Along the Kona coast of Hawaii’s Big Island is a world famous dive site called Garden Eel Cove, where huge Manta Rays routinely come in to feed on krill in 50ft of water not far from shore. At this particular site the party doesn’t start until after the sun goes down. Natural feeding behavior has been further encouraged by local dive operators who now come to this site each evening and plant a few dive lights on the rocky bottom. These lights attract krill and other tiny planktonic species which in turn attract the peaceful giants. Decades ago mantas acquired the name “devilfish”. Their massive size and bat shape suggested menace. That changed in the 1970s, when scuba divers found mantas to be gentle creatures. There are more than 70 known Manta Rays in Kona and all have names and can be identified by unique spot patterns on their underside.

When my family opted to visit the Big Island on vacation this summer, I knew I’d have to check out this dive. To be honest I didn’t have super high expectations. Due to its popularity, I imagined crowds of ungainly two legged neoprene clad creatures dominating the underwater landscape. My expectations were to some extent right on the money. It is indeed a circus atmoshephere. On the day I dove this location there were at least six other dive boats that showed up at dusk. Many of these boats unleash not just divers but teams of snorkerlers. The divers huddle on the bottom around an underwater halogen powered campfire of sorts and snorkelers float above. Everyone has a primary torch in addition to multi-color locator lights on tanks, boats and supporting equipment. It looks a bit like an underwater Las Vegas. In between the divers and snorkelers is 30ft of water column left over for the 12-16ft Mantas that are effortlessly doing vertical loops, barrel rolls and fly bys as they scoop up krill. There is a famous sting ray dive in the Cayman Islands called Sting Ray City. This dive is a bit like Sting Ray City on acid.

To my surprise the surrounding madness did not prevent from being mesmerized by the feature attraction. On some nights no Mantas bother to show up. During our dive we were lucky enough to have 8 full size females show up and put on a show.

Underwater photography is difficult to begin with. Trying to capture large moving animals at night brings the challenge to an entirely new level. As much as possible I wanted to somehow create images that revealed the elegance of these animals and none of the surrounding circus atmosphere. By no means did I do a great job but I had some modest success. I’d love to go back and try again.

What is it like?

I went on YouTube to try and find a video that is representative of the scene and not only found a video from the same night but it was shot by a diver just happened to be sitting next to me on the same boat. Here’s her great video of the dive. It includes footage of a recon dive we did in daylight before the later night dive.

Here’s an award winning photo by Randall Benton that also perfectly captures the experience of shooting Pacific Mantas.

Equipment Used

I used a Nikon D200 in a Light & Motion Titan housing with Sea & Sea YS90DX strobes and a Hartenberger Nano focus light. The focus light is a new addition to my arsenal and was absolutely indispensable. I’m not sure how you could shoot this dive with out a decent focus light.

Operator Used

I dove with Jack’s Dive Locker.

Started a flower and garden lightbook on iStock.

If you already have a system in place for distributing emails I can deliver design assets as properly formatted HTML. If you don’t currently have a method in place for sending email campaigns I can now provide this service. Using online campaign management software I can offer a wide range of powerful tools for distributing and tracking robust email campaigns.

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Costs

Email Design:
I invoice design work on an hourly basis. How much time is required will depend entirely on the nature of the email needed as well and the degree to which a visual direction is already established. If you have an established visual identity in place and can supply logo, color palette, style guide, etc. I can quickly turn around an engaging email design. If you’re less sure of the visual elements that need to be incorporated and want to first see a variety of initial mockups the design process will likely require a bit more time. Just send me an email describing the nature of your project. I may have a few questions but with out wasting too much of your valuable time I should be able to prepare an accurate estimate of what will be required.

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In addition to design cost there is a small deliver fee. To send an email campaign requires a one-time $5. delivery fee as well as 1 cent per recipient. For example:
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I uploaded a nice lifestyle shot of Zoe to iStock.

I’m one of those old school hold outs that up until a few weeks ago still had a giant CRT display taking up my entire desk and threatening to collapse it. I put up with the beast as long as I did because it still looked sharper and provided more accurate color than any of the slim and sleek looking LCD displays I had a chance to preview.
I knew there were brands such Eizo that produced LCD monitors suitable for professional graphic design and photography work but I also knew they carried a huge price tag. To be honest, I had finally given up on ever owning one. I thought that perhaps I’d go with an Apple display on my PC.  Yikes! The reviews of Apple displays immediately scared me off. Then I started looking at NEC and LaCie models as legitimate options. I was about to purchase the LaCie324. Then I saw a blog entry on ShootSmarter with the tile “It’s Here.. the PERFECT Monitor!”. Sure enough, they were referring to an Eizo. The Eizo CG 222W. The catch? This model costs $1,300. That might sound expensive if you’re used to standard consumer models but it’s a bargain for a monitor that meets high end benchmarks. With in a few minutes I was on B&H ordering one.

I’ve now been using this display for about a month. It’s awesome! I was initially worried that it might be too small. They call it a 22″. The viewing surface is 18.5 inches wide, and 11.5 inches tall. I’m working at wide-screen resolution of 1680×1050. It’s plenty or real estate for design and photography work. Email and Pandora are perfectly happy living on secondary monitor. Color calibration is easy with the included software. This is the first LCD monitor I’ve owned that gives me confidence I’m working with super accurate color representation. Fine tuning photos in Lightroom no longer feels like a guessing game. Developing color palettes for new design or identity projects is no longer such a daunting task.

If you aren’t a professional designer or photographer I think you’d probably be crazy to spend more than a thousand dollars on a monitor. However, if you make a living working on color critical projects this monitor is a great addition to your work flow.

Here’s the product description on Eizo’s site.

Just finished putting together a cover for a new SuperTopo guidebook that will focus on Bay Area top ropes.

SuperTopo publishes guidebooks for climbers. It’s not always about scary 3000′ routes up ElCap. This new book focuses on top rope climbs in the Bay Area.

I uploaded a series of shots from LutherSpires to GettyImages

Can you tell what has been weighing on my mind these days? Uploaded a tax calendar to iStock.