DigiDeep!!

It's been a long time since I went to www.digideep.com and now I see why, they voted this picture as photo of the week one week! why?

And I see the comment:

"our photo tech playing with a nurse shark during stephen frinks class"

http://digideep.com/potw.php?week=200620&id=4170&lang=en

I can´t understand those kind of things

Hi:

I just went to the website you linked to. The image with which you refer came in 9th out of 25 images entered. It scored 2 votes out of a total of 169 (these are the vote totals at the time I wrote this). The leading photograph (a really nice one, I must say) has 31 votes. All the photographs are arranged in sequence by number of votes received. It’s nice to see the photograph you mentioned being so far down in the popular vote.

While I do not like to promote the handling of wildlife, there may have been a valid reason for this. I’m sure Stephan will be able to provide a reasonable explanation.

Yes Poliwog your right, my mistake it did have only 2 votes, which were probably his and his wife.

In the same batch of photos;

Regarding the photo of a frogfish "freely" swimming about suspended in front of the diver's mask, maybe people would like to offer their own experiences of seeing a frogfish make a conscientious decision to jump off a reef and move about openly in the blue, without any "encouragement"?

Call me a sceptic at the same time, if you wish.....

Chris

Funny that you should mention that Chris, but I actually once saw a frogfish suddenly take off for no apparent reason while diving in Puerto Galera a couple of years back. It came to rest on the back of my buddy's leg who was shooting a sea snake at the time.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't have seen it. A large green frog fish jumped off the reef he was resting on and swam into blue water and tried to land on my buddies housing which is that Subal blue. Dont know if they can see colors. My buddy was trying to photograph it in the blue; but it kept getting closer and closer.

Terry

Dear Matt and Terry,

Thank you for your wonderful examples...

I once saw an internationally renowned photographer, plucking a frogfish off the reef and proceed to throw it into the blue for a lovely "sun in the background" artistic shot. Of course the shot didn't come out the fist time, as one can realistically expect nor on the second attempt.

Unbelievably, this guy sat there catching on his palm and throwing again and again this poor little frogfish repeatedly for about 5 minutes. Until he was satisfied that he got the shot that he wanted and I was satisfied with the presumption of guessing that said frogfish wouldn't be in the area for much longer!

Again, thanks for your great examples.......

Chris

we actually had a thread from that photo on digideep....

http://digideep.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2047&language=en

I played a differennt side of things, and meant what i said. But I don't think you can blame stephen frink on this as the photoj poster has some sort of strange idolisation / fatal attraction for stephen after taking one of his photo courses.

and patrick, you can't be against that sort of handling when we have stingray city here in cayman!!!!

I knew someone would bring that up Giles But that was not the point, the point was showing this kind of photo on forums etc, will encourage others to take that kind of shot too, there are many responsible divers out there who take great care what they do, but many many others who don't. I'm no tree hugger but the more you mess with the creatures the more you change them. When fish get used to divers feeding them the easier it is that they get caught, on a line or spear gun then the less we have to photograph, see and enjoy. I dive here every day and when I find the rare or interesting stuff I don't tell anyone where it was for fear they bring there divers there and disturb it. An example is a seahorse here, it's been in the same close area now for just over a month, why? because very few people know where it is. If the diver ,mentioned above was there that sea horse to might be thrown into the air, how long will it last then.

Also it was not at all an attack on Stephen Frink, I've loved his images for years, I understand he has no control over what people do down there, it was just interesting that he said he was on a course with him.

Stingray City, shark feeding, dolphin enclosures, sea worlds and aquariums are all different things and you like them or you don't.

Lastly I don't want this thread to get "hot" it would be nice to hear other opinions both good and bad.

I honestly see the photo as not being a bad image to display.

I don't see the photo as one that will encourage people to go grab a shark.

Mostly I see this photo breaking the mentality that Sharks are mindless killers. There is a reason some sharks are on the endangered list. Because we kill them, mostly out of fear and trying to prove we are the more powerful hunter.

If people were to see sharks in a different light, one where we can interact without danger of being half eaten then maybe not only will sharks be listed as endangered but the lack of fear for them will bring about a greater awareness and caring to help the situation out and to change perceptions so that hunting of sharks for whatever reason will end.

The example photo isn't the best example to dio this with but it's a start as most people would not think you could handle a shark like that.

ps. I still don't think you can weigh any difference on handling a stingray as too handling a nurse shark, their the same animal just a different shape and theres no enlclosure.

Regarding the frogfish swimming freely...I've never seen it happen in the Caribbean but it happens with GREAT frequency in the Indo-Pacific. It's not uncommon to see them either walking across the sand or taking a leap off a bit of coral or sponge and swimming over to the next coralhead! It's pretty amazing the first time you see it. I've seen it happen in Lembeh, and more frequently in the Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai area

Thanks Janet,

I have also seen them wandering around a reef and also "hopping" from one area to the next - I presume that's where the name comes from - and am now dying to see one swim.....

However, 5 hours ago, Discovery channel had one free swimming, hooray!

That'll teach me I guess.....

Thanks again, though... shall keep my eyes firmly peeled in Manado this coming visit......

Chris

I'm going to disagree with Giles and say that I believe Stingray City is a slightly different situation; the rays there have a very potent method of dissuading any individuals from handling them to the point of harassment - their barbed tails. I think that nurse sharks, once an individual has a solid grip on them, really have no such means.

While diving locally a few months back, I was saddened by an individual who seemed to completely disregard any ethical or moral boundaries by picking up and squeezing a small horn shark until it was violently writhing in his hands, trying to escape, just to be able to snap a photo of the underside of its mouth. Later, on the boat, the individual approached me and asked why I had no wanted to take a picture when he offered it up to my camera, and then proceeded to show me his 'great shot' of said shark.

Unfortunately, this is all too common these days. Something to think about...

This is a video I took of a couple of frogfish...