Night schedule: 17:00, 20:00, 23:00
04 Mar: Transition back to normal schedule: 13:00, 16:00, 19:00
05 Mar: Two morning dives: 07:30, 10:30
06 Mar: Manado-Singapore

The basic cost is US$1840/ diver (normal villa) and US$2000/ diver (deluxe villa), excluding airfare. For more details, download this PDF file and/ or email Scubacam with any questions you may have.

Eastern Fields Extravaganza!

Tue, May 12th, 2009 | Trips, Workshops 4 Comments

One space has just opened up for the Eastern Fields trip aboard MV Golden Dawn that I’m running with Eric Cheng/ Wetpixel between 8 and 19 December this year.

As many of you know, the Eastern Fields is one of my favourite locations. It’s remote, it’s wild, the marine life is astounding to the nth degree, and best of all…probably only a few hundred people have ever dived there.

fish

The trip will be filled with experienced camera/ video people, so we’ll have lots in common, and hopefully learn a lot from one another. Conditions permitting, we’ll be visiting other reefs too…ones that have seen even fewer divers than the Eastern Fields.

There’s only one space open, for a female diver (due to cabin-sharing requirements).

Click here to read a write-up from my last visit, and here to get trip details.

If you’re in search of an awesome trip to an awesome place on an awesome boat with awesome(?) people…seriously, it doesn’t get much better than this. And if you do join us, I’d strongly recommend setting aside time before or after the trip to dive other parts of Papua New Guinea.

Leaving Lembeh

Tue, Mar 24th, 2009 | Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops No Comments

“Parting is such sweet sorrow”, as Juliet once said. My time in Lembeh for this trip has come to an end.

As always, I’m sad to be packing for departure, but at the same time, I’m delighted with the many fascinating encounters I had here…both above and below the waterline.

baby pufferfish

It’s been an eventful stay, to say the least. A camera and lens gone kaput; gathering of old friends and making of new ones; a photo shootout; amazing experiences underwater…it’s difficult to beat a trip like this.

In contrast to my usual habit of writing one extended trip report after getting back to an urban environment, I did my best to post to my blog as often as possible while I was here in Lembeh.

Partially, this was an experiment to see if it’s better to write when everything is fresh in my mind, or whether I should stick to posting longer text when I’ve had the benefit of a bit of time to reflect upon things.

And partially, this was out of necessity, as I foresee the distinct possibility of life being too chaotic for me to spend much time writing after I leave Lembeh.

mantis with eggs What I learned is two things. First, it’s exhausting preparing and writing regular blog posts after doing multiple dives, then downloading and processing images. I ended up getting only four to five hours of sleep on many nights, resulting in my constantly being in a semi-permanent daze (on land only of course).

Second, I think that in retrospect, I’ll find that it’s good to post along the way like I have (internet connection and personal fatigue allowing), and then re-read those posts later and put something longer together when (if) I have time.

All-in-all though, I feel that it was worth the effort of posting, and I hope you enjoyed seeing just a few of the amazing critters here, whether you’ve visited Lembeh previously or not. I have many more photos…quite a few, in fact, that I haven’t even looked at after downloading, which I’ll endeavour to do something with later.

One thing that made this trip really special was being able to share it with some great friends who share my passion for the ocean and everything in it.

Aey, Mean, David, Sanah…thank you!

yellow goby

Add to that…hanging out with the terrific team at Kasawari Lembeh Resort again, making new friends with the participants in Scubacam’s photo shootout, abusing Andy (the guy who left his hood behind), embarrassing Nus (the guy with the much-too-cute pointer)…and this trip was much more than a dive adventure. It’s been a 2.5-week party!

(Incidentally, if you haven’t seen the prize winners from this trip’s activities, click here to see the images and comments on why Aey, Mean and I selected the images we did. Most of the time with shootouts like this, you just see the images without getting much insight on the background selection process, so we spent a bit of time writing a few thoughts for each image.)

comet fish

From here, I’m off to DEEP Indonesia in Jakarta. I’m going to be giving talks about underwater photography, plus I’ll have a chance to hook up with other friends there.

As a parting thought before I commence the unpleasant task of cleaning and packing gear…we had such a good time that we’re going to be doing this trip again next year, tentatively scheduled for the first week of March.

We’ll work out the details in the coming weeks, but if you’re interested in diving in Lembeh with us, let me know or drop David and Sanah an email.

Piscine Pokemon?

Mon, Mar 16th, 2009 | Marine Life, Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops 7 Comments

Nonsix and I came across this odd-looking fish yesterday at TKI. I think it’s a stonefish, but I’m not sure. It reminds me somewhat of a stylised Chinese stone lion, the kind guarding gates. It looks sort of like a grumpy little pokemon too.

It was quite active, hopping around a lot in a clumsy, comic manner, frowning all the while.

I’ve never seen this fish before, and Nonsix has only seen it once before, so it can’t be all too common. Any fish aficionados out there have an ID for this critter?

Whatever it is, I love everything about it.

odd fish

On a separate note, we had our first evening photography discussion last night with the photo workshop participants. Though it was just the first day of shooting, there were quite a few amazing images.

The best part of the evening for me was looking at the images everyone else had taken and discussing how the images were taken, what could have been done differently (or not), and gawking at some of the strange creatures other people had seen.

Many of the questions/ uncertainty seemed to center around effective lighting, so I’m thinking of doing a demonstration tonight using my three land strobes and a unlucky volunteer from the group.

The days here start at 05:30 for me and end at midnight or later, so I’m feeling the fatigue…but it’s just so much fun!

Moody Stonefish

Sat, Mar 14th, 2009 | Marine Life, Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops 8 Comments

Stonefish are ugly. There’s no way around it. I did my best with this image to at least make the fish look somewhat aesthetically pleasing. It’s always an uphill struggle with stonefish.

stonefish

The Scubacam group just arrived, got checked in, and a few are preparing to go out for a check dive, while the others assemble camera gear.

The spacious camera room at Kasawari is ideal for gatherings like this. There’s lots of space to fiddle with gear, and you have a chance to check out what everyone else has.

For the next week, we’ll be diving together, practicing photo techniques, doing daily Q&A sessions, and selecting photos for the list of prizes that David and Sanah (pictured to the left checking in) have prepared. Actually, I haven’t seen the prizes, so checking out the goody bag is on my to-do list for this evening.

But first, a night dive…

Note: Cheryl Fan corrected my lousy ID. This is probably a devil scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus) instead of a stonefish. Thanks Cheryl!

Off to Lembeh

Wed, Mar 4th, 2009 | Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops 4 Comments

hairy crab I’m off to Kasawari Lembeh Resort for an informal photography workshop and shootout organised by David and Sanah at Scubacam. Aey and Mean from FiNS Magazine will also be joining, so it’ll be a party all around.

I travelled for most of 2008, so I took a bit of a break over the year-end and the first couple months of this year to catch up on rest, devote time to ever-important paperwork (@#%#@$*%#!$!!!!) and just try to have some semblance of a normal life (it didn’t work).

I’m glad I took the much-needed rest, but I’m equally happy to get back to doing what I love most…diving and taking photos. From now until the end of the year, I’ll pretty much be flat out, going from one place to the next.

The Lembeh Strait is, of course, world-famous for critters. The unique environment seems to foster all manner of weird and alien-like creature, with plenty of opportunities to observe marine-life behaviour too.

mantis shrimp In a sense, it’s the perfect location to conduct a photo workshop and shootout, since the diving conditions are relatively easy, and the critters plentiful.

I’ll be reaching the resort in advance of everyone else, as I need the extra time to get re-acquainted with my gear…so I don’t totally embarrass myself in front of everyone else.

Oh…that reminds me…to everyone who’s joining the trip…I’m looking forward to meeting you, and please accept my apologies in advance for anything silly I may say or do.

(Previous write-ups about Lembeh here and here)

The Eastern Fields Await

Wed, Feb 18th, 2009 | Featured, Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops 8 Comments

Yes, I know that the news is filled with stories of doom and gloom, end-of-the-world scenarios and panicky pundits all over the place. But no matter how bad things look, you still have to plan dive trips!

There are a few places left for the Eastern Fields trip I’m doing with Eric Cheng later this year, in November and December.

The boat is awesome; the captain is the guy who has the most knowledge of the Eastern Fields in the entire world; diving in PNG is always awesome; there are wide-angle opportunities galore; and if the world really is going to collapse, I can’t think of a better place to be.

Trip details are up at Wetpixel.

Oh, did I mention we’ll be visiting other, even less well-known, more pristine reefs?

luggage

Lembeh Strait and PNG Trips

Mon, Jan 5th, 2009 | Trips, Workshops No Comments

fish in a can If you’re looking for an excuse to go diving this year, there are a few spaces left for a couple of trips that I’ll be on.

The first trip is a dedicated photography/ video trip to the Lembeh Strait from 14 to 21 March, arranged by Scubacam in Singapore, in association with FiNS Magazine. We’ll be discussing all sorts of photo topics, and you can feel free to ask all the questions you want. I promise to try to be (more) coherent (than usual).

Also, we’ll be selecting the best photos taken during the trip, and there will be a whole bunch of prizes available…things like a Z240 strobe, a high-powered rechargeable LED light from Scubacam, a wet macro lens, and more. We’ll be staying at the very comfortable Kasawari Lembeh Resort. Read a write-up from my last trip to Lembeh here, and contact Sanah or David at Scubacam for more details.

The second trip is a liveaboard excursion from 8 to 19 December to the Eastern Fields (and related remote reefs) in Papua New Guinea aboard MV Golden Dawn, in association with Wetpixel.

Here is a write-up from my last trip to the Eastern Fields. It’s one of the most, if not the most, amazing places I’ve ever seen. If you’re a keen photographer and are looking to visit someplace extraordinary, where only a few hundred other people have ever been to, this is it.

A full write-up of trip details is available here.

Tonga 2009 Trip Full

Wed, Sep 24th, 2008 | Trips, Workshops 2 Comments

breach My trip for Tonga 2009 is full.

The trip is still 11 months away though, so it’s possible that a space or two opens up in the interim.

If you’d like to be kept informed if spaces become available, please let me know.

Tonga 2009

Tue, Aug 26th, 2008 | Trips, Workshops No Comments

I’m putting together my schedule for next year in Tonga.

For the past several years, I’ve worked with my friend Takaji to organise trips here, which have been filled almost exclusively by travellers from Japan. Usually, we set out a schedule for the following year while we’re still in Tonga, and within a few weeks of announcing the schedule in Japan, all the spaces are taken.

At various times, non-Japanese friends and interested people have contacted me about joining our trips, but inevitably, the trips have been fully booked, or the timing hasn’t been right (since our itineraries are tailored to Japanese vacation schedules).

For next year, we’re considering running one trip for non-Japanese travellers. We’re contemplating: 6 people, 8-ish days on the water, target time period early September, price per person US$3500-ish.

I realise it’s difficult to plan a year in advance, but it’s the only way to get the best boats and captains, especially if you’re interested in photographing whales and learning about their behaviour.

If you’re interested, please let me know soon. We’ll be finalising our plans within the next couple of weeks.

Lembeh Strait Photography Trip

Tue, Jul 29th, 2008 | Trips, Workshops 2 Comments

lizardfish Advance notice: I’m planning a trip to the Lembeh Strait in March 2009, in conjunction with ScubaCam in Singapore and Aquaforum in Japan. It won’t be a formal photography seminar per se (i.e., no classes, scheduled lectures, etc.), but if you join the trip and have questions, I’ll be more than happy to do what I can to help.

I’ll be staying at Kasawari Lembeh Resort, which I’ve visited a couple of times already. The resort is small, exclusive, really comfortable, and 100% geared for photography and videography.

This trip is ideal for people who have a housed SLR and have reasonable experience with underwater photography. Lembeh is an excellent photographic destination, and the focus of the trip will be to go out, get photos and learn from hands-on experience and discussion, not to spend time learning basic concepts.

Tentative dates are 13-21 March, subject to all sorts of unpredictable things.

If this sounds interesting, please contact either ScubaCam or Aquaforum for more details.

Note: Just heard from David at ScubaCam. He’ll be sponsoring a number of prizes for best shots taken during the trip, including an Inon strobe, some macro lenses and a few other goodies. (Hey David, am I allowed to compete for the strobe?)

Photo Workshop: Eastern Fields PNG

Mon, Feb 12th, 2007 | Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops 2 Comments

The Eastern Fields is a submerged atoll that lies about half-way between PNG and Cairns. Though some areas of the atoll approach the surface at extremely low tides, for all practical purposes, the area is entirely submerged, plunging down to a couple thousand metres.

The fact that the atoll structures are virtually invisible, coupled with rough weather for about 10 months of the year, mean that most sane boat captains do their best to avoid this area. It’s uncharted and no doubt quite dangerous when the wind and sea gods act up.

There’s only one person I know who’s crazy enough to have gone against conventional wisdom and spent the past 13 years or more visiting this area, exploring bommie-by-bommie, passage-by-passage. He’s probably the only person on the planet who can navigate the Eastern Fields, and more importantly, he’s the only one who knows where all the big fish hang out.

Craig Dewit, captain of the MV Golden Dawn, has been exploring the area for well over a decade, and taking perhaps up to 50 divers a year out there (probably fewer). What this means is that very few people have dived the Eastern Fields, and those who have, keep going back. I’ve been twice, and I’ll be going back again in January 2008.

I’ve filmed a TV documentary out here, and captured some of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever witnessed. Sharks abound. Fish swarm by the gazillions. Coral completely covers every square centimetre of the atoll system. There are no fisherman (they prefer easier places to plunder), and there are no other boats visiting (everyone else is saner). So a visit to the Eastern Fields with Craig means you get the entire, unspoiled ocean to yourself.

I’ll be running a photo workshop on Golden Dawn from 2-12 January 2008. That’s 10 days of concentrated diving and photography, with workshop-style discussions in the evening to cover everything from setting up your gear to photo processing. The emphasis, of course, will be on digital equipment and photo techniques.

From 14-30 January, we’ll head back out to the Eastern Fields again. On this longer trip, there won’t be any organised workshop per se, but I’ll be more than happy to help anyone on board who has questions.

If you like sharks, you’ll love these trips. The photo of the whitetip reef shark in the header graphic of my blog is from one of the places we’ll visit, where I had dozens bumping my dome part. I’ve counted over 40 sharks at another site, been mere centimetres away from huge silvertips, swam in the open ocean with majestic hammerheads, and been completely surrounded by grey reefs and whitetips on the reef. I’ve also filmed silvertips being cleaned, and Craig has discovered a place where threshers gather, perhaps to be cleaned. The macro life is amazing too. I’ve photographed everything from incredibly fat nudibranchs to squat lobsters carrying eggs (!). But with swarming silvertips around, it’s a bit difficult sometimes to concentrate on the tiny stuff.

Of course, given the remote location, open seas and large animals, this trip is for highly experienced divers only. It’s best if you’ve had a few hundred dives under your belt, experience on a liveaboard before, and no problems dealing with fast currents. Golden Dawn is equipped to handle mixed gases and rebreathers, so be sure to let Craig know if that’s something you want to take advantage of.

As if the incredible diving weren’t enough, the boat is one of the best dive vessels in the world. It’s well-equipped, the crew are fabulous, and Steven — the cook — makes the best damn brownies I’ve ever had!

See the Golden Dawn website for more information on the boat, and email Craig to book a spot. See you in the Eastern Fields!

A few photos from the Eastern Fields here.

[tags]Papua New Guinea, underwater photography, scuba, diving, sharks, Golden Dawn[/tags]