Isla Mujeres whale shark

Really nice Snell's window!
(Were you there with Mauricio by any chance?)

Too cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SMB wrote:Really nice Snell's window!
(Were you there with Mauricio by any chance?)

We were with Anthony Mendello's Keen M company aboard the Andrea M. Very nice boats and crew and very respectful of the animals. I hear they also do great sailfish trips in the winter.

I love these up and under type perspectives! Great silhouette view catching the overhead light and rays!

Very well done Clay!

Yup, Clay I have been on that boat. Great crew and a wonderful photo opportunity.
Looks like you took great advantage of it!

Awesome photograph!
cheers,
bruce

Excellent shot, congrats on the EP!

Fantastic image!

Thanks for the looks and comments. This shot is more an exercise in free diving than photography. I was just glad this old geezer could still get where I needed to be in time to make the shot!

I was thinking that you had pretty good breath holding capabilities! Folks here may not realize this is a free dive shot as no tanks are allowed. It is kind of awesome 20 miles out, bouncing around in the ocean with the Whale Sharks coming from all directions.

Depth and duration are pretty tame for a free dive, only about 20 feet down for 30 seconds or so. The problem is the energy expended. The sharks seem to be moving slowly due to their size, but as Stan knows, they're actually moving faster than a diver can swim with a camera. So the dive is a sprint from beginning to end, first straight down (ears!), and then on your back with your eye glued to the viewfinder to line things up while swimming absolutely as fast as you can to keep up with the shark. Plus, you have to keep the shark dead-center frame to avoid distortion from the fisheye. I tried this shot more than once, and all of the fails were due to the shark getting ahead of me with the sun behind its tail--no good (the posted shot would be better if the sun was a smidgeon forward behind the shark's head). I made 3 exposures in quick succession the instant I saw the sunburst, and only the first one worked. The sun was too far aft in the other two shots. But now that the photo is made, the sunburst is happening forever. And that, I think, is the beauty of photography.