Your Favourite Photo of 2008

Here is mine. Shot in Yukatan cenote Car Wash.

Here's mine. My trip to Indonesia was definitely the highlight of 2008 and here's my favorite pic from the trip:

I'm really enjoying everyone's pics. Thanks for sharing and I wish you all the best for 2009! Robyn

h2o - that image doesn't show up for me. I think your photo host does not allow hot linking. Try attaching it.

Alex

Dominique - wow!

Just wanted to join in, on the fun... Here's mine, taken on my recent trip to Lembeh and had the chance to meet the lovely couple, Mi & Si.

Ed.

Shot this during the last great rhino hunt of 2008

My favorite photo of 2008. He needs dentist!

Happy New Year!!

All of my friends, buddies and colleagues are going to be astonished that finally I am making my first post on Wetpixel. My resolution for 2009 is to find the time to participate more and be behind the scenes less. I guess Eric can congratulate me when he gets back from Antarctica. Everyone else can feel free to bust my chops now, I can take it

I saw this thread and figured that this would be a good time to jump in. I must say - fantastic images from everyone.

I couldn't make a decision on 1, so I settled for two (ironically from the same trip). So here are my 2 favorite shots of 2008, because they tell a story...

I have been to North Sulawesi three times now, on this third trip I was on assignment for Sport Diver, and there were two specific shots I HAD to create to be satisfied. First, I envisioned this shot for a two-page spread opener - it would be a split shot of the Manado Tua volcano at low tide on a sunny day in really shallow water with as many corals on the underside as possible. I felt that this shot would tell the story of a feeling I get every time I hit the water in the Bunaken area of North Sulawesi (anyone who has been there knows the ubiquitous presence of this volcano). I told myself that I just had to come home having nailed this shot. I emailed the dive operators ahead of time (my good friend Jim Yanny from Eco Divers, and the North Sulawesi Aggressor) and let both of them know that I HAD to get this shot, even if that meant renting a boat for an entire day to not piss off all the pther passengers. As luck would have it - it was the perfect sunny day, at the lowest possible tide, and we had done two dives already and everyone was doing an extended surface interval - so I skipped lunch as they motored me to the perfect spot. It was hard to find an area where the coral was alive and not rubbled or bleached from being 10,000 degrees in 2 feet of water under the Indonesian sun, but I found a little nook and the image I had in my head finally came to life. (It was also the first time a US distributed D3 had been underwater, so I was pretty psyched all around).

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did the the experience of making this image.

Second shot would be portraying the story of how the non-endemic Bangai Cardinalfish has infringed on some of the anemone habitat of the clownfish in Lembeh. This was a phenomenon explained to me by a marine biologist from the New Jersey aquarium the first time I was in Lembeh in 2003. Since those guys where everywhere, this shot was just a matter of patience and focus. Apparently there are "unknown ramifications" of this habitat infringement. I thought this image told the story well.

Jason, I always wondered what your screen name was here. Well, I think you definitely nailed your two shots. Especially the second one. It really tells the story. I hadn't known that the Bangai were interlopers. I couldn't wait to get to Lembeh to get a shot of them.

Thanks Nakedwithoutcamera!

You should see them in real life. there simply jaw dropping. The colours shift and change to produce some dazzling effects

Cheers

Cal

Jason, I always wondered what your screen name was here. Well, I think you definitely nailed your two shots. Especially the second one. It really tells the story. I hadn't known that the Bangai were interlopers. I couldn't wait to get to Lembeh to get a shot of them.

Thanks Ellen. Apparently transporters from the reef aquarium trade are responsible for accidentally bringing the Bangaii to Lembeh. The marine biologist from NJ is the world's foremost expert on this species and I was fortunate to be there with him while he was doing research on the matter.

Cool - he's friends w/ my friend Frank Marini. Small world.

Cheers

James

Jason

I'm gonna "Bust your Chops"

How could you Keep such brilliant images from us "wet pixies" for so long? (Having said that they're worth the wait)

Now you're posting LETS SEE SOME MORE!!!!

Absolutely love the Bunaken shot, it brings back some wonderful memories of some stunning diving.

Thankyou for sharing.

Nigel Wade

My most favorite:

My first encounter with an Eagle Ray in the red sea.

Murcia, Spain. August 2008

Truly amazing shot's here! Thank You all so much for sharing them.

Here is my favourite from 2008. It's not the same high end level as most pic's posted here, but still I like it..

Taken two days ago in a local lake. Water temperature 1 degree C (34 Fahrenheit) and wis no more than 6 feet.

A look on the lake shore through the ice and my own exhaust bubbles trapped under the ice.

Scubamoose

Here is my favourite from 2008. This was from my third try to see the Marsa Abu Dabab resident dugong, with the first two tries failing due to unexpected (at least to me) shut downs of diving in the bay. However, the third time the bay was open and I finally managed to see a dugong. It was a glorious dugong week, with this dugong seen on 4 dives and another one totally unexpected just swiming by on the safety stop at a wall dive a fair distance from a bay.

Regards

Bent C

Dear friends,

here's my favourite for 2008. Happy shooting in the new year!

--Rob

Since I noticed there are a lot of really great pictures of u/w wildlife and landscapes and even if I already post one,

I'm posting one of my wreck diver shots. I like it pretty much especially because it was my first try shooting using a

remote/slave strobe... and result were not so bad.

This image was taken in St-Laurence River in Canada... so it is green water here !

This is my favorite with the new camera. Finally got the 'Green Light' from the wife and managed to pick up a Canon 30d and ikelite housing nice and cheap....Took it out in the bay after work to try it out and test for leaks then had a day of and took it tec diving. We were looking for sharks at the canyon at Eel Garden but no joy so we headed back to the reefwall and drifted along Shark Observatory at Ras Mohammed. This shot was at about 6m deep. Natural light ('amber light' for strobes at moment!!!) ISO 100, Tv 1/250 to capture sun beams f3.5, 10mm on Canon 10-22mm, 8in Dome howeever the extention is not the specific one for the lens and as a result the lens sits forward in the dome a bit far.

It is my favorite for a couple of reasons:

1. The camera went to 60m without flooding

2. Managed to get off/on boat with stages and not break myself or camera

3. Captured sun beams for the first time

4. I think it sums up Shark Observatory well as you get barren walls that are shaded from the sum and then an explosion of colour and life where light hits the reef....

This is as shot with a minor boost in the exposure in lightroom....

Duncan

Santa forgot my strobes....boo hoo........