Just back from spending a week in one of my favorite places anywhere, Baja California MX. I guided sea kayaking trips here for years, and when Photo Quest Adventures asked about running a workshop there, I couldn’t wait. The Sea of Cortez is loaded with marine life, and our trip confirmed it. We saw numerous whales including Humpback, Blue, Pilot, Finback and dolphins by the hundreds. The Humpback whales were breaching, and the game began to see who could get a shot of a breaching whale. I caught this one in the distance. This was the first trip I got to try out my D3s, and shooting at really high ISOs was perfect for fast shutter speeds to stop the action.
A highlight of the trip for me was when two of our group renewed their wedding vows. I wanted to do a portrait of them, and had the idea of having them neck deep in the ocean. I really like this look, especially with a sunset in the background, just something about putting people in the water that really brings things to a pure, clean level. John and Suzy were happy to oblige, and waded out in their nice clothes. The lighting for this was one Lastolite Ezybox and a SB900. In order to reduce the amount of flash power needed, and reduce recycle times, I took out the internal baffle in the Ezybox. Tech (portrait) Nikon D3s, 24-70mm, 1/125 at F5.6, ISO 200. SB900 triggered with a SU800 transmitter, shot through a 24″ Lastolite Ezybox.