Our new photo (QZ74125) of a Pink Anemonefish (Amphiprion perideraion) published on the front cover of National Wildlife Magazine. This "Nemo relative" lives in a symbiotic association with Magnificent Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica). Photographed on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, tropical Pacific Ocean.

Australia  New Australia photos are now available on our web site. Melissa and I really enjoyed exploring the Great Barrier Reef, the world's most famous coral reef, Earth's largest living thing. It had been a few years since my last photo expedition to the GBR, and I was happy to see healthy hard coral gardens, schools of tropical fish, sharks, and so much more. In addition to scuba diving along the Ribbon Reefs outside of Cairns, and on the remote Osprey Reef out in the Coral Sea, we photographed one of the top shipwreck dives on the planet, the SS Yongala, a magnet for marine life. Check out the exciting Yongala images, including aggregations of stingrays, and then take an helicopter flight with us to make aerial pictures. We are considering a follow up trip in the next year or two to encounter the dwarf minke whales. Please let us know if you have any projects for which you need dramatic marine photography from Australia. As always, we will be happy to help.

OCEAN ENCOUNTERS  We’re happy to announce our new photo e-book app for the Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, " Ocean Encounters ".

Join us in exploring beneath the waves. Enjoy close-up encounters with marine wildlife large and small (whales, dolphins, sharks, fish and invertebrates)... scuba dive down onto colorful coral reefs and through swaying kelp forests... and learn about the marine environment worldwide. 250 photos, "notes from the field", and a cool interactive map bring ocean adventure into focus like never before. 

If you own one of the above mobile devices, visit the App Store today to download " Ocean Encounters " by using this link:

www.banzailabs.com/ocean

Please take a moment to write a review after you give it a test drive. User feedback is really important in helping to highlight quality apps from among the hundreds of thousands of things available on iTunes/App store.

Baja Mexico  We would like to take this opportunity to show you new photography from an exciting trip to Baja Mexico, more specifically the La Paz area in the Sea of Cortez, and the Socorro Islands way out in the Pacific Ocean. Highlights of the expedition include swimming with huge friendly manta rays, interacting with playful sea lions, watching whale sharks feeding, being enveloped in clouds of baitfish, poking around the Cabo Pulmo coral reef, and even petting a completely wild dolphin. We've been visiting Baja for more than 20 years- in fact this is where my wife Melissa and I met- and it remains one of our favorite places on the planet. Please take a moment to browse our new Baja photos or all of our Baja photos and let us know what you think.

Galapagos Islands  The incomparable Islas Encantadas 600 miles off Ecuador once again delivered a remarkable array of animal encounters- whale sharks, walls of hammerhead sharks, mind-boggling schools of bonito, sea turtles, my favorite modern day dinosaurs the marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, playful sea lions, current-swept reefs covered in sea fans and gorgonians, penguins, and on and on and on. It remains one of my favorite places on the planet. Please browse our new Galapagos photos when you have a moment.

Bryde's Whales feeding on baitballs  Earlier I reported on our very successful marlin shoot. But I did not mention that in addition to striped marlin, I also was fortunate enough to capture some of the most dramatic underwater feeding shots of Bryde's Whales (Balaenoptera brydei) in the world today. I wish I could say that these pictures of this unusal rorqual whale resulted from careful research, but that would be a lie. I had absolutely no idea that these baleen whales were going to show up to crash the marlin party. I was simply in the right place at the right time. Lady Luck deserves much of the credit this time. Anyhow, it was quite the experience to have to dodge the rapier-like bills of fiesty marlin AND twenty tons of blubber at the same time. The National Geographic Magazine has just published two of the images in the October 2009 issue, and I can finally post my collection on my web site. Photos here: ( link )

Bottlenose Dolphins  Fresh from last month's dolphin shoot in the Caribbean: new stunning sunset shots, intimate portraits, dolphins at play, and underwater images. We've added the first batch of dramatic mages to our web site. More to come soon. This new coverage adds to our already class-leading collection of marine mammal photography. Please contact us to discuss how we can help bring your next editorial project or advertising campaign to life. Photos here: ( link )

New Zealand  I'm not sure why it's taken so long to dive Middle Earth. Whereas previous trips to this magical land saw me focusing on whales and dolphins, this time we did everything that we had not done before, including scuba exploration of the Poor Knights Islands. Which I'll sum up with "Great fun, bold color, interesting critters, refreshingly different underwater habitat." But that was only the start. With scuba gear still wet, we piled into a campervan and went on a rampage, north to south. Our list of topside adventures included caving in the Waitomo area, Maori culture and boiling mud pits in Rotorua, hiking up volcanoes in Tongariro National Park, clawing up and sliding down Franz Josef Glacier, kayaking in Milford Sound, cruising on Doubtful Sound, killing swarms of sand flies in Fiordland, marveling at tree-sized ferns in temperate rainforest, and much, much more. Honestly, I would say that there's more exciting outdoorsy stuff to do here, and more jaw-dropping scenery awaiting around every corner, than just about any place on earth. What a trip! Photos await: ( link )

Sailfish and Striped Marlin feeding on baitballs  I just returned from two wildly successful photography expeditions and have something very cool to share with you: brand new underwater pictures of striped marlin and sailfish. Not struggling on a fisherman’s line, but totally wild and free, lording it over the blue. Quality underwater photos of these majestic gamefish are very rare. I was fortunate enough to finally find myself in the middle of amazing baitball action with dozens of billfish on the hunt. Displaying remarkable agility and speed, the excited, neon-flashing "stripies" and "sails" rocket into the spinning mass of sardines and mackerel, slashing with spear-like bills to separate, stun, and then swallow one unlucky baitfish at a time. Photographing these eight-foot long menacing "superfish" hunting in the open ocean was one of my career highlights. ( Marlin photos link )  ( Sailfish photos link )

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upcoming travel

2013  Planned shoots include salmon of the Pacific Northwest, killer whales in the Pacific Northwest, scuba diving in the Pacific Northwest, coral reefs in Palau, WWII shipwrecks in Truk, back to the Galapagos, wild spotted dolphins and sharks in the Bahamas, and additional projects yet to be determined. Please let us know if you have a "piggy-backable" assignment you'd like us to complete.

news bulletins

Selects  We've created this new feature on our web site ( link ) to highlight some of our favorite photographs from over the years, and to give you a quick, easy look into the subject diversity of our photo library. We will update this page every so often, so check back every so often.

Melissa's Blog  My wife and partner Melissa, an artist specializing in colorful, detailed paintings of fish, birds, and other animals, has recently updated her web site , added e-commerce capability, and a blog. Please stop by for a visit and see fantastic art in the making!

Blog  We finally join the blogosphere. Come on over to our blog for sporadic updates, news, and other info.