Your Favourite Photo of 2008

My favorite picture for 2008 :

Guys...don't forget the story behind these fantastic images. I'm riveted to the seat reading these things while looking at the world's best photos. Reading the passion behind them is quite a gift....thanks all and Merry Christmas!

I have had this photo in my brain for 8years, since before I started taking pics U/W. In Sept I repeated the Northern wrecks and reefs of the Red Sea and redived the Carnatic. My only regret my Sigma 17-70 was not wide enough for the shot I wanted. So at this time of year it is a shot looking back and forward. I will go again. With I hope a Tokina 10-17.

Seasons Greetings to all on a great web site,

Tim Digger

A wonderful thread with some very special images...

Here is mine: Skeleton shrimp taken of a dusk dive at Barren Island in the Andaman Islands taken in April. I think it looks like a salsa dancer complete with Carmen Miranda hat.

Taken with Nikon D80 with 60mm lens with Woody diopter in S&S housing with 2x Ike 125 strobes.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Robin

Loads of great stuff, here. Love the stories behind the favourites too. Keep 'em coming. Alex

Here's mine: A giant pacific octopus from Alaska. This guy was out and about in a shallow palm kelp forest near Port Alexander. At the time I was really bummed that I had the 105 on the camera instead of the 10-17 but in retrospect I think it was for the best as I really like this shot.

Clinton

Jeff,

Your pool shots take my breath away.

Well done you!!

And a merry christmas.

Nige Wade

wow, lots of wonderfuls shots here. great job everyone.

Here's my favorite behavior shot from 2008, a Bobbit worm capturing a goatfish, in Anilao. This action happened in less than a second, when the fish swam over the worm, the worm struck with lighting speed, and immediately the fish and worm disappeared into the sand, all that was left was a cloud of smoke. Nikon D300, 60mm lens, f8, cropped photo.

My favorite (from our Red Sea Trip

We were doing the (now infamous) "Dive 4 wrecks on one scooter dive and be back on the boat before breakfast" dive (Marcus, Carnatic, Ghanis D. + 1 more ?)

The shot is noisy and not really in focus, but is easily my favorite that I shot this year, as I am always blown away when I look more closely and see that the white "smudge" in the middle is a diver, which I think really shows off the scale of the wreck, & the vis.

Always have fun reading this post and figure I should actually contribute this time.

This is my favorite shot of the year. At the time this photo was taken, I was kicking as hard as I could to get into position and my mask was filling with sweat. This was our third dive that we had actually spotted "Big Senor", but prior to this pass I didn't have any great shots and I was not going home empty handed. Many thanks to the diver in the foreground for organizing and inviting my wife Jill and I along on a spectacular trip. It's been a struggle to get a decent print, but apparently I think it's worth the time investment to keep on trying.

I'll stick with the rules and just post this one (maybe someday I'll post some others from what's been a good year).

Taken at Darwin's Arch, Darwin Island, Galapagos. Female whale shark at 105 fsw. Canon 20D, Tokina 10-17mm

My pictures used to be quite mediocre but after attending Maria's (Oceanvisions) u/w photoworkshop in Nuweiba in September 2008, I managed a few decent shots.

This was the best one. It was taken during a dawn dive (about 7am, I think) on the last day of the workshop. The lionfish were pretty calm and moving more slowly than usual. I managed to get a big lionfish to completely block the sun. The shot was taken at the Nuweiba Hilton Hotel House reef and won me a Sport Diver UK Readers pic of the month. It's the first time I actually won something!!

I used an Olympus SP350, Inon Fisheye conversion lens and Inon Z240 strobe (type 3). The fisheye lens were very very close to the lionfish....

Here's my image

thx

DK

Many thanks to all the Wetpixelers that have shared their knowledge on this site, it has been an invaluable source of information and inspiration.

Here is one of my favorites underwater photos this year (my first year of diving). It was taken in October, the second day after getting my PADI Adv Open water ticket. It was my first wreck dive and also the first time I had strapped the dome on the front of the camera. I would have preferred it if the Videographer was not hanging on the back of the Anit-Aircraft gun, but there you go.

Thanks .... and

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Tristan

Thanks Stew

If anyone can tell me how to get the image to appear here it would be great I have tried tags but i get this response " You are not allowed to use that image extension on this board. A valid format is: http://www.domain.com/picture.gif, an invalid format is: http://www.domain.com/picture.one.gif"

 

Thanks .... and

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

 

 

Tristan

PM sent Tristan

Hi all,

I hope it is OK to have more than one! There are such fantasic images on here-I love this thread!

I got married to the woman of my dreams on Kuredu Island in the Maldives in May. This is my gorgeous bride!

While we were there we did some diving! Whilst cruising between dive sites, we were surrounded by a massive school of Mantas. There were easilly a hundred of them, feeding in the plankton bloom, moving up and around the graceful arcs that they do while feeding. Some were even breaching! We got in with skin diving gear and this one particular ray moved in close as I dived down and these pictures were the result. It was actually brushing on my dome port! We spent a good hour or so in the water with them-these weren't the best of the series of images, but being that close to such a magnificent animal was very special.

Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and great safe diving for 2009

Adam

Here's mine ,

Beaver : Primed in BBC Wildlife Photographer in the Year, London 10/2008

Laurent

Wow, what a great thread with wonderful images and stories. From my first (and only, so far) trip with an SLR. I was pleased that I managed to get foreground and subject reasonably lit, subject in focus, and I like the peek-a-boo look of the shrimp. But mostly it's my favorite because it reminds me how absolutely luxuriously wonderful it was to take a slow leisurely shallow beach dive in the mornings at Eden Beach in Bonaire, and just watch what happens with the little things as the sun comes up. Nikon D200, Tamron 90mm, Sea & Sea YS-90DX x 2.

Laurent,

Let me be the first to say what Mike Veitch was thinking, "nice beaver shot"

Anyway, my favorite non-contest worthy shot. I just thought it captured the soulful serenity of the underwater photographer as he waits to exit the water. Trying to capture it was difficult as the boat kept bobbing up and down quite significantly.

Oups...thank you Scorpio....Fantastic adventure..beaver meeting and WPY 2008...

Looks like I'm not the only one who went diving on their honeymoon this year.

This is a shot of my wonderful wife swimming through a huge school of yellow tail snapper at Snapper Ledge in the Florida Keys on our honeymoon. Maybe not my best shot of the year but it was by far the best dive of the year. We're mainly wreck divers who see very little fish where we dive so this was a treat.

Many thanks to all the Wetpixelers that have shared their knowledge on this site, it has been an invaluable source of information and inspiration.

Here is one of my favorites underwater photos this year (my first year of diving). It was taken in October, the second day after getting my PADI Adv Open water ticket. It was my first wreck dive and also the first time I had strapped the dome on the front of the camera. I would have preferred it if the Videographer was not hanging on the back of the Anit-Aircraft gun, but there you go.

 

 

Thanks .... and

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

 

 

Tristan

 

Thanks Stew

Stunning!