Your Favourite Photo of 2009

My son, CJ, aged 11 at work at Elphinstone. An absolute delight to me...

Tim ... is the level on the camera a new addition? Is it useful underwater?

Tim ... is the level on the camera a new addition? Is it useful underwater?

PM'd Jeremy...

What an enjoyable thread! Thanks for sharing these incredible images everyone.

Here's mine:

This was taken in the Channel Islands last September. This was my first and only time having the chance to dive with sea lions and it was a dive that I'll never forget. We were entertained by nearly a dozen of the playful pinnipeds and it was a riot to watch their antics. The weather cooperated too which was an added bonus! Robyn

Always love this thread .. also love the way everyone is always so polite and waits for Alex to start it It is his tradition after all.

Anyway .. not being in my normal home of Grand Cayman very much at the start of the year (due to certain immigration reasons) I missed out on the first half, then I bought my 5d mkii and have been scared of using the D60 for sake of me wanting to smash it to pieces (just no comparison once you have tasted the 5d)

So it turns out the only underwater photos I took this year were with my Olympus point and shoot at Stingray City.

This is my favourite from all of my trips out there purely because it was the best day ever (a week or two later we were snorkeling with a dolphin not too far from Stingray City too, but that photo isn't mine.

Stingray City - Giles Shaxted

oh and just for shits and giggles to show off that the dolphin is real (in Grand Cayman) here is the photo of him as it is a freakin special day when you get 45 minutes play time with a wild dolphin in Grand Cayman.

Some amazing images presented here.

Usually my favourite image of the year comes out of Port Hardy BC in CANADA because I consider the diving there my home. That said I have to go with what I found to be one of my most challenging shots to accomplish yet not necessarily my most contest worthy shot.

I was snorkelling in the Galapagos in November and noticed the tail end of a white tip shark under a ledge. I dove down to take a look as I was disappointed to see that it was the tail facing out of the cavern and not the head. When I dove down I could see that there was some light on the face and went over the top of the ledge to see if there was another opening. I found a small hole and could see the light was touching the face of the White tip. Downside again, there was a large sting ray also under the ledge and I could not tell where the business end of it was. On top of that I had to try and wedge myself and my housing into the hole without blocking the ambient light. So housing in hand, no strobes and free diving I accomplished the shot. My most challenging image of 2009.

This is one of my favorite photos cause it looks like the little guy is trying to hide, but it isn't working.

This is not a "wow" critter...it hasn't got "wow" lighting, and the composition isn't that "wow" but i just love the happy expression on this globefish:

Happy Snapping,

Peter

Technically this shot wasn't taken in 2009. However, it was taken near the end of 2008. Since I didn't go on any trips in 2009, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no one will object too much It was taken at Wakatobi Dive Resort and everything seemed to come together for this shot. I was using my Tokina 10-17 lens for the first time on this trip and was quite pleased with the results.

My "two" favorites of the year are from my last diving, the last day of the year, just in time.

Taken during a dive with some friends in the morning of Dic 31.

These are my favorites because I'm starting to understand the concept "get close, get closer".

Canon A590IS, Ikelite housing, 2xInon Z-240 type 4, Inon UWL-100 Wide Angle Lens Type 2

Wow...love looking at these. Inspires me to work harder at my photography.

My favorite shot this year was taken in Cozumel in March. Our divermaster said that in 30 years of diving in Cozumel, he had never seen this behavior betweeen a moray eel and a shark. If you look closer, you will notice a grouper further back in the crevice. I managed to get a series of pictures - the first being of the eel laying down asleep and then waiting and taking pics as it "woke" up and then opened its mouth all the way. This is one of the pics in the series. For once I felt that I was in the right place at the right time for this one.

DivverPam

Sorry I'll try that again;

Have 2 I'm afraid - sorry!

The first is from a very enjoyable trip with Julian, Dave (Scubacam) and the legendary Rodney Fox, no matter how many times I photograph great whites the the buzz being this close is always electric. Plus what I really enjoyed about the Fox experience was the bottom cage that really gave a different photo opportunity than Guad or SA.

The 2nd is a wreck - never thought I would be posting a wreck however the time it took to get this right and the fact it sat at 30m and we had no nitrox made the result very satisfying. Plus the amount of time it took to train the batfish to swim towards the open door where I had the slave strobe hiding took forever!

Hello everybody,

Here's a photo from Port de la Selva, a small port on Spanish Costa Brava coast (mediteranean sea).

Best wishes for 2010 !

Wow! Beautiful color. If you have a second tell us what you took the photo with (esp. strobes)! I'm trying to learn wide angle and it's a struggle!

Wow! Beautiful color. If you have a second tell us what you took the photo with (esp. strobes)! I'm trying to learn wide angle and it's a struggle!

Hi,

I used Nikon D80 body + 2 substrobes : my old favourite Ikelite SS200 + Nikon SB-105 (so all manual settings)

Lens: Tokina 10-17 !

BR

Olivier.

Great thread, as always. My only real dive trip in 2009 was 5 days in Rangiroa, Fr. Polynesia. Saw sharks and lots of turtles, but my favorite dive (albeit not best photo) was a magical encounter with two dolphins that swam with us for a bit. So I'm going to call this my favorite because it reminds me of that dive:

Hello everybody,

 

Here's a photo from Port de la Selva, a small port on Spanish Costa Brava coast (mediteranean sea).

 

 

Best wishes for 2010 !

Superb... I hope that I'll have the chance to meet you in person in Paris for the Salon de la Plongée.

I'll have a couple of images displayed on CIPS booth.

I only did a few dive trips this year

March 2009 - Poor Knights New Zealand

My fav wide angle

May 2009 - Julian Rocks - Byron Bay New South Wales (Australia)

November 2009 - Bali, Indonesia

My fav macro

This year I want to go:

Bicheno and Eagle Hawk Neck, Tasmania

Somewhere in Papua New Guinea

This was my first year shooting with a DLSR underwater, this was one of my favorites.

http://gyoss.zenfolio.com/img/v10/p1052091030-4.jpg

Thank you everyone for your contributions. Once again it is an inspiring collection.

Alex