Papua New Guinea | Tony Wu's Underwater Photography Blog

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Fun in the Eastern Fields

Mon, Jan 11th, 2010 | Equipment, Technique, Places, Adventures 5 Comments

While preparing to head out to the Eastern Fields in November last year, it occurred to me that the trip would be filled with lots of experienced and talented photographers, armed with a plethora of fancy equipment.

So one thing I decided to do just for kicks was to experiment with something decidedly non-fancy, non-expensive, non-hi-tech.

After a bit of research, I came across a tiny toy camera called the Digital Harinezumi (harinezumi means porcupine in Japanese), pictured below in my hand:

digital harinezumi

In this day and age of inflating megapixels, improving low-light performance and extraordinary in-camera HD video…this little gadget certainly seems out of place.

It’s made in Japan by a company called SuperHeadz (what a cool name!), but I couldn’t find one in Tokyo before I jumped on the plane, so I picked this one up at a store in Singapore called 8 Storey Tree.

The camera shoots both still images (at 2MP) and video (at 640 x 480), with a unique look that reminds me of the way still photos and video looked back in the ’70s…a bit of nostalgia for people in my age bracket (or a history lesson for those of you who didn’t exist until the ’80s or later).

The camera was so small that I had to mount it on a Gorillapod in order to carry it around, which made most people do a double-take, since the set-up looked so ludicrous.

I only used the camera for video, and here’s the result…a visual scrapbook of a month on board the MV Golden Dawn:

(Fun in the Eastern Fields of Papua New Guinea from Tony Wu on Vimeo. Downloadable version available on iTunes also. Music by Artificial Intelligence in Texas via Music Alley.)

As you can see, this is the exact opposite of shooting with the new video-capable DSLRs. There was no way to change lenses, no way to control aperture or adjust shutter…basically, no way to do anything except point-and-shoot.

But I love the result!!!

Just goes to show that it’s not always necessary to have expensive hi-tech gear to have a good time.

Apparently, there’s a new version of the camera out now called the Digital Harinezumi 2, which shoots 3MP still and 640 x 480 video (with audio too in this latest version I think) if you’re interested in picking one up to play with.

The only question now is…should I get a housing built for it?

What A Wall

Wed, Jan 6th, 2010 | Places, Adventures 4 Comments

sea fan On the first of my two recent cruises aboard MV Golden Dawn, we visited the Ashmore reef system, which is separate from the Eastern Fields.

Although the currents were supposed to be ripping according to the tide charts and moon cycle, we didn’t have much luck catching the strong current that we wanted, but we did dive on some beautiful sites nonetheless.

One of those sites was a spectacular wall.

Walls are generally not my favourite locations, because it’s difficult to hold steady while taking photos, but this was one of the loveliest, if not the prettiest, wall dives I’ve ever done. It was…in a word…magical.

A single photograph can’t do justice to the splendour of a long wall teeming with life, but this image is a snapshot of one of the many healthy (and big!) fans.

The dive site didn’t have a name at that point, but Capt. Craig was kind enough to name it Wu Wu Wall for me.

How To Impress a Potato Cod

Mon, Jan 4th, 2010 | Marine Life, Places, Adventures 2 Comments

It’s the first Monday morning of the new year, and I’m back at my desk, staring at an incredibly long to-do list. I have lots of meetings to attend, calls to make, emails to answer, stuff to get, and things to send. Sigh.

Faced with such an overwhelming task list, the natural thing to do is procrastinate.

To kick off the year, here’s a profile shot of a potato cod (Epinephelus tukula) from the Carl’s Ultimate dive site in the Eastern Fields of Papua New Guinea.

potato cod

There are four of these fish resident at the site, two of which are big, one medium and one small. They’ve been there for many years, and I’m happy that all four were still happy and healthy during my recent visit.

If you travel to the Eastern Fields and have an opportunity to say hello to one or more of these friendly fish, keep in mind that the secret to getting good photos of potato cods is to impress them so much with your swimming skill and photographic prowess that they can’t help but stick around to watch you…as Julian so aptly demonstrates:

Missing Mojo

Fri, Dec 25th, 2009 | Funny Stuff, People, Places, Adventures 3 Comments

It’s Christmas morning. I was searching for a suitably festive image to post for the holidays, when I stopped and thought: “Nah, that’s boring. Everyone does that.”, and I decided to post something silly instead.

Phil immediately came to mind.

Phil was one of my fellow travellers aboard the MV Golden Dawn on my recent trip to PNG. He was a constant and reliable source of entertainment (the term “court jester” springs to mind), as is evident from this montage of Phil searching for his photographic mojo during the first day or two of the trip:

phil

Despite his resemblance to Dr Evil, Phil is actually much more of an Austin-Powers-type personality.

In case you were wondering, Phil located his misplaced mojo at some stage, as he stopped waving his hands around like a deranged supervillain…though he commenced singing excerpts from cheesy ’80s pop songs at random intervals.

Happy Holidays!

Frogfish Surprise

Mon, Dec 21st, 2009 | Marine Life, Places, Adventures 5 Comments

It’s only been a day or so since I’ve gotten back from my trips aboard the MV Golden Dawn, and I’m still struggling to catch up with correspondence, phone calls and meetings.

There’s a lot I want to write about and many images and video I’d like to post, but the way things are going, it doesn’t look like I’ll have much time before I head out again in a few days.

The story behind this photo is too good to keep quiet though.

frogfish

Craig, who’s the captain of the Golden Dawn, has been visiting the beautiful reefs of the Eastern Fields for something like 20 years. In that time, he’s apparently never come across a large frogfish like this one (I think it’s an Antennarius commerson).

So, when one of our divers spotted this fish and showed it to Craig, he was so happy that he literally shrieked(!) with joy. I was at least 20 metres away, around the corner, when I heard him making a racket.

I assumed something was wrong and rushed over, only to see a half dozen or so other puzzled divers…everyone wondering why Craig was giggling and clapping his hands together like a happy little schoolgirl who had one Twinkie too many during recess.

The frogfish was pretty big, maybe 30cm or so in length, but they’re not particularly rare…so I (and everyone else) didn’t quite get what fuss was about.

“At least no one’s in trouble”, I thought to myself, and lingered for a while to watch as other people took photos of the frogfish.

In hindsight, I think the reason Craig was so excited must be because he’s partial to pink.

Reality Check

Mon, Nov 23rd, 2009 | Musings, People, Places, Adventures 2 Comments

It’s been a hectic couple of days getting ready for the first group of people who’ll be getting on Golden Dawn with me. Captain Craig and the crew have been busy prepping the boat, and I’ve been helping out where I can. Everything’s looking good, and we’ll be picking passengers up at the airport and from Lololata Island Resort tomorrow.

In the midst of all the activity, Craig took me to see a little girl he’s been helping. Her name is Gaudi. She has meningitis…an infection that affects the outside of the brain. Gaudi just turned one year old recently, and she’s been sick for about four months.

Gaudi’s father Naume asked Craig for help when his daughter fell ill, and Craig, being the incredibly nice guy he is, has been sending money for the past four months…without ever having seen Gaudi.

Given that Craig has paid a lot of money over the past four months, you’d think Gaudi’s family were long-time friends of his. No. Craig met Naume, Gaudi’s father, only about a year ago. Craig had a bit of car trouble, and Naume happened to wander by with some mates and helped out. Naume catches and sells crabs for a living, so Craig has been buying crabs from him ever since.

That was the extent of their relationship.

Craig visited Gaudi in the hospital for the first time about ten days ago, and as he described it, was heartbroken by the sight. Little Gaudi was frozen stiff in pain, entirely unable to function.

When I saw her today, she was better. There was recognition in her eyes, and she even grabbed my finger…holding tight, if only for a moment. She’s still weak, but the medicine that Craig’s been paying for is apparently working. Gaudi is getting better.

It’s easy to get absorbed in our own lives, our own problems…all the tasks at hand. But experiences like this are a vital reality check…a reminder of the importance of helping other people. I’m not sure how much longer it’ll take for Gaudi to get better, but Craig’s committed to seeing her through to recovery.

AlI told, I spent about half an hour with Naume and his family at the hospital. I put together this little video for Craig to show passengers on Golden Dawn, in case any of his clients decide to chip in for Gaudi’s medicine. The people who were on Craig’s last cruise contributed about US$170, which will go a long way to sustaining Gaudi through her recovery.

Upcoming Adventures

Wed, Oct 7th, 2009 | Places, Adventures, Trips, Workshops No Comments

There has been one cancellation for the upcoming 8 to 19 December 2009 Eastern Fields trip in Papua New Guinea that Eric Cheng and I will be on.

If you’re looking for a really special place to visit during this year end, this is the place. You can expect to see some amazing stuff, and dive where very few people have.

silvertip shark

Click this link to read more about the trip, and let me know if you’re interested.

While I’m on the topic of trips, there are a few spaces available for The Night Safari trip to the Lembeh Strait in Feb/ March next year.

In case it’s not abundantly clear from the trip name, the focus on the excursion will be on diving and photographing at night. It’s a unique opportunity to experience the dark side of Lembeh and see a lot of interesting behaviour that day-divers miss. The entire resort will be operating on a night schedule, so it’ll be like a big sleep over, except that we’ll be diving and changing batteries the entire time.

octopus

Contact Sanah or David at Scubacam for more information about The Night Safari.

And finally, my humpback whale trips for 2010 are fully booked as of now. If you’d like to be notified if a space opens up, drop me a note via my contact form.

On Golden Dawn

Mon, Sep 21st, 2009 | People, Places, Adventures 4 Comments

For those of you who are joining Eric Cheng and me on our upcoming adventure in the Eastern Fields of Papua New Guinea aboard the MV Golden Dawn with Capt Craig Dewit, here’s a brief preview of what’s in store.

If you’ve never been aboard the Golden Dawn, Craig generally works hard, though it may not always appear like he’s doing much:

Craig

He generally knows where he’s going, though sometimes, you find yourself deposited in places where it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of good diving to be had:

johan

Also, you should know that Craig has a little camera and fancies himself a good photographer. So it’s best to humour him, or better yet, recruit other people to listen to him and marvel at his photographic finesse, as I did here:

camera

Because on occasion, he manages to drop you into really interesting situations for face-to-face personal encounters:

shark

Or group discussions:

humpheads

Or just to appreciate pristine, unspoiled scenery:

reef

The upcoming expeditions in November and December are fully booked, but Craig and I are plotting another trip to visit reefs he’s just discovered (i.e., no one has ever dived before).

If you’re ~~a glutton for punishment~~ adventurous and think you’d enjoy ~~picking on Craig~~ sharing a trip with Craig, I’ll post more information when we’ve figured out the details.

Random Rhinopias

Tue, Jul 28th, 2009 | Marine Life, Places, Adventures 3 Comments

In the process of clearing my hard drives, backing things up, re-arranging filing systems and such before my upcoming trip, I came across this image of a bright-orange Rhinopias.

rhinopias

The fish only appears bright-orange because of the illumination from the artificial light of my strobes. In real life, the cleverly disguised scorpionfish blended in almost perfectly with the green seaweed surrounding it…no doubt explaining the somewhat befuddled expression on its face at having been spotted.

I took the photo on one of the reefs (I think it was End Bommie) near Loloata Island Resort a few years ago, after wrapping up an expedition aboard MV Golden Dawn.

I can never figure out which Rhinopias species is which, so I won’t even attempt it. Let’s just call this one a Rhinopias tangerine, because I like tangerines.

Eastern Fields Extravaganza!

Tue, May 12th, 2009 | Trips, Workshops 2 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.

Kokopo Cowboy

Mon, Jan 26th, 2009 | People, Places, Adventures 2 Comments

Sometimes, you just have to take a picture.

cowboy

Canon Eos 5D, 1/100, f5.6, ISO400, 420EX, Inon Z220 in Kokopo, Papua New Guinea.

Kokopo Cardinalfish

Sun, Jan 25th, 2009 | Marine Life, Places, Adventures 1 Comment

Last July, I was on MV Golden Dawn just off Kokopo, which is the center of activity in the Rabaul area of East New Britain, PNG these days, given that Rabaul town is covered in ash and there is regular volcanic activity spewing dust, red-hot rocks, ash and noxious fumes into the air and onto Rabaul.

We were moored just off shore, with a muck bottom about 20m to 25m below. Everyone else geared up and went for a wreck dive. I chose to stay behind, and dived down on the mooring line to look around.

A bunch of discarded tires were part of the mooring set up, and around/ inside/ among the tires were substantial communities of life…eels, stonefish, cleaner shrimp and lots of fish.

eggs

Given that it was two days before full moon, I kept my eyes open for courtship activity, which tends to happen around full and new moons. Sure enough, there were a couple of species of cardinalfish around the tires, both engaging in mating rituals. A few were carrying eggs, perhaps fertilised around the previous new moon.

With murky water, swarms of fish, plus tires/ chains/ ropes flopping all over the place, it took many(!) tries to isolate a single fish. This one had an enormous mouthful of eggs, ripe enough that I could easily make out the baby eyes.

In case you don’t know, male cardinalfish care for fertilised eggs in their mouths, occasionally spitting them out to aerate them, which is what’s going on in the picture below.

aerating eggs