fstopandsee

I came to the Southwest on this trip to ski, but I stayed for the sunsets. This view with Pueblo Peak in the background was particularly spectacular, and absolutely better than the skiing!

In celebration of World Turtle Day, I went deep into my archives to find this friend. Diving with turtles is always amazing, and this particular one seemed particularly happy to pose on the bottom of the ocean while I took this photo. Long live the turtles!

I have a history of getting up close and personal with wildlife on what are supposed to be ski trips. When life doesn’t give you fresh snow you make the most of it and take wildlife photos! This bighorn sheep was hanging out above the Rio Grande on the rocks along the trail just waiting for us. He checked us out for awhile before making his way down the steep edge of the river out of sight.

I can’t explain why these guys wanted to hang out together, but they were inseparable the whole time I snorkeled with them. I like to think they were just friends, but maybe it was a camouflage technique. I’ve been holding onto this image for awhile as there was a lot of nasty backscatter in the original. Now I’m benefitting from a friend’s new knowledge, and used some new to me techniques to really clean this image up so I could post it!

A picture cannot capture how large a whale shark is. To swim next to one of these animals is simply something else, and I’ve never experienced something else like it.

Like most things in the ocean, this guy doesn’t like to be touched. His stinging white bristles are flared out since he noticed me, but it wasn’t too difficult to avoid all 1.5 inches of him. I spent at least 10 minutes to get this shot and I’m pretty happy with the result. He was cooperative, but the current moved him around enough to make getting this shot a time-consuming process.

On a recent snorkeling trip I ran into this stingray. He looks menacing, but was more interested in hiding on the bottom than he was in messing with me.

The current can be strong, there is no use fighting it. Sometimes it is just best to grow with the flow.

I was focused on the spotted moray eel for this shot, but then a little cleaner shrimp popped into the frame. Maybe they had some kind of arrangement to share this little hole in the bottom of the sea.

I’ve been thinking about the lack of scuba diving in my life recently, so I decided to process this photo of some corals. Like most things underwater, it wasn’t very interesting until I lit it up with my strobe, and then the colors other than blue really started to show.