It was ages ago now but here's the awesome video of Alex Mustard's Wetpixel macro workshop that I attended in October 2013. Lots of great memories, thoughtfully and painstakingly put together.
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Monday, December 01, 2014
Diving Pulau Hantu, November 2014
I joined GS-Diving for an afternoon trip to Pulau Hantu this past Sunday. The boat was the Dolphin Explorer and departed from the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club. We did a 2 dive trip, leaving the dock at 1.30pm and arriving back at 6.30pm. The boat ride was about 60 min to the dive site, which was the Ghost Wreck, a small wooden wreck in about 10m of water.
Visibility was 2-4m and quite milky. The wreck, though small, had a lot of interesting life. The highlight for me was seeing a beautiful orange/brown ceratosoma trilobatum. We also saw lots of blue dragons (pteraeolidia ianthina), a few large orbicular batfish, a school of large sweetlips, and 2 chromodoris atromarginata. On our first dive, we also spent a few minutes on the nearby reef, which was ok but not as interesting as the wreck.
Overall, the trip was short and sweet. Nice boat, short boat rides, and decent macro life. I'd do it again.
Ceratosoma trilobatum. 60mm, 1/320s, f/20, ISO 100
Visibility was 2-4m and quite milky. The wreck, though small, had a lot of interesting life. The highlight for me was seeing a beautiful orange/brown ceratosoma trilobatum. We also saw lots of blue dragons (pteraeolidia ianthina), a few large orbicular batfish, a school of large sweetlips, and 2 chromodoris atromarginata. On our first dive, we also spent a few minutes on the nearby reef, which was ok but not as interesting as the wreck.
Overall, the trip was short and sweet. Nice boat, short boat rides, and decent macro life. I'd do it again.
Dog conch ((laevistrombus canarium). 60mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Sunday, November 09, 2014
Bintan Island Photos, November 2014
Here are some of the photos I took in Bintan last weekend.
Snooted spider crab (achaeus spinosus). 105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/32, ISO 100
Mating doto bella and eggs. 105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/32, ISO 100
Rosy spindle cowrie (phenacovolva rosea). 105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Bornella stellifer. 105mm, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Monday, November 03, 2014
Diving Bintan Island, November 2014
This past weekend, I dove Bintan Island for the first time. I have been looking for a a decent place to do weekend trips since I've outgrown the options of Aur or Tioman. Aur is off limits these days and I've had enough of Tioman because of the awful travel logistics and the bad accommodations.
It is now the tail end of the diving season before the monsoon starts. I did 2 dives each on Saturday and Sunday and wasn't able to do more because the winds pick up in the afternoon, making diving conditions unsafe. I dove with Tasik Divers Bintan, which is affiliated with Tasik Ria Resort in Manado. While it is a new operation, having just completed its first full season, some of its guides come from Manado and bring experience and high standards with them. I thought the operation was quite well run and the guides know how to handle photographers well.
The diving itself is not bad. All our dives were near Trikora Beach, where the diving is best described as white sand muck diving. I saw lots of crabs, shrimp, and nudibranchs, including 2 rare bornella sp., a leaf with about 10 tiny costasiella kuroshimae, and what appeared to be hundreds of pairs of mating doto bella. I saw also a beautiful zebra batfish, 2 cowries, and a coconut octopus. Visibility averaged 5m, which is doable for macro photography but not wide angle. There are quite a lot of suspended particles in the water, especially when the current picks up, and this makes it vital to use creative lighting techniques or a snoot to minimize backscatter. I understand that currents can be very strong and it is important to check the tide tables before planning a trip. I was told that night dives are spectacular but wasn't able to do any myself.
I stayed at Spa Villa Bintan, which was very clean and comfortable as a diving base. The food is so so. They have wifi but it can be spotty.
Logistics are indeed a lot better than Aur or Tioman. The ferry to Bintan Island leaves from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and takes about 60 minutes. And then a 60 min car ride takes you to Trikora Beach in the east, where the diving is. The pace is also a lot more relaxed than at Aur or Tioman as travel times are short and there is no need to rush at any point.
Overall, Bintan makes for a good weekend diving trip. I will be back.
It is now the tail end of the diving season before the monsoon starts. I did 2 dives each on Saturday and Sunday and wasn't able to do more because the winds pick up in the afternoon, making diving conditions unsafe. I dove with Tasik Divers Bintan, which is affiliated with Tasik Ria Resort in Manado. While it is a new operation, having just completed its first full season, some of its guides come from Manado and bring experience and high standards with them. I thought the operation was quite well run and the guides know how to handle photographers well.
The diving itself is not bad. All our dives were near Trikora Beach, where the diving is best described as white sand muck diving. I saw lots of crabs, shrimp, and nudibranchs, including 2 rare bornella sp., a leaf with about 10 tiny costasiella kuroshimae, and what appeared to be hundreds of pairs of mating doto bella. I saw also a beautiful zebra batfish, 2 cowries, and a coconut octopus. Visibility averaged 5m, which is doable for macro photography but not wide angle. There are quite a lot of suspended particles in the water, especially when the current picks up, and this makes it vital to use creative lighting techniques or a snoot to minimize backscatter. I understand that currents can be very strong and it is important to check the tide tables before planning a trip. I was told that night dives are spectacular but wasn't able to do any myself.
I stayed at Spa Villa Bintan, which was very clean and comfortable as a diving base. The food is so so. They have wifi but it can be spotty.
Logistics are indeed a lot better than Aur or Tioman. The ferry to Bintan Island leaves from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and takes about 60 minutes. And then a 60 min car ride takes you to Trikora Beach in the east, where the diving is. The pace is also a lot more relaxed than at Aur or Tioman as travel times are short and there is no need to rush at any point.
Overall, Bintan makes for a good weekend diving trip. I will be back.
Saturday, November 01, 2014
Bali Photos August 2014
Here's a selection of photos from Bali:
Selfie on deco at Gili Tepekong. Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 100
Huge gorgonian sea fan on the USAT Liberty. Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/320s, f/13, ISO 100
School of bumphead parrotfish on a dawn dive an the USAT Liberty. Tokina 10-17mm @ 11mm, 1/30s, f/4.5, ISO 100
Huge soft coral cluster on the USAT Liberty. Tokina 10-17mm @ 14mm, 1/30s, f/10, ISO 100
Costasiella kuroshimae. 105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Stiliger ornatus. 105mm & Subsee +5 diopter, 1/320s, f/20, ISO 100
Doto sp. with eggs. 105mm & Subsee +10 diopter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Doto bella. 105mm & Subsee +10 diopter, 1/200s, f/20, ISO 100
Bali Trip Report, August 2014
It’s now 2 months after my 9 day diving trip
to Bali, but as they say, better late than never. It was a fantastic trip indeed. I spent the first half of the week tech
diving with Leon and
the second half focusing on photography in Tulamben.
It was a very interesting and varied
week. We started out diving in Lake
Batur, a crater lake in northeast Bali.
Our mission was to take some video to help a local government geologist
in his research on what’s going on in the lake.
Our video proved to him the existence of lava flowers at the bottom of
the lake, which was something nobody knew or expected. So the 1m vis and 22 degree water was worth
it.
Leon and I then went on to do a few tech dives
at Gili Tepekong and Padang Bai. I had a
catastrophic wing failure at our 60m dive at Gili Tepekong. I’m thankful for my GUE training and good
buddy, which made the consequences of the failure an inconvenience rather than
a problem. I managed my buoyancy with my
drysuit and SMB and got through the dive and 30 min of deco stops. At Padang Bai, I saw my first ceratosoma
magnificum and janolus sp. just below 30m but could not get a decent shot of
them as I had my wide angle lens on.
Then we did Nusa Penida, which was hugely
disappointing as our dive boat refused to go to Crystal Bay or Manta
Point. Nusa Penida is completely
overrated unless you see mola molas or mantas, which is the whole point of
going there.
Then we went up to Tulamben to dive the USAT Liberty
and surrounding area. The Liberty is one
of my favorite wrecks. It is covered in
soft coral and all manner of marine life have made it their home. There are huge groupers, snappers, sweetlips,
and lots of small critters all over the wreck.
With Leon, we dove the wreck on doubles and stages and did 2 very long deco
dives, which gave us a lot of time to explore the wreck thoroughly.
Finally, my last dive with Leon was a 2.5 hour
staged dive with a 75 min deco, which he calls the Traverse. It starts at the Drop Off in Tulamben and
ends at Macro Point. We spent most of
the dive at 45m and saw some very healthy reefs along the way that rarely get
dived. We saw a large reef shark, a
whitetip shark, barracuda, snapper, and lots of cleaning action.
After Leon took off, I changed gears to focus
on photography. I checked in to the Liberty Dive Resort in
Tulamben. I had reached out to Jeff
Mullins at www.reefwreckandcritter.com
to request a dive guide who was experienced in dealing with photographers, and
I wasn’t disappointed with my guide Tisnu.
We would wake up at 5am each day to do a dawn dive on the Liberty and
shoot the school of bumphead parrotfish as they left the wreck for the day,
then spend the afternoon muck diving and looking for tiny critters. He found me every critter on my list and
more, and planned our diving schedule to maximize the photo ops and minimize
running into other divers.
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Bali, Here I Come
I am spending next week diving with Living Seas in Bali. Living Seas set up shop in Bali about a year ago and is fully set up for technical diving and bespoke adventures. We will be heading all over the island to dive some common and some off the beaten path sites. We are going to be diving Padang Bai (southeast), Nusa Penida (island off the southeast), Lake Batur (inland northeast) and Tulamben (northeast). Nusa Penida is home to a mola mola and manta cleaning station. Fingers crossed to have good conditions, reasonable vis, and responsible divers so I can get some decent photos. Tulamben is home to the USAT Liberty, a 125m long US Army cargo ship torpedoed by the Japanese in WWII and one of the best wreck diving sites in the world.
We'll be doing a mixture of technical and recreational dives, depending on what's hot. At the tail end of the trip, I have arranged an additional 2 days of guided diving in Tulamben with Jeff Mullins' Reef Wreck & Critter focused on photography.
Bali has great diving and very diverse marine life, but the obvious problem is overdiving and diver damage. There are also a lot of unscrupulous dive guides who have no qualms manipulating the marine life. I'm hoping to avoid the crowds and dive at pristine sites given all the arrangements that I've made. Also, Bali is largely unexplored below recreational depths so I'm hoping that we'll be lucky and get some surprises on our technical dives.
We'll be doing a mixture of technical and recreational dives, depending on what's hot. At the tail end of the trip, I have arranged an additional 2 days of guided diving in Tulamben with Jeff Mullins' Reef Wreck & Critter focused on photography.
Bali has great diving and very diverse marine life, but the obvious problem is overdiving and diver damage. There are also a lot of unscrupulous dive guides who have no qualms manipulating the marine life. I'm hoping to avoid the crowds and dive at pristine sites given all the arrangements that I've made. Also, Bali is largely unexplored below recreational depths so I'm hoping that we'll be lucky and get some surprises on our technical dives.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Diving Tioman Island, June 2014
We had another fun weekend trip to Tioman Island last weekend. The school holiday traffic made the journey to and from Tioman Island very painful, but the diving was worth it. Highlights of the trip were bumphead parrotfish, 2 turtles, and lots of clownfish and anemones. I had a lot of fun experimenting with the Tokina 10-17mm and Zen 4 inch dome port. I'm finding it challenging to avoid/minimize backscatter in CFWA shots but am making progress. Examining some of the pictures, I am not happy with the corner sharpness of the Tokina 10-17mm and mini dome at f/8, so I am going to try f/13-14 as my base aperture from now on.
Hard coral landscape in the shallows. Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 100
Giant sea fan. Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/320s, f/13, ISO 100
Turtle. Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm, 1/125s, f/8, ISO 100
Monday, June 02, 2014
Diving Tioman Island, May 2014
A couple of weekends ago, we had an excellent trip to Tioman Island. It was Taitti's last trip to Tioman for now and a very apt farewell as the conditions and marine life were as good as any of us had ever experienced in Tioman. It was also my first trip out with my Tokina 10-17mm lens and Zen 4 inch dome port, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of pictures that I was able to get.
Highlights of the trip were having a chance to shoot Grouchy, the resident turtle on Roger's House Reef, seeing 2 bumphead parrotfish and a cuttlefish couple laying eggs at Chebeh, lots of anemones and clownfish at Malang, the biggest spiny lobster I have ever seen on the House Reef, and lots of schools of juvenile fish in general. The cuttlefish laying eggs in particular was very special for me as I felt blessed to witness such a tender underwater moment. I saw her placing her eggs within the folds of a large hard coral head while her partner looked on.
This trip renewed my interest in Tioman and left me very grateful that we have such good diving so close to home. Weekend trips to Tioman are tiring because of the long travel time and many transfers but totally worth it for this quality of diving. I had a lot of fun with the 10-17mm lens and I'll definitely be spending more time with it learning how to shoot wide angle.
Goodbye Taitti and come back to dive with us again soon!
Highlights of the trip were having a chance to shoot Grouchy, the resident turtle on Roger's House Reef, seeing 2 bumphead parrotfish and a cuttlefish couple laying eggs at Chebeh, lots of anemones and clownfish at Malang, the biggest spiny lobster I have ever seen on the House Reef, and lots of schools of juvenile fish in general. The cuttlefish laying eggs in particular was very special for me as I felt blessed to witness such a tender underwater moment. I saw her placing her eggs within the folds of a large hard coral head while her partner looked on.
This trip renewed my interest in Tioman and left me very grateful that we have such good diving so close to home. Weekend trips to Tioman are tiring because of the long travel time and many transfers but totally worth it for this quality of diving. I had a lot of fun with the 10-17mm lens and I'll definitely be spending more time with it learning how to shoot wide angle.
Goodbye Taitti and come back to dive with us again soon!
Grouchy the turtle. Tokina 10-17mm @ 17mm, 1/200s, f/8, ISO 100
Broadclub cuttlefish. Tokina 10-17mm @ 17mm, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 100
Giant spiny lobster. 60mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 100
Diving Catalina Island, March 2014
When I was in Los Angeles in March, I had the opportunity to sneak in a day of diving so I contacted Scott Gietler, owner of Underwater Photography Guide, Bluewater Photo Store, and most recently, Bluewater Travel. He arranged a day trip to Catalina Island, about 1 hour south of Long Beach by boat. While Scott was unable to join the dive trip, Brent Durand did instead. Brent is a cool, laidback dude who has tons of experience with photography and diving Californian waters, and was the perfect buddy.
We met bright and early at Long Beach and after a slow start, were on our way. Catalina Island is very accessible from LA and is a popular destination for short trips for both divers and land visitors. We spent the day moored around the island and did 2 leisurely dives among the kelp forests. The kelp forests are quite a unique underwater environment. Kelp is a type of gigantic leafy seaweed that stretches from the rocky bottom all the way to the surface. The fronds create a natural shelter for juvenile fish so the kelp forests tend to be quite fishy. The highlight of the dives was seeing a few giant sea bass, which can grow up to 2m long, in the distance. During the surface interval, we had a friendly baby sea lion hop onto the back of our boat and hang out for about an hour, which I understand doesn't happen too often! We had a very nice sunny day but the water was around 13C, which was a little chilly in my DUI 30/30 drysuit.
My drysuit neck seal had deteriorated significantly since the last time I used it and I had to duct tape it to my neck to keep the seal watertight. I had to be very careful not to move my head too much to avoid any leaks, and as a result, I wasn't very productive in taking photos.
It was a fun day out and a cool first experience in the kelp forests. Next time, I will be back with a wide angle lens to try to capture the full splendor of the kelp forests.
We met bright and early at Long Beach and after a slow start, were on our way. Catalina Island is very accessible from LA and is a popular destination for short trips for both divers and land visitors. We spent the day moored around the island and did 2 leisurely dives among the kelp forests. The kelp forests are quite a unique underwater environment. Kelp is a type of gigantic leafy seaweed that stretches from the rocky bottom all the way to the surface. The fronds create a natural shelter for juvenile fish so the kelp forests tend to be quite fishy. The highlight of the dives was seeing a few giant sea bass, which can grow up to 2m long, in the distance. During the surface interval, we had a friendly baby sea lion hop onto the back of our boat and hang out for about an hour, which I understand doesn't happen too often! We had a very nice sunny day but the water was around 13C, which was a little chilly in my DUI 30/30 drysuit.
My drysuit neck seal had deteriorated significantly since the last time I used it and I had to duct tape it to my neck to keep the seal watertight. I had to be very careful not to move my head too much to avoid any leaks, and as a result, I wasn't very productive in taking photos.
It was a fun day out and a cool first experience in the kelp forests. Next time, I will be back with a wide angle lens to try to capture the full splendor of the kelp forests.
Curious Garibaldi. 60mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 100
Spiny lobster. 60mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 100
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Lembeh Photos October 2013
Here are some of the highlights from the Lembeh photo workshop:
Ceratosoma tenue and emperor shrimp. 60mm & 1.4x teleconverter, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Peacock mantis shrimp. 60mm & 1.4x teleconverter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 100
Juvenile pinnate batfish. 60mm & 1.4x teleconverter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/16, ISO 100
Hairy frogfish. 105mm, 1/320s, f/20, ISO 100
Blue ring octopus. 105mm, 1/320s, f/18, ISO 100
Cuthona yamasui. 60mm & Subsee +10 diopter in 1.3x crop mode, 1/320s, f/25, ISO 100
Marionia pustulosa. 105mm, 1/320s, f/22, ISO 100
Mating mandarinfish. 105mm, 1/320s, f/13, ISO 100
Lembeh Trip Report, October 2013
I attended a most excellent underwater photography workshop in October 2013 that I am only writing about now. My wife’s awesome wedding present to me was, in addition to the new camera set up, a dream diving trip. So I chose to attend Wetpixel’s Lembeh Macro Workshop at Lembeh Resort, led by famed marine biologist and underwater photographer Dr. Alex Mustard and Wetpixel editor Adam Hanlon. And it did not disappoint.
It was a very productive trip. We were blessed with prolific marine life and all the strange critters were out in droves. Despite having been to a number of muck diving havens such as Anilao, Bali, and even Lembeh itself (twice previously), I still recorded a number of first sightings on this trip: Denise’s pygmy seahorse, ceratosoma nudibranch (6), paddleflap rhinopias, blue ring octopus (3), cuthona yamasui, marionia pustulosa, thecacera pacifica, Lembeh hairy frogfish, and juvenile pinnate batfish.
Alex more than lived up to the hype. Obviously, he is an excellent and visionary photographer and it was great to see him in action. But what made his workshop extra special was his passion for making outstanding photos and especially his strong desire to teach us how to do so for ourselves. He is a strong communicator and put a ton of effort into his presentations, demonstrations, and lectures to make sure that we grasped the techniques and added them to our shooting toolboxes. Alex is all about originality and pushed us to take artistic, novel, and differentiated photos.
It was also a real pleasure to be in the company of many other excellent photographers, many of whom have won prestigious awards and been published! I learned a tremendous amount from speaking to and diving with the other trip participants.
Lembeh Resort is a beautiful, high-end resort for divers. It is designed with respect for nature in mind and the rooms are built around the trees and vegetation. The practices are eco-friendly, with no plastic bottles on the premises and minimal waste. Rooms are comfortable and clean. The staff is very friendly and well trained. The food is plentiful but I thought it was so so.
The dive operation, Critters@Lembeh, is professionally run and is a high quality operation. The dive guides are truly excellent – they are very knowledgeable about the local species, try hard to find good subjects, and are passionate about what they do. The boats all run smoothly and you don’t have to worry about carrying anything yourself or setting up your own gear as they do that all for you. The camera room is great, with individual table space for each photographer. There is plenty of room for gear, accessories, and battery charging. Between the dive operation and camera room, Lembeh Resort takes care of all of a serious underwater photographer’s needs. But perhaps the most differentiated aspect of the resort for photographers is the fact that they have a photo pro, Sascha Janson, based there full-time. I found him invaluable for his advice, local knowledge, and resourcefulness in dealing with camera issues.
It was a very productive trip. We were blessed with prolific marine life and all the strange critters were out in droves. Despite having been to a number of muck diving havens such as Anilao, Bali, and even Lembeh itself (twice previously), I still recorded a number of first sightings on this trip: Denise’s pygmy seahorse, ceratosoma nudibranch (6), paddleflap rhinopias, blue ring octopus (3), cuthona yamasui, marionia pustulosa, thecacera pacifica, Lembeh hairy frogfish, and juvenile pinnate batfish.
Alex more than lived up to the hype. Obviously, he is an excellent and visionary photographer and it was great to see him in action. But what made his workshop extra special was his passion for making outstanding photos and especially his strong desire to teach us how to do so for ourselves. He is a strong communicator and put a ton of effort into his presentations, demonstrations, and lectures to make sure that we grasped the techniques and added them to our shooting toolboxes. Alex is all about originality and pushed us to take artistic, novel, and differentiated photos.
It was also a real pleasure to be in the company of many other excellent photographers, many of whom have won prestigious awards and been published! I learned a tremendous amount from speaking to and diving with the other trip participants.
Lembeh Resort is a beautiful, high-end resort for divers. It is designed with respect for nature in mind and the rooms are built around the trees and vegetation. The practices are eco-friendly, with no plastic bottles on the premises and minimal waste. Rooms are comfortable and clean. The staff is very friendly and well trained. The food is plentiful but I thought it was so so.
The dive operation, Critters@Lembeh, is professionally run and is a high quality operation. The dive guides are truly excellent – they are very knowledgeable about the local species, try hard to find good subjects, and are passionate about what they do. The boats all run smoothly and you don’t have to worry about carrying anything yourself or setting up your own gear as they do that all for you. The camera room is great, with individual table space for each photographer. There is plenty of room for gear, accessories, and battery charging. Between the dive operation and camera room, Lembeh Resort takes care of all of a serious underwater photographer’s needs. But perhaps the most differentiated aspect of the resort for photographers is the fact that they have a photo pro, Sascha Janson, based there full-time. I found him invaluable for his advice, local knowledge, and resourcefulness in dealing with camera issues.
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