I saw Jenny's photo a few days ago and my eyes lingered on it. The caption for "Wish..." reads "Thanks for living in this wonderful world..." and I can't agree more.
If anything could summarize my love of the ocean and diving it would be this one photo. This alien creature flies through the water not like a fish, but a bird, a reminder that the ocean is like nowhere else on Earth.
This is why I dive.
Divester may be retiring but the Divester Flickr Pool will live on. Don't be shy.
Don't be sad, little guy. We'll come diving and visit you again real soon. Sven de Vos managed to capture this cute but sad fish photo off the coast of Algeria just before his housing flooded. Maybe the fish noticed the leak, and that's why he's frowning. Then again, maybe the fish sees a big shark right behind Sven, and this is his "Holy Cow! Look out!" face. Who's to say? In any event, I love the fish's expressive mug, although I'm sure I'm guilty of just a little anthropomorphism by suggesting its doleful appearance has anything whatsoever to do with de Vos or his presence.
Do you have any sad fish photos? Bring them on over to Divester's Flickr pool and maybe we can cheer them up!
For this installment of This Is Why We Dive, we're going to check out one of Dave "Seatrekker" Morgan's shots.
This image of a Rhinopias is striking for several reasons. First, the color is bold and unusual. Second, I love that Dave has managed to capture the creature in action -- check out that gaping mouth! Third, the fish has two little parasites on it, both near its left eye. (Can you see them?) Fourth, I appreciate that Dave took the time to provide a little description on the picture's Flick page.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for the bright colors of a nudibranch. And when there's a pair of them in the same shot...I get weak.
Breic captured this great shot of two Spanish shawl nudibranchs at Palos Verdes. I love the bright colors of the nudis' shawls, and I love the drama of them looking like they're on fire. Beautiful shot. I wonder if the one on the left is chasing the one on the right. Imagine that race.
Do you have pictures that make you weak? Please share them with us at Divester's Flickr pool.
Although Indra Swari has a lot of excellent underwater images to choose from, today's This Is Why We Dive features one of her photos of a Periclimenes amboinensis, ak.a., a shrimp.
Photographed in Sulawesi, I love the detail in the shrimp's little...er, big!... pincers and body. He looks ready to put up a fight if you drift too close to his home. I'm also intrigued by the detail in the coral on which the creature is sitting. Finally, I think his white-ish body against the dark-ish background simply makes for a very pleasing image. Nice work, Indra.
If you have any images of animals with big pincers, please add them to Divester's Flickr pool. Just be careful of your fingers.
Because fish are just so darned friendly, aren't they? Photogaleria captured this image of a fish saying hello... eating... singing... burping... coming for a kiss... er... well, I'm not entirely sure what the fish is doing, but that's one of the reasons I like the shot so much. I also like the purple-ish hue of its skin, the detail around its jowls (do fish have jowls?), and that the fish is looking right at me. That's creepy... no matter where I move my head, it looks like the eyes are following me.
If you have any pictures of fish coming for a kiss, please add them to Divester's Flickr pool, because we love affectionate fish.
To see all the lace-y little creatures at the bottom of the sea. Dave "Seatreker" Morgan captured this bright, crisp shot of a Rhinopias in Lembeh Strait. I love the incredible detail in the fish's fins. I'm pretty impressed with his dramatic "crown," too. It amazes me that something so delicate and so beautiful can live in something called "muck."
We're always looking for photos that tell the world, "This Is Why We Dive." If you have any photos that fit the bill, please add them to our Flickr group. Thanks.
Because diving makes us smile -- even the fish we meet! Alsky72 stumbled on this jubilant little fangblenny in Sipadan and was able to capture this beautiful -- and hilarious -- photo of the fish. I can't tell of he's smiling for joy or baring his teeth to warn alsky72 away, but either way, I think the image is priceless.
If you have any pictures of smiling fish, please add them to Divester's Flickr pool and share them with everybody.
Steven Trainoff, Ph.D., captured this fun photo of his wife, Gretchen, frolicking in the kelp forests of the Channel Islands. Dark and moody, I love how it looks as though she's in a forbidding, mysterious forest, a la Hansel and Gretel. Swim, Gretchen, swim!
If you have any mysterious underwater photos, we invite you to add them to Divester's Flickr pool. Can't wait to see them!
Pelagic Drifter caught this beautiful shot of a tiger shark off South Africa on New Year's Eve. There are so many things I love about this image: I love the beautiful spottles on the shark. I love that there's a diver in the background -- which adds a lot of depth to the shot -- taking a photo of the shark. I love that there are 47 shades of blue in the image. And I love the forboding feeling I get when I notice that, um, another shark is circling. Look out behind you!
If you have any forboding underwater images, how about adding them to Divester's Flickr pool? If you do, we'll feature them on Divester.
Reef_Wreck captured this incredible macro shot of a false clownfish in Pulau. With it's gorgeous colors, incredible detail, and excellent composition, I'd be elated to hang this image on my wall. If only he could've gotten the little guy to smile a bit...
If you have any photos hanging on your wall that help explain why divers dive, please add them to Divester's Flickr pool. After all, we're trying to spread the word about why divers do what they do.
Of course, I love that the image features nicely-photographed sharks. In addition to successfully capturing the counter-shading on the shark's belly, though, I also like that SpeedM's photo features divers climbing the dive boat's ladder. I think this provides the photo with a story: as though the sharks escorted their new friends to the dive boat, and now they're going home. Isn't that sweet?
If you have some underwater images with stories, please add them to Divester's Flickr group. We love stories.
Great colors. Incredible detail. Unusual creature. This is why we shoot pictures when we dive. Connie8d captured this beautiful shot of a Decorator Horned Crab in Taiwan. I love that the pale golden crab is sitting on a soft bed of pink and red coral. It looks like she wrapped the sparkling crustacean in a small gift box filled with delicate tissue paper, and now she's giving it to me as a present. Thanks, Connie8d!
Do you have any pictures of crustaceans that look like gifts? If you do, please donate them to Divester's Flickr pool.
Captured in the Seychelles, I'm in awe that this fish -- an astounding 8.5-meter female -- is so huge that it creates its own ecosystem. Check out all the other fish swimming around her, like moons rotating around a planet. Awesome. According to otolithe, the whale shark approached to within 3 feet before diving into the deep blue. I'm sure otolithe forgot to breathe.
Although it looks like laure_et_carlos are descending into a group of prisoners wearing their striped prison clothes, the reality is that the diving duo were far from a prison: they were in the Maldives. This dreamy shot of schooling butterfly fish may not be the most perfectly-executed shot on the planet, but I love that the the frame is filled with black-and-white stripes and little punctuations of yellow. Moreover, while I'm certain the fish are just about to make a hole for the divers to descend through, I love the "Welcoming Committee feel" they create. Those Maldivians sure know how to greet a person!
If you have any pictures of fish forming a Welcome Committee, you're welcome you to add them to Divester's Flickr pool.
