Page 73 - Underwater Photography (January-February 2020)

Late one afternoon in Fiji I dropped my fear may have been justified; a
in the water with a jellyfish. Perhaps I French woman recently had both
had forgotten my weightbelt. But twisting hands torn off doing just this with pilot
around underwater to create a shot with whales accompanied by oceanic white
the area around the Snell’s Window only tips off Moorea.
reflecting only the deep dark water below, These pictures had value at
and through the window a beautiful one time and could sell for premium
stratocumulus sky. Only later by rotating prices. The oversupply and Instagram
the picture 90 degrees did I see the image disposability of great imagery has
at its best. devalued all pictures, even those that
Finally, I dropped into the ocean can never be commissioned.
6 miles north of Moorea in French
Polynesia. What greeted me were two Pete Atkinson
humpback whales, 100 melonhead
whales, some roughtooth dolphins and www.peteatkinson.com
a few oceanic whitetip sharks. I jumped
back in the dinghy in a hurry when the Pete’s ebook of Polynesia – An Ocean
sharks came to investigate. In retrospect Realm is available from his website

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