https://d1ver.com/ Recent content on Critters and stuff Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Sun, 18 Apr 2021 12:12:14 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/adventures-in-a-digital-world/ Sun, 18 Apr 2021 12:12:14 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/adventures-in-a-digital-world/ TLDR - just because your import finished, does NOT mean it is safe to wipe your card… My most recent “Import” corrupted my images, the following are not filters I applied. This is simply what happened as a result of some data changing/being lost/not being perfectly copied from my XQD card over some circuitry and on to my HDD. If I hadn’t noticed, I would have lost my images. Not particularly a problem for this dive day, but if I had got that NatGeo cover shot, would have been devastating. https://d1ver.com/blog/bluewater-diving-off-dana-point-ca/ Mon, 08 Feb 2021 18:59:19 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/bluewater-diving-off-dana-point-ca/ Very fortunate to get the call to go drift with friends through the ocean in about 2,000 feet of water. The “during the day” version of blackwater diving was a huge success! Tons of palegic drifters, a layer of jellyfish soup and some very sizeable salp chains and sea butterflies. Although, I can only claim “allegedly” as I failed to get any images…. paper nautilus! And more firsts; my first molas on a kelp paddy! https://d1ver.com/blog/catalina-muck/ Sun, 03 Jan 2021 10:53:05 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/catalina-muck/ A great start to the year diving Catalina with friends. It was my first time seeing our local mantis shrimp (Hemisquilla ensigera), and I have to say, they may rival (or at least match) the peacock from the Indo Pacific. If nothing else, they are certainly the lesser photographed. The muck site was also great for a general muck dive, with plenty of other small hiden critters like the pike blennies. https://d1ver.com/blog/diving-palos-verdes-and-a-few-assorted-local-dives/ Tue, 06 Oct 2020 19:10:40 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/diving-palos-verdes-and-a-few-assorted-local-dives/ It has been a good while since my last post of images, because well, 2020. Outside of a large break in diving, motivation to sit on my PC had been pretty minimal. If you are on Instagram, you can find me a bit more active there. But just a bit. Small story time. I have finally made time to start exploring some of the great diving off Palos Verdes! Very thankful to get some invites to join other local shooters and nudibranch enthusiasts! https://d1ver.com/blog/topside-with-the-nikon-500mm-pf/ Wed, 25 Dec 2019 14:31:31 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/topside-with-the-nikon-500mm-pf/ Over the holidays, I rented a longer lens (Nikon 500mm f/5.6) for shooting topside while visiting family in Wyoming, near where I grew up. I lived in Wyoming long before I really got into photography so it was fun to shoot common subjects. I also did a mad dash out to the Salton Sea in hopes of finding burrowing owls, and hit the jackpot and found a very cooperative subject. https://d1ver.com/blog/the-monterey-shootout/ Thu, 29 Aug 2019 20:16:25 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/the-monterey-shootout/ Another Backscatter Monterey Shootout Monterey Shootout in the books. Everyone else is so much quicker than I am to get their images and FB posts up. It was a fun shootout, like past years, full of friendly faces and of course, it’s always great to get out diving. Monterey is something else, I just wish it were a few hours closer :) 8 dives over 3 days, 6 for the shootout, and 2 of those were a first for me diving the beautiful (and long surface swim) Point Lobos! https://d1ver.com/blog/last-minute-anilao-philippines-trip/ Sun, 05 May 2019 14:43:54 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/last-minute-anilao-philippines-trip/ An absolutely last minute trip, there was about a 30 hour window from the booking of my flight to the check-in at LAX. With nothing particular planned for subjects and shots, I jumped on every available blackwater dive and worked on some more creative lighting type of shots. Of course, Crystal Blue was fantastic, even better than last time; not that there was anything lacking from my first trip there a few years ago. https://d1ver.com/blog/attack-of-the-dorks/ Sun, 25 Nov 2018 15:54:45 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/attack-of-the-dorks/ I love/hate sheephead. They are such dorks, often perplexed by their reflection in the dome port (or anything shiny, for that matter) and give some pleasing colors to contrast the blue water. But, they can be little shits too. Usually my gloves are thick enough that I’m only startled when they bite, but this time it actually kind of hurt as he managed to get the whole tip of my pinky. https://d1ver.com/blog/salps-rockfish-schools-and-cabezon-off-the-oil-rigs/ Tue, 08 May 2018 21:43:41 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/salps-rockfish-schools-and-cabezon-off-the-oil-rigs/ The oil rigs are still one of the most unique dives I have done, and I’m not sure why I don’t dive them more often! I just checked, and February of 2016… yikes. It was a good day on the Pac Star with Bluewater Photo although waves picked up around the 3rd dive. The top 60 or 70 fsw was a bit murky but deeper down past 100 fsw, it opened up and there were some nice schools of rockfish. https://d1ver.com/blog/tuna-crabs-and-sevengill-sharks/ Sat, 07 Apr 2018 14:29:33 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/tuna-crabs-and-sevengill-sharks/ Wooohooo! My first non-horned/swell/leopardwayoffinthedistance shark encounter while diving! Swimming along and out of the murky water, a shadowy blob turned into a large 6-7 ft sevengill! How’s that for a first encounters! And of course, freakin’ tuna crabs make me laugh. I may or may not have been torpedoing into them head first laughing like a crazy person. They are a much cuter photo bomber then garabaldi. https://d1ver.com/blog/getting-cray-zy-ice-and-high-altitude-diving-in-the-sierra-nevada/ Tue, 13 Feb 2018 19:18:40 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/getting-cray-zy-ice-and-high-altitude-diving-in-the-sierra-nevada/ I couldn’t have asked for a better group of complete strangers to spend my weekend with ice diving the cold lakes near Mammoth. Well, technically ice diving Mammoth Lake and just normal cold water diving Silver and June Lake. And complete strangers is a bit of a stretch too. The diving community in Southern California feels surprisingly small, so I have several friends who know parts of the group but having never met any of them, I had no real expectations so I was pleasantly surprised. https://d1ver.com/blog/end-of-the-year.../ Sat, 13 Jan 2018 11:32:46 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/end-of-the-year.../ Some images from the last couple dives of last year that I haven’t got to posting yet. A few of these were probably the best visibility I’ve shot wide angle for in all of my Laguna diving. With clear blue water and brightly colored sea fans, I could probably convince a few people this was from the tropics, but nope, Laguna! https://d1ver.com/blog/playing-around-in-black-and-white/ Sat, 30 Dec 2017 11:23:59 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/playing-around-in-black-and-white/ I squeezed in a handful of dives at the end of 2017 and haven’t yet posted them all! Here are some experiments with black and white. And I’ll admit, I black and white is usually my fallback when the lighting is a bit funky, but some of these were actually planned! https://d1ver.com/blog/the-goofball-gang/ Mon, 25 Dec 2017 13:48:42 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/the-goofball-gang/ The stars aligned, epic conditions AND having the right lens on. Normally I (quite literally) have to bat these fish away when I’m shooting macro as they, on occasion, eat my subjects. Today however, was an entirely different story. Great to see some kelp and 35+ ft of visibility, doesn’t get much better than this! All images from a single dive. https://d1ver.com/blog/squid-run/ Sat, 16 Dec 2017 08:51:08 -0800 https://d1ver.com/blog/squid-run/ After hearing about these explosive market squid mating events for a few years, I was finally able to see it in person and capture a few images in the process. These short-lived mollusks go out with a bang. After amassing in shallow waters to mate, they deposit their egg capsules (each containing up to 200 eggs) into massive blankets of white, and die shortly after. Some things I found interesting: https://d1ver.com/blog/northwest-bali/ Sun, 29 Oct 2017 11:15:07 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/northwest-bali/ The plan was to dive the Tulamben area of North East Bali, a macro-heavy hot spot where I spent almost two weeks last June. That plan took a slight nose dive when, in between packing one of my four bags of gear the day of my flight, I checked Facebook to find a one word update from one of the dive guides I knew: “evacuate” It turns out Mt. Agung had other plans. https://d1ver.com/blog/warty-frogfish-antennarius-maculatus/ Sun, 15 Oct 2017 13:23:06 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/warty-frogfish-antennarius-maculatus/ The sea is full of oddities, and the frogfish is definitely no exception. With a perpetually grumpy face, and strangely relatable “I ate too much” waddle, they make fantastic photography subjects, assuming you can find them. Frogfish are experts at blending in, some even slowly adapting their color to match their surroundings. Luckily for me though, this warty didn’t get the memo on camouflage. I found this one head down in a pile of the paper-thin green algae of Secret Bay in the Northwest of Bali. https://d1ver.com/blog/monterey-shootout-2017/ Mon, 28 Aug 2017 12:08:32 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/monterey-shootout-2017/ What a fun weekend. I really enjoy the Monterey Shootout, great cold water diving and great company, all around. Glad to meet a few more of the local divers/photographers and very happy to place with one of my images. https://d1ver.com/california/ Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:44:17 -0700 https://d1ver.com/california/ Use the arrow keys or swipe to navigate. https://d1ver.com/blog/the-search-for-octomom.../ Sun, 20 Aug 2017 13:26:51 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/the-search-for-octomom.../ All the reports from SD about the octopus with eggs had me super excited to get in the water to try to find her, but, even with a map, I didn’t find her. Dangit. I did find plenty of octopus, a swim by of a hunting cormorant and a few sarcastic fringeheads, which I haven’t seen in a good while, so definitely not complaining. The taxi service out to the wall was awesome/interesting - thanks Mitch/Amanda! https://d1ver.com/blog/black-sea-bass-survey-ish/ Sun, 13 Aug 2017 20:17:06 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/black-sea-bass-survey-ish/ I had every intention of searching up and down Vets with Mike, looking for juvenile giant sea bass for 90+ minutes but… we got split up so I ended making friends with a onespot fringehead (Neoclinus uninotatus). At 30 fsw, still some surge so pretty sandy shots but always fun finding fringeheads of any sorts, they are some of the most charismatic fish we have in California. https://d1ver.com/blog/exploring-the-la-jolla-wall/ Sat, 05 Aug 2017 17:19:47 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/exploring-the-la-jolla-wall/ It’s been far too long since since my last dive, and even longer since my last dive at La Jolla. Rick joined me for a CCR dive from the marine room out to the wall for a fun, 130 minute dive to a max of 90 ft for me, although he dropped below 100. Highlights of the dive include all the little red octos (of course!) but the cormorant fishing off our lights definitely stole the show! https://d1ver.com/blog/diving-the-yukon/ Sun, 18 Jun 2017 10:23:45 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/diving-the-yukon/ Not a bad day diving. The wreck was teeming with invertebrate life and I found a very good sized flatworm, which was a first for me here in California. Not a lot of time for pics at depth, but I did spot 5 species of nudibranch. A chilly 51F at the bottom, definitely missing the D500 after shooting topside with that for a couple weeks. A good day diving on the Marissa https://d1ver.com/blog/more-bug-macro/ Sun, 04 Jun 2017 13:31:35 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/more-bug-macro/ Time flies when you are having fun. Get it, get it!? Flies? Because… the… wings. Ahaha bad jokes.. Nothing too crazy, found another of these… flies(??) near dusk that was settling down for the night. Pretty happy with these, about as sharp as I seem to be able to get. Macro gear used for anyone interested. * D500 * Nikon 105 VR * Nikon 5T and 6T stacked * Yongnuo YN-568EX https://d1ver.com/topside/ Sun, 04 Jun 2017 10:57:33 -0700 https://d1ver.com/topside/ Use the arrow keys or swipe to navigate. https://d1ver.com/blog/d500-testing/ Mon, 29 May 2017 23:28:11 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/d500-testing/ One last outing with the borrowed D500 before I’m physically am unable to let go of this! Although it has dried up a lot, I was still able to find enough critters to keep me busy for a few hours. The highlight was definitely a small (but insanely fast) little mantis. Also, I’ve learned that my brain autocompletes shrimp every time I think “mantis”. Even as I type this… Oh! Another cool discovery today… bees have 5 eyes! https://d1ver.com/blog/divers-cove-night-dive/ Sun, 14 May 2017 22:50:17 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/divers-cove-night-dive/ It took me 5 months but I finally got a shore dive in! What a slow start to diving this year. I don’t do a lot of night dives in SoCal, and I don’t dive Diver’s often at all, but it was definitely nice to get out. Quite a bit of life out. This is a bit of a test run on the new site, nothing too wild in terms of pics; some mating rays (count ‘em), mating black sea hares, swarms of mysid shrimp and I belive a red octopus, which is probably not a first, but I don’t think I see or notice these very often. https://d1ver.com/blog/coming-soon/ Sun, 07 May 2017 13:29:02 -0700 https://d1ver.com/blog/coming-soon/ Hey - new website and blog coming soon! https://d1ver.com/prints/ Sun, 25 Jun 2017 11:36:55 -0700 https://d1ver.com/prints/ Prints available on request. Check out my shop here! Help inspire an appreciation for the ocean and its inhabitants. https://d1ver.com/portfolio/ Sat, 13 May 2017 12:48:49 -0700 https://d1ver.com/portfolio/ Use the arrow keys or swipe to navigate. https://d1ver.com/contact/ Sat, 07 May 2016 13:56:54 -0700 https://d1ver.com/contact/ Shoot me a msg if you like! https://d1ver.com/about/ Thu, 07 May 2015 13:54:21 -0700 https://d1ver.com/about/ I grew up about as far from the ocean as you can get while still living in the United States. I saw the ocean once during college in Florida and again on a cruise through the Caribbean. Eventually, through a chain of events, I moved to the other side of the country to Southern California. Even then it took a few years more before I stumbled across a National Geographic article on nudibranchs.