A recent trip to Peru and Chile provided a couple more opportunities to photograph bioluminescence. In Peru, I had the great good fortune to help famed canopy biologist Dr. Meg Lowman teach a tropical biology course out at the ACTS field station and canopy walkway, off of the Rio Sucusari. The resource is an amazing one: over 500 meters (1,500+ feet) of walkway connecting giant rainforest trees with tree platforms and a highest point of 35m (115+ feet) above the forest floor. It is something that anyone interested in canopy biology should look into as a resource. Please see my canopy walkway post for more details and images.
First, I’d like to thank Frances Gatz, Meg Lowman, and Phil Wittman for the opportunity to participate. Second, as I have said before, no photographer exists in a vacuum. I’d like to thank Mike Ready, Bill Lamar, and Terry Lynch for suggestions and comments on bioluminescence photography.
The forest floor shots in Peru depict a bioluminescent fungus that decomposes leaves from the Yacushapana Tree. With regard to the images from Chile, I worked in the field (Southern Chile) looking for remaining populations of Darwin’s Frogs. In a remote river valley, I found a ... Read the rest of the entry...
Any time that I may be able to work in a forest canopy, I jump at the opportunity. I had the benefit of working in Madagascar’s Masoala Peninsula with the French Canopy Raft Program and spending days above the forest floor on the canopy raft, in the canopy sled, and in the ICOS tree fort units. That experience clarified in my mind the immense value of tools that enable canopy access for biologists. The perspective from the treetops is entirely different than from the forest floor. More often than not, the biological community in the canopy is just as different. In Peru, I had the great good fortune to help famed canopy biologist Dr. Meg Lowman teach a tropical biology course out at the ACTS field station and canopy walkway, off of the Rio Sucusari. The resource is an amazing one: over 500 meters (1,500+ feet) of walkway connecting giant rainforest trees with tree platforms and a highest point of 35m (115+ feet) above the forest floor. It is something that anyone interested in canopy biology should look into as a resource. As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, ... Read the rest of the entry...
Near shore deep water wildlife has always been interesting to me. Often, the organisms that exploit the habitat live in deep water by day and migrate to shallower water under the cover of darkness to pursue prey items. Some of the species that you see here live along deep reefs or the walls of steeply sloping terrain that lead down to abyssal depths. Species like the Chambered Nautilus spend their days as deep as 610m (~2000 feet) and then make the migration to hunt in shallow waters at night. I’ve been fortunate to have been able to see some of these amazing creatures live and to photograph them. I can’t thank enough the people that have made these opportunities reality. I’d like to thank Osamu Inamura, the Uozo Aquarium, Sunpet Inc., and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for the opportunities that I’ve had.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, postonline, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access ... Read the rest of the entry...
I have been working on photographing bioluminescence for the past few years. These images are results from a couple of recent shoots. Most of these shots are simple timed exposures ranging from 2 minutes to 15 minutes. I'd like to thank Terry Lynch, Mike Ready, and Bill Lamar for their suggestions and input as I began to learn bioluminescence photography.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access the images I have posted, you must click on the subject heading link above. By doing so, your action serves as legal recognition of my stated copyright restrictions, it signifies your willingness to use the images only after written permission is provided, and it acknowledges that failure to follow the rules is a violation of international copyright law. Thank you for your cooperation. Read the rest of the entry...
I would like to thank Dr. G. Cailliet for great assistance on IDs for these mesopelagic animals, trawled from between the surface to 1000 meters depth in Monterey Bay, California (November 2009). A few of the fish were photographed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I'd like to thank MBARI for allowing me the opportunity to take these shots.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access the images I have posted, you must click on the subject heading link above. By doing so, your action serves as legal recognition of my stated copyright restrictions, it signifies your willingness to use the images only after written permission is provided, and it acknowledges that failure to follow the rules is a violation of international copyright law. Thank you for your cooperation. Read the rest of the entry...
Crabs, shrimp, and lobsters are in the order Decapoda. Subterranean habitats around the world have their fair share of decapods inhabiting them but I have always been interested in the groundwater shrimp. North America has a few species and they are all imperiled to differing degrees. With the cave work that I do, I’ve been excited about photographing any of the native species and I got my chance with Palaemonetes antrorum (family Palaemonidae). A friend with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service allowed me to photograph a few specimens. They ranged in size from 1.5-2cm (about 1/2 to 3/4 inches) in total length. The species is endemic to Texas and the IUCN currently categorizes the Balcones Cave Shrimp or the Texas Cave Shrimp (P. antrorum) as EN (endangered). After the photoshoot, I had a fair amount of material that I was reasonably happy with. I’ve posted a number of examples here.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images ... Read the rest of the entry...
I was able to spend a few days In Santiago, Chile, setting up a Darwin’s Frog breeding center at the National Zoo of Chile. The dedication to the project by conservation professionals in Chile like Mauricio Fabry Otte, Marcela Tirado, Andres Charrier, and Jaime García Valdés is inspiring. My old friend Bill Lamar went with me and was a significant help in getting the facility set up. I can’t thank these folks enough for their time, support, and dedication to conserving Darwin’s Frogs.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access the images I have posted, you must click on the subject heading link above. By doing so, your action serves as legal recognition of my stated copyright restrictions, it signifies your willingness to use the images only after written permission is provided, and it acknowledges that failure to follow the rules is a violation of international copyright law. Thank you ... Read the rest of the entry...
I had a chance to visit my good friend and fellow caver in Texas again, Andy Gluesenkamp. We went to the International Congress of Speleology together and had a great time. Andy had arranged a little caving while I was there so I got to see a few more cave critters. I also had a chance to photograph Mexican blindcats again thanks to the generosity of Dean Hendrickson.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access the images I have posted, you must click on the subject heading link above. By doing so, your action serves as legal recognition of my stated copyright restrictions, it signifies your willingness to use the images only after written permission is provided, and it acknowledges that failure to follow the rules is a violation of international copyright law. Thank you for your cooperation. Read the rest of the entry...
Our project with the French Canopy Raft Program brought us into contact with great wildlife. We enjoyed seeing cryptic animals living on moss and lichen covered tree trunks and branches. Frogs and crabs inhabited water filled tree holes. Geckos and snakes moved about the lower, mid, upper, and emergent canopy layers. The good fortune of being able to visit such an undisturbed forest tract is something Mark, Jim, and I were thrilled with.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access the images I have posted, you must click on the subject heading link above. By doing so, your action serves as legal recognition of my stated copyright restrictions, it signifies your willingness to use the images only after written permission is provided, and it acknowledges that failure to follow the rules is a violation of international copyright law. Thank you for your cooperation. Read the rest of the entry...
I was fortunate to have been able to participate in the French Canopy Raft Program (Radeau de Cimes) when it visited the Masoala Peninsula of Madagascar. The Masoala Peninsula is Madagascar’s last large tract of eastern coastal rainforest. Because of the remote nature of the locality, much about the local wildlife is unknown. Two distinct forest types exist in the region where we worked: lowland coastal rainforest and montane rainforest, which carpets the steep slopes of the mountains surrounding the lowlands. The beaches are beautiful and the vistas from the treetops on the mountainsides are breathtaking.
As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, post online, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so. Any use of my images must be approved in writing. To access the images I have posted, you must click on the subject heading link above. By doing so, your action serves as legal recognition of my stated copyright restrictions, it signifies your willingness to use the images only after written permission is provided, and it acknowledges that failure ... Read the rest of the entry...