“The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish” - Jacques Cousteau
"Ambition leads me not only farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go."
-- James Cooke
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. "
-- Mark Twain
the mind is nothing you use i say. the mind is just there. it is like the wind. you simply feel its movements.
-- Haruki Murikami, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
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The Entrance - Catfish Hotel, Manatee Springs, FL
The springs of North Central Florida are some of the best cave diving in the United State. Here, at a site called Catfish Hotel in Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, Florida, a diver is heading down toward a cave entrance as the sunlight beams through a hole in the duck weed covering the surface of the site.
Cleaning Goby Peeking, Cannon Ball Reef, Bahamas
The dive site 'Cannon Ball Reef' is a shallow site, with a maximum depth of thirty feet of water, and is teaming with macro life. From small cleaning goby, like this one, to lionfish feeding, this site is worth spending some time on.
Grouper Portrait - Little Cayman
Portrait of a friendly Nassau Grouper, found at the site Mixing Bowl near Bloody Wall, Little Cayman
Juvenile Hermit Crab, Barracuda Shoals, Bahamas
During a night dive in June at the site 'Baraccuda Shoals' in the Exuma Cays of the Bahamas, I was having a tough time getting a decent shot. The time of year and the warm waters brought out thousands and thousands of tiny larva blood worms. They followed us everywhere, clouding the scene every time we tried to focus. As I looked around for something to feed them too (a basket star is very handy for this), I noticed a small white stone on a brown sponge moving. The stone was no larger than a pinky nail. Looking closer it turned out to be this tiny juvenile hermit crab. How tiny? If you look closely you can see a blood worm larva by it's feet. I've never seen a hermit crab this small. It turned a frustrating dive into an amazing experience.
Infinite Jellies
Jellyfish Lake in Palau is one of the few places you can see literally millions of jellyfish gathered in one place. The sheer numbers are awe inspiring.
Mimic Cardinalfish (Apogon phenax)
Night diving around Jake's Hole in Eleuthra, Bahamas brings out a new set of creatures and set others into hiding. This mimic cardinal fish was hiding on a coral head in the algae. The detail in these animals, from the eye structures to the veins that can be seen through the translucent skin, amaze me every time I see them.
"Puppy" (Blue Shark), Rhode Island
Pelagic Expeditions runs shark swim trips through the summers off the coast of Rhode Island. They'll get you closer to blue and mako sharks than you've ever thought you could be.
Squid in Purple, Little Cayman
Caribbean Reef Squid are plentiful off the northern coast of Little Cayman in the spring. If you are slow and relaxed you can approach them fairly easily and enjoy their rainbow of color changes as they try and find the combination that will stop you from following them.
Into the Deep - Little Cayman
Caught in June of 2014 on the northern wall of Little Cayman, this Caribbean reef squid swims off into the light.
Tiger Shark - Wide Berth
Divemaster Ian of the Aqua Cat is giving this tiger shark a wide berth. Taken at Split Coral Head, Eleuthera, Bahamas.
Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Hammerhead Cay, Bahamas
On an overcast day in December of 2012 I jumped in the water of the Exuma Cays in the Bahamas off of the AquaCat. It was the first time using a full frame camera underwater for me and I was looking for a nice simple wide angle subject. A subject was easy to find. This hawksbill was curious and slowly approached me, looking into the dome. We swam together for some five minutes before he decided I'd had enough time to get a good shot and then took off into the blue.
Underwater Photography
smallhallstudios.com
by Brian Laferte
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An avid scuba diver since the late 1990s, I picked up my first underwater camera in 2000. It was a simple SeaLife film camera with a single strobe. It was a neat little camera, but within a year I had flooded it, and I had only gotten a few pictures that I'd like with it. Between a hectic life as a consultant and the frustration of dealing with film underwater, I gave up on the hobby.
In the late 2000s, when I decided to give underwater photography another go. Digital cameras had come a long way. With a simple Canon Powershot G-10 and an underwater housing, I took a trip to an old scuba stomping ground of mine, West Palm Beach. While I still didn't get much I liked, I was hooked. The immediate feedback of digital enthralled me.
I haven't looked back since that trip to West Palm, and have traveled around the world collecting images of underwater scenes and creatures that fascinate me now as much as they did when I was just a kid watching 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau' on Sunday nights.
If you are interested in licensing some of my work, purchasing art prints, or contacting me for any other reason, feel free to email me at brian@smallhallstudios.com .
About Brian
the mind is nothing you use i say. the mind is just there. it is like the wind. you simply feel its movements.
-- Haruki Murikami, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
"Ambition leads me not only farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go."
-- James Cooke
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. "
-- Mark Twain
"The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish”
- Jacques Cousteau
Quotes - A few quotes I find insipiring