Cal's "botanical aquatica"

Hey Hey,

So I moved to Townsville from Melbourne to do some post grad study in marine bio.

The diving up here is exceeding expensive with a trip to the reef in excess of $150. As a chronically poverty stricken university student, this is some what of a diving hindrance.

I've been here for 6 weeks and I feel that the lack of diving and more importantly, the lack of underwater photography is making me crazy. People stare at me as my left eye keeps twitching and I randomly spout forth underwater photography related words like "ikelite!!!!" or "Tokina 10-17mm!"

So in order to cure my new found illness, I went and snorkeled in the nearby Ross River. A river known for crocodiles, mud and submerged stolen cars.

Originally my idea was to photograph some long necked turtles that I had seen congregating in a certain area.

The turtles were not there on the day of my snorkeling so I opted for some stranger subject material

Here are my first successful O/U shots - NB all photos were taken with my new tokina 10-17mm (im in love)

and here are the freshwater plants I managed to find:

Whilst I was photographing these my feet were sinking into mud and I had creepy crawlies all over my legs!

and heres a self portrait

The viz in the river was 2 feet or so. So all shots were pretty much CFWA. To light the subjects I had my strobes in tight to the body and used the "edge" lighting technique. I was actually quite proud that I didn't get much scatter.

On a totally different note,

heres a local I found

and whilst bush walking I came across a local bush fire and a kangaroo fleeing it

Hope you've enjoyed them!!!!!

I'm moving to Lizard Island (GBR) for 2 months for my research. So hopefully I might get a shot or two whilst im there ;-)

cheers!

Cal

Great shots Cal, wish I'd been there to see you at work. The thought of you furiously licking your port

whilst spouting underwater photography terminology "Ikelite!............Mmmmmmacro!.........Ooooover-under!...........Yeah Baby, your an animal...... give me Crocodile!"

Cheers,

Jim.

Haha you have no idea how bad the dome tasted! It was horrible. I had to drink a can of redbull after wards to get rid of the taste.

On a worse note, I dipped my head to far down for a shot and got a mouth full of slimy, disgusting water..............

The things we do for our passions !

Cal