Life in the grand aquarium, Bonaire, Netherland Antilles
I imagine for most people, a walk through the forest is one that involves mostly observing trees and other plantlife, and an occasional animal. Imagine just the reverse, where your field of vision is surrounded by animal life, and only an occasional plant or two. Sound only like a Disney film? What you just imagined is much of what it is like on a reef.
This aspect of the ocean just mesmerized me when I first started diving. Everything I was looking at was some form of animal life, with rarely a plant seen. Things that moved, things that didn’t move ,and things that looked more like some alien planter than an animal. Your definition of what is an animal is becomes a lot broader, no matter how much you studied biology.
Of course you aren’t walking through down here, you are swimming weightlessly. Stepping is a not something anyone should be doing. If the poisonous fish disguised as rocks, barbed tails waiting to strike from underneath the sand if stepped on, or spines that will pierce through most materials quite easily aren’t enough to deter you, then simply preservation of the animal life should. Fin kicks and handling of creatures can be death sentences. It is a different type of forest for sure.
Despite the critters that might give some people the creeps, it remains the most enchanting place I have ever visited. So much of our focus as landlubbing humans is on preservation of land-based regions. Considering 75% of this planet is covered in water, and all life here depends on the health of our oceans, it is a forest that many people should become much more familiar with.
“Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.” – Sylvia Earle, from her book The World is Blue
About these photos
Vase Sponge and reef life
I continue to process images from my Bonaire trip this year. I am a pretty slow editor. Many friends ask for a slide show when I return and I often don’t have the heart to tell them it might be a few months. By then, they have usually forgotten I went on a trip. 🙂 These were both made with my D700 in my new Nauticam housing, and my Nikon 17-35 f2.8 AFS lens, and two Inon Z240 strobes.
With my last dive trip being 5 years ago, I was a bit out of practice in remembering all the little rules about shooting wide underwater. Balancing ambient light with strobe light, trying to minimize backscatter (particles in the water that show up in your images like snow if your strobes aren’t aimed correctly), and then also trying to learn a new housing and new strobes is a lot to juggle. Oh yeah, those little things like keeping track of how much air you have left and time at depth are a bit important. You sometimes can forget you are on life support down in this forest.
Things started coming together a bit more as the week progressed. I saw the first image above and immediately thought of welcome gates into an underwater forest. The second image is a colorful grouping of corals and other reef life with a backdrop of the underwater forest. An amazing forest indeed.
Thank you Irina. Yes, you will find most professional u/w photographers using DSLRs these days.
And oops, I realized I didn’t respond to John’s question (sorry John).
There are a lot of housing manufacturers out there. I would recommend starting perhaps with Ikelite’s website http://www.ikelite.com/ . They make a lot of housings for a number of different cameras.
Hi,
Very nice pictures, and – underwater photography seems to be adapted to DSLRs – I was not aware of that !
So I would like to join John while asking if you are aware for housing for Canon 5 II mark, or Canon 450 D (since I have both models) ?
Best regards, and good luck for the future underwater shots !
Wow, those images are breathtaking. I didn’t know that life under water is so colourful, your photographs open up a whole new world 🙂 I particularly love the textures and details of the vase sponge… my compliments.
Beautiful images, Mark! The underwater world is such a fascinating place. I really love the vertical frame you posted, it has such great colors in the foreground and what on first glance looks to be plants in the background. Amazing how the coral grows in the same sorts of branching patterns as terrestrial plants, both trying to best take advantage of the light. Great quote by Sylvia Earle, too!
Thanks a lot Pat!
PJ, it is hard to have it forefront on anyone’s mind when it is such a foreign world to most people. But as Sylvia Earl put it, the oceans are part of every breath we take.
Anita, you are very welcome and thank you.
You have made me far more aware of an unfamiliar world. Because I have never seen sights like this, the images present a marvelous fantasy life of strange creatures and plants with mysterious lives. Your beautiful work makes these photos a great gift to those of us who will never see this life. Thanks for the “invitation” to tag along.
You’re right. few of us really think about the life underwater. You’re right too — we really need to. Great stuff Mark. Thanks for the post.
The colors are vibrant for me and of a world I see very little of. When you do get a slide show done give me a holler and bring the popcorn.
Well, what more can be said, Mark. Absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed the post and the words about the animals, seen and unseen. Thanks for ‘bringing us along’ on your underwater forest walk. 🙂
You are welcome to join me anytime Paul. You just might have to leave Hobs behind on this one.
These are beautiful, Mark. You’ve balanced the light sources very nicely. And the water looks so clear! It must be very nice to come away from a trip with such great work.
Thanks a lot Ken. Trust me, you are only seeing the stuff I care to show. 😉
Mark, these photos are striking. I don’t think you forgot much of anything about shooting wide underwater, at least it’s not indicated by these results. I would be so lost in the sights and photographic moment with scenes like this, it seems it would be frustrating to be limited in the amount of time spent at depth, but then…
“Fin kicks and handling of creatures can be death sentences.”
…maybe not. 😉
Excellent job my friend.
It is still hard not to get lost even having quite a few dives under my belt Earl. Same photographic principles apply, simplify, simplify, simplify. So I took along with me on this trip many of the concepts I often work with in doing above water landscapes.
I meant … death sentences for the creatures, not for the human. 🙂
Thanks a bunch.
I’m glad you feel the same I too find underwater to be the most “enchanting place I have ever visited”. If you think its nice in Bonaire you’d be blown away by the red sea or Indonesia! I’ve not been tempted to go back to Bonaire I must say because I find in the red sea its less of a brown forrest and more a beautiful and amazing garden of life! I hope you can get there one day with your new kit 🙂
Both the Red Sea and Indonesia are on our places to see eventually. Red Sea is a bit closer to you than me though. 😉 Having been to Fiji, I know what you mean about the colors, the soft corals there and abundance of fish were outstanding. But for now, I relish in what I have from Bonaire. 🙂
You should try Cayman – its much closer to you and its really nice. These are my two trip galleries there to give you a flavour (althought the 2011 isnt quite finished)
http://www.pbase.com/suzy_walker/cayman2011
http://www.pbase.com/suzy_walker/cayman2010
We go with Alex Mustard on his workshop because the resort pulls out the stops for him and we get to do stuff (like the dawn stingray shoot) that many people just dont get to do. Plus he’s a really nice guy who knows how to take great u/w photos 🙂 He does them every Jan.
I’m curious what are you using for an underwater housing?
Hi John, it is a Nauticam housing for my Nikon D700.
Thanks Mark…I appreciate the response. Do you have a middle of the road housing that you would recommend Canon 5D Mark II?