Night Dive with Manta Rays

Here’s a couple minutes of video shot with my GoPro Hero2 from a recent night dive with 12ft Reef Manta Rays off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. Beautiful and docile creatures that feed on the plankton attracted to our torches, and an average-sized manta is estimated to consume 44–66 lb of plankton per day and can get up to 18ft and 1500lbs! You can see each manta rays individual markings on their underside which act as a fingerprint for identification, and the more time you spend with them in their environment you really get the feeling that they are very intelligent animals. Superfun dive and I recommend it to anyone who has the chance, it’s like being on another planet for an hour.

PHOTO OF THE DAY FLASHBACK – 2009 Ironman

KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII – OCTOBER 9: Lava flows from the Kilauea volcano during the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 9, 2009. Considered one of the most grueling races in the world, competitors must brave 95 degrees temperature and 90 percent humidity to complete a 3.86 km swim, 180.2 km bike, and a 42.2 km marathon with in an 17 hour time cutoff to be called an “Ironman”. (Photo by Donald Miralle) Canon EOS-1D Mark III Lens: 70-200mm Aperture: F4 Shutter 1.0 sec ISO:250

17,000 miles in 7 days

Living at 30,000 feet isn’t good for you. You eat crappy airline food, don’t get any exercise, and your body can’t figure out time zone it’s in. Just finished a whirlwind trip from San Diego to Los Angeles to Chicago to Amsterdam to Copenhagen to San Francisco to Kona to San Diego the past week. More time in the air than on the ground, and here are some hipstomatic iphone photos as evidence. Had to give a keynote presentation of my work to the Danish National Photographers Union Convention, which was a great group, seeing some old faces and meeting some new. Then I made my annual trip to Hawaii to shoot the Ironman for LAVA. I’m exhausted and ready to catch some sleep, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen…

Approaching Copenhagen with the sea windmills

 

Youngest pilot in United’s fleet

 

Cirrus cloads at 30,000 ft.

 

London airport

 

Trees at Amsterdam Airport

 

Random dude at Copenhagen train station

 

Kona coast on approach

 

JAWS goes off on north shore of Maui

While I was in Hawaii during the Paula Finlay Cover Shoot for LAVA, I had one morning off so my wife and I went to go check out the infamous surf break “Jaws” on the north shore of Maui. The last time we were there was 8 years earlier before we were married and still dating to watch men braving 50 foot faces during the Tow-In World Cup. Conditions were primo with a large long period N swell producing waves in the 25′-30’range. We shot guys dropping in and some unfortunately wiping out for a couple hours before heading over to quaint town of Pa’ia for a nice lunch. I sent my favorite shot (above) of a man dropping into a monster from the nicest light early in the morning to ESPN the Magazine, and they are running it as a ZOOM double page spread in this weeks edition. Stoked!