I
am very happy to have added my first win the Theme Portfolio
Competition to the Open Portfolio that I won back in
December.
The
inspiration for this portfolio came from the central
image on the top row, which I took three years ago.
The remaining images were all taken on a single dawn
dive at Stingray City, Grand Cayman, in January 2005.
The
rays of Grand Cayman's Stingray City are world famous,
but what is less widely known is that at dawn the rays
form into a super school numbering more than 80 and
circle the site in formation. This behaviour stops as
soon as the first feeding boat arrives. I was first
shown this behaviour in the summer on 2002 (when I took
the original image) by marine biologist, artist and
documentary filmmaker Dr Guy Harvey. And ever since
that first trip I have been trying to get back. The
problem is that unless you have loads of cash it is
pretty difficult to persuade anyone to take you to Stingray
City at dawn! So when I was asked to host the Digital
Jam event, my main condition was that we would do a
dawn dive with the stingrays! That is when these pictures
were taken.
I
was on teaching duty during the Digital Jam week and was
not really taking images for myself. I didn't even have
a camera of my own with me! These pictures were taken
with a Nikon D70 that I borrowed for the dive from a friend
on the island! I guess at this point I should add a shameless
plug for next year's Digital Jam! Please drop me an email
if you fancy seeing the schooling rays for yourself next
January!
1)
A pair of stingrays glide down the side of the Sandbar.
All these images are lit only with available light, and
this is the only one that I used a filter. Although the
images were all taken on one dive I returned to the boat
on several occasions to change lenses etc. This image
was taken using a prototype UR Pro filter that I was testing.
Nikon D70 + 20mm lens. F8 @ 1/160th.
2)
Squadron. This is the original image that inspired the
portfolio. Nikonos V + 15mm lens. I don't remember the
settings but almost certainly F8 on aperture priority
auto..
3)
School of rays. There are actually 30 rays in this image!
No filter was used for this image but the camera was
custom white balanced. Nikon D70 + 10.5mm Fisheye. F8
@ 1/250th.
4)
Lone Stingray. The original image had shown me what
strong compositional elements the sand ripples and the
shadows of the rays are in black and white. This image
was shot specifically for the left side of a portfolio
trying to exploit these features in a different composition.
I used the upper AF sensor on the D70 to focus on the
ray close to the top of the frame. Nikon D70 + 20mm.
F6.3 @ 1/160th.
5)
This was the last image that I added to the portfolio.
For this space I wanted a vertical colour shot that
complimented the three rays above. This image was shot
as a horizontal with the fisheye and then cropped into
a vertical. It is the only image that has any cropping
in this portfolio, as one part of my motivation was
to show the rays in as much space as possible. Nikon
D70 + 10.5mm. F8 @ 1/160th.
6)
This final image, like the other monochromes was always
visualised as a black and white. Again I was trying
to create space in the image, while exploiting the ripples
and horizon in the composition. Stingray City is one
of the few places I shoot where I get a horizon in my
underwater images and it is nice to use it to add depth
to the image. This image doesn't really work this small
and does need to be seen larger. Nikon D70 + 10.5. F8
@ 1/250th.
