Crab's Eye View

The folks over at Midcurrent.com now have the gallery live and prints are available for purchase. Go on over and check it out. If you feel so inclined, please make a purchase and help raise money for this great organization.

My intentions were to relay that permit were what these guys were infected with. As guides they love all species, but the permit is the holy grail and they’ll do anything to put their guests on to them. After brainstorming for a few days, I ended up sticking with the permit filled brains (shown in cat scan) and built the rest of the ad around that. Many of the funny phrases and “symptoms” were spawned from my boss, David and Palometa Club owner, Dick Cameron. This ad is the beginning of a fun marketing campaign for them and I can’t wait to get started on the next design. Feel free to leave any constructive criticism. Is it to busy? Hard to read? Message not clear? Please share!

Initial photograph

Initial photograph

Adding the elements

Final Product

When I found out that I’d be heading out to the Seychelles, I knew I would have to make an upgrade in gear. My immediate need was a new camera body. Up until this trip, I had shot all my photography with one camera – a Canon 30D. It’s a great camera, but it was time beef up the body. After much debate between a Canon 7D and 5D, I decided to purchase the 7D. Other than the price, the feature that influenced my purchase was the AF system in the 7D. It’s a smarter system than that of a 5D, which I prefer for shooting underwater images.

A GOPRO mounts perfectly on the top of this housing to capture a cool point view.

With the types of underwater images I shoot, it’s rare that I’m able to look through the viewfinder. Not only do I have to know the lens I’m shooting, but I must heavily rely on the AF system to do it’s job. With the 7D’s advanced AF system, particularly zone selection, I can trust that I’ll have a higher quantity of sharp images. An issue I’ve always fought is the camera’s tendency to focus on the waterline in split shots. Often times in this situation, the subject in the lower portion of the image is out of focus. I found that the zone selection really assisted in solving this problem. Another convenient feature I love is the quick control (Q) option. With one push of a button, I’ve got access to virtually all camera functions other than shooting mode. This makes it incredibly simple to make changes on the fly. Overall, I’m very happy with the decision I made and I look forward to the future I have with this body.

With intentions of shooting underwater images with my 7D, I had to replace my old housing, which was specifically designed for a 30D. My Ikelite housing was a great piece of equipment, but honestly a bit of an overkill for what I do. It’s a housing designed for diving, which meant HEAVY. It was a complete beating to carry around. In comes Aquatech. They’ve pioneered underwater housings catered specifically for the action sport photographer. What you have to realize is that these are not designed for divers, which is why it’s depth rating is only 33ft. With the CO-7 model, I equipped it with a 50mm extension ring for my Canon 10-22mm lens, as well as their LP-3 8” dome.

After installing my camera (so easy), the most exciting feature was it’s overall weight. The housing alone is a slim 3lbs. Next, is the large handle. While marching out to the reefs on St. Francois, this handle was a life-saver! All around, it’s construction is incredible. The housing design is simple and ergonomic, making it super easy to handle while shooting. It’s simplicity allows for quick assembly and easy cleaning. Both the extension ring and LP-3 dome are constructed of high quality, super lightweight aluminum. The threading is machined to perfection so you can count on a snug fit every time, ensuring a safely enclosed camera. After putting this housing to the ultimate test, I can’t say there is a single flaw. I commend and thank Aquatech for offering such a great and high quality product. The only regret I have is not purchasing one of their great sport shields! For more info on these great housing, please visit www.aquatech.net

A friend, Tim Romano recently posted some photos of an air show he just covered and it inspired me to get off my butt and post some pics from last year. What I love about Tim’s photos is that he had subject matter other than the sky to incorporate into his photos. It makes such a difference. I’m fairly pleased with how mine turned out. Either way, I always love going to these shows. Simply amazing.

I’m super excited to announce my first sponsorship! I have partnered up with AquaTech, a company that specializes in camera housings, sport shields and other photography accessories. These guys build their products with adventure photographers in mind and I can’t wait til I get my new housing in. What initially caught my eye is their attention to detail when it comes to housing accessories. The winner for me is the ability to fire the camera remotely by using their Pocket Wizard housing. I have been sitting on all sorts of ideas that require a housing and firing the camera within it remotely. Now that I have access to that, I can’t wait to see what creative shots I can come up with. I leave for the Seychelles in two months and when I return I’ll write an extensive review on both my new camera body (Canon 7D) and the new housing (AquaTech CO-7).

1) Think Vitamin – this site is a great resource for web designers as well as entrepreneurs. They cover html 5, CSS3, php, business, and much more. While you can learn a lot by simply reading their blog, you can also pay for the membership to gain full access.
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2) ProBlogger - Darren Rowse is the master behind this incredibly successful blog. He teaches everything you need to implement a strategy for turning your ordinary blog into a money making one. Are you ever in a blogging slump? He’s got you covered. If you have a blog, you need to read his. Click here

3) The 99% – This is a site run by the Behance Network. Their sole purpose is to help creatives take their ideas and make them happen. The 99% focuses on topics such as leadership, email strategy, self-marketing, collaboration, organization, and much more. Click here

4) MarketingProfs – This is the all time website when it comes to marketing. They cover everything from branding to email marketing. I make it a point to read through their articles daily and I’ve learned so much already. Click here

5) Action Method – One more site by the Behance Network. I’ve written about this site once already and have to mention it again. This is one application I truly can’t live without. Since first using it a month ago, I have become more organized and efficient in all my projects. It’s incredibly easy to use, and it’s free up to 50 action steps (after that it’s $12/month). Click here to get organized.

Action Method is a sister company to the Behance Network, a very very robust portfolio website for creatives across all industries. Whether you are on the computer or on the run, this service is accessible both online and through their iphone app. You can create tasks, projects, ect. on either and they will both sync with one another to make sure everything is up to date.

Features I love:

- Action Steps – these are what tasks are called
- Projects – basically a way to organize or collect a group of tasks
- Events – the milestones or occasions you or your team is working toward. Events are a way to organize all your action steps
- Backburners – A place to store ideas that you’d like to work on at a later time. For me it’s a great place to organize all of my thoughts from my brainstorming sessions, or a place to list ideas I don’t want to forget about.
- Discussions – This is a place to share all thoughts with the individuals or groups you are working with. File sharing is available here as well.
- Delegations – With delegations, you can create tasks and delegate them to whomever is involved in that particular project
- Alerts – iphone app