For most people, diving in a tropical sea around the equator means a nice and clear water and colorful coral reefs with a vibrant aquatic life. Happy creatures finning around taking their time with searching food and having a social life. That can actually be true but there are some exceptions which may make the diving experience a bit different and sometimes more exciting at the same time. No doubt, the sea’s diversity...
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Dive Blog
The idea of the Dive Blog is to provide you the newest stories, to show you breathtaking places and images taken by our Visionaries on their latest trips. All of them travel all around the world to find the next amazing dive spot and of course also to take the next incredible shot under the surface! Get inspired for your next trip!
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Papua New Guinea – an adventure in the last Garden of Eden
Papua New Guinea. A forgotten tropical paradise. Colourful. Diverse. And with many parts completely untouched and totally native. It is a place of all colours and shapes in both flora and fauna. Thick, rough jungle, bright blossoms and above all the ...-
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What are these balls for?
I ran into them for the first time at the dive fair 'Boot' in Düsseldorf. There I saw them lying in a showcase of a booth specialized in underwater photography material: Underwater flashes with a frosted glass hemisphere mounted at the front. In the very first instance, it looked like a big bowl of vanilla ice cream! I frowned my eyebrows ... "What-is-that?!" I had not seen this before!-
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Cenote Diving with a Mexican Mermaid
Where the ocean meets the sky, where giant sea monsters control the waters and where pirates bury their treasures – this is where we maybe find the mermaids that so many old salts talk about when the light of day fades and the senses are fooled...-
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Light is the key
Every time I write an article for any of the magazines I collaborate with and whenever I prepare a presentation on underwater photography, each and every time that I’ve written the word "LIGHT", I’ve done it in capit...-
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Diving in Cenotes – know what you’re in for
Diving is exciting. Diving is adventurous. And diving is not always a fun only activity. This is especially true when you are brave enough to face one of the most challenging diving spots there are: Cenotes. Diving in cenotes is something for the real pros – and so is taking underwater pictures in cenotes for that matter. But let’s start at the beginning …-
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Diving with dragons – almost...
The republic of Indonesia consists of more than 17.000 islands, and is located in the golden triangle when it comes to biodiversity. To say that this widespread country is a heaven for divers is an understatement. At this magical place, which is stretching 5.120 km from east to west, and 1.760 km from north to south, you can find pretty much everything you want when it comes to encounters underwater.-
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The Magic Photo Experience trip to the Philippines
This year in May I attended the Magic Photo Experience trip to the Philippines, a trip for the beginning photographer but also for the more experienced one. This trip was a combination of diving in Cebu and Moalboal at the beautiful resorts Magic Island and Magic Oceans. It was the perfect location for diving with lots of macro-
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How a dying jellyfish saved our day
Participating in a photoshoot-competition is a challenge not to be taken lightly. The most important rule in preparing: you need A plan. This was made clear to me when I joined the yearly Dutch ‘PEN OMD photo Experience’ for the first time. If you want to have any chance of winning, or even to be noticed, you need to work out a detailed modus operandi. What subject, what sort of lighting, which lens to mount ..-
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Exciting encounter with steller sea lions
For many divers underwater encounters with marine mammals are an unforgettable experience. Whenever I meet a dolphin, a seal or an eared seal (Otariidae), I am sure that I have just met an incredibly intelligent creature which enjoys our encounter as much as I do. The goal of my last photographic diving expedition was the coat of Kamchatka coast. To some of you, this idea may seem absurd. Everyone who starts diving dreams...-
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Kamchatka – diving in extreme conditions
Surely, all of you have heard of Kamchatka, right? Well, it’s highly likely that most of you will say “no” to this question. Let’s work on that. By the end of this article you will not know everything about this place but you will definitely know that we’re talking about a wonderful and exciting diving spot.-
This post has 2 Likes, 3 Comments and 2857 views
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Have you ever seen a Dugong swimming?
On my last trip to Abu Dabbab, located 43 km away from Marsa Alam in the Egyptian Red Sea, I had a principal mission: taking pictures of grass-eating dugongs and large green turtles in their natural habitat.-
This post has 6 Likes, 2 Comments and 8659 views
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Could you just come and capture a submarine?
In all the years that I've been taking underwater photos I've captured a lot: from various shark species and beautiful corals to the most amazing underwater creatures. People often ask me what I want to photograph next. Obviously, there are few things on my list, but a submarine ...-
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Muck diving – diving in waste is not a wasted dive!
To some people diving and photography is all about colorful reefs or getting the right angle of the huge wreck. Others spend hours and hours on a seemingly dead bottom, or diving in piles of human trash, and still come up with full memory cards...-
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Looking for the small stuff – Underwater Macro Photography
Macro photography is always a challenge but underwater, this wonderful kind of capturing the small things in life is taken to the next level. A great underwater macro shot therefore starts with a good research. Of course you can just dive in and – if you are lucky enough – find some great (or shall we say tiny?) things to shoot. Macro photography is always a challenge but underwater, this wonderful kind of capturing...-
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How to find a bearded goby?
For many underwater photographers Social Media are a great source of inspiration. Before the times of Facebook and Instagram there were only very few divers who, during winter time, went looking for lumpfishes or sculpins with eggs. Now, after seeing the images online, many divers go hunting for the same thing, and they are all posting almost identical pictures. People often ask what my source of inspiration is. Like...-
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Interested in some NEMO secrets?
Since the beginning of this century, to be more precise since the release of the Disney’s movie, the most famous fish in the world has been the clownfish, of course the one named after the famous captain’s name Nemo. His influence on mass consciousness...-
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Cabilao – Small island, big impression
The soft current is taking our hand and guides us along the edge of the reef. Our eyes wander towards a gorgonian the size of a hand. There! One, two, three, … six, seven! We are counting seven pygmy seahorses in the narrowest space – si...-
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So what is a nudibranch?
My fascination with Bali will never end. So, here is another story about one of my favourite dive spots. During the first blog posts we focused on Bali’s healthy corals and overgrown wrecks. This time we are going to stick our nose in the sand and get to know some of the most colorful and fascinating creatures of the underwater world – the nudibranchs. So what is a nudibranch? The fondly called “nudi” belongs to the...-
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5 Dive Spots to put on your bucket list
There are countless wonderful dive spots around the world - some small, some big, some famous, some very hidden. We want to know them all. Get inspired by these 5 famous dive spots to put on your bucket list and share YOUR most favourite spot in a comment below. You might be lucky and win a Tough! TG-4 Fisheye Kit! Good luck!-
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Raja Ampat – an untouched jewel of Indonesia
Raja Ampat – or “Four Kings” as you may also call it – is a playground for adventurers, professional divers and – the most important for us – underwater photographers. Imagine corals of all colours, exorbitant scho...-
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UNDERWATER WITH THE TG-5
During the Underwater Photography Workshop that I gave in the Red Sea in Egypt for one week in May 2017, I had the opportunity to test the new OLYMPUS Tough TG-5.-
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Meet our Visionary David Benz
David Benz from Gaggenau in Germany has more than 20 years of diving experience and can definitely be called an expert when it comes to the magical underwater world. He has been photographing underwater for more than 10 years and luckily shares his experiences of around 1000 dives and his wonderful pictures with us in this Underwater Photography Blog. We have met him and we think it’s about time you meet him, too! ...-
This post has 3 Likes, 11 Comments and 2910 views
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Bali - wrecks and corals, part II
In the southern part of Amed, just across the road from BaliKu Dive Resort, lays another gem. “The Japanese shipwreck” is laying on the housereef, equally accessible as Liberty, and even shallower. This is a small wreck, and divers go there for two main reasons – the diversity of nudibranch and small stuff you find on and around the wreck, and the incredibly healthy corals that stretch out on the left side of the beach...-
This post has 6 Likes, 3 Comments and 1495 views
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On the seabed with Juanjo Sáez and the E-M1 Mark II
I was one of the first privileged people in the world to have the opportunity to test the new OLYMPUS OM-D E-M1 Mark II in one of the most extreme and demanding disciplines for your camera equipment: underwater photography. For this task, I counted on two E-M1 Mark II bodies, a specific underwater case that Olympus has made for this camera, the PT -EP14, with its corresponding front for the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 12-40mm 1:2...-
This post has 9 Likes, 1 Comments and 3386 views
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