It's Hammer time! Cocos 2009

Just got back from experiencing the magic of Cocos, no longer a virgin.

All I can continuously jabber about deliriously is Alcyone and Dirty Rock

Though Cocos is tough for photography, the pure adrenalin rush of Alcyone was a new diving experience for me. Here are a few images, black and white would be my medium of choice in Cocos. If I were shooting film, I'd load Tri-X.

Just to set the scene, all is calm at 100 feet, butterfly fish at the cleaning stations, schools of hammerheads cruising lazily at the edges.

Then something starts to change, the pace of the schooling baitfish picks up, and then in a few seconds, an explosion.... all hell breaks loose as the yellowfin tuna have at it, and everything and everyone is spooked - baitfish in all directions, tuna flying by, and hammers streaming through. You can actually hear the rushing sound. And then all is quiet again......for a while, until it happens again.

And a few from Dirty Rock

great pics. thanks for sharing.

Spectacular Jeff, the motion in the images is palpable.

Wonderful work,

Steve

wow!!! great tone in b/w!! love the motion effect.

thanks for sharing Jeff!!

Did you see whale shark?

cheers,

incredible images Loftus, they really look great in b&w. Sounds like a you had a great trip!

Yeah, very cool. Tri-X was the best!

Jack

Thanks folks; no Jenny I did not see a whaleshark. There was at least one around Manuelita - the other group on our boat, the Sea Hunter, saw it the first dive, and the Undersea Hunter saw it on a few dives one day.

Hey buddy , seems you had a good time there ! those images are great , i like all of them but my favorite is the mobula.

Did you hear something about the tigers ? you were able to do some night diving with the white tips ?

Saludos

JA

Just got back from experiencing the magic of Cocos,

Great shots there, glad the trip worked out well.....

Hey buddy , seems you had a good time there ! those images are great , i like all of them but my favorite is the mobula.

 

Did you hear something about the tigers ? you were able to do some night diving with the white tips ?

 

Saludos

 

JA

Hey JA,

There are some tigers around; but I never saw any. Whitetips, Silvertips, Silkies, Galapagos and a Blacktip....and of course Hammerheads.

I did a couple of night dives; but the most interesting whitetip hunting action was actually one during the day at Dirty Rock. It was pretty overcast that day; almost like they thought it was nightime.

Here's a couple of Silvertip images from Silverado.

Awesome inspiring shots-thanks so much-I gotta go there!

Adam

Lovely work Loftus!

Reminds me much of my trip to Cocos a couple years ago. It was an amazing trip although quite frustrating from a photographic perspective.

Inspiring work from a challenging locale.

- Sagen

Awesome pics Jeff..The experience must have been far richer i guess. B & W works beautifully. Thanks for sharing. Just for interest though can you post a colour pic of your last hammerhead photo ?

Cheers,

Diggy

Sweet photos dude! Count me as extremely jealous hehe

The first one did not work for me, but then I looked at the rest and wow!

Spectacular images.

Awesome pics Jeff..The experience must have been far richer i guess. B & W works beautifully. Thanks for sharing. Just for interest though can you post a colour pic of your last hammerhead photo ?

 

Cheers,

 

Diggy

Thanks everyone; yeah the first one just sets the initial scene Andrzej

Diggy here's the colour version you asked for. ( Uncropped, in fact some extra space cloned in on the right)

Thanks Jeff,

Just wanted to compare the two and the B & W wins hands down. I love the 3rd picture a lot gives a sense of fast movement and the hammer looks neat in the center. Very nicely done.

Cheers,

Diggy

Why did you have to go and post all these great photos. Now i want to go back. My cousin is going for christmas and will not stop reminding me about it. I know how difficult it is to get good photos from there, especially if there is rain falling out of the sky and making the waterfalls flow to the max. Its nice to see a collection of B&W's though. I love the shot with the big school. I'm sure we will be seeing a few more in the coming weeks. Glad you had a good trip. Interesting what you say about the white tips during the day. We had great numbers at Punta Maria one day. But the night dive with them was deffinately something i will bore my non diving mates with for the rest of their lives.

Cheers for showing Jeff

Stew

Jeff,

Excellent stuff, looks like it was an awesome trip. Was the 10-17 your weapon of choice or the 17-35?

James

Jeff,

 

Excellent stuff, looks like it was an awesome trip. Was the 10-17 your weapon of choice or the 17-35?

 

James

Thanks guys; I used the 17-35 on every dive except one; when we went looking for the whale shark that was supposed to be in the area. Most of the time, while holding my breath till my head popped, it was a challenge just to get those little sharkies to come close enough to fill the frame at 35mm.