While on a night dive in Cozumel last winter I saw a large grouper dart off into the distance. At first, I thought I might have spooked him from his slumber. Once he disappeared into the ocean’s darkness, I quickly changed my focus back to exploring the reef for crustaceans and octopus you normally don’t see durning the day. I jumped a bit when I saw another big grouper dancing in and out of the shadows near the reach of my flashlight. It gets a bit spooky at night when big fish show themselves. It is a subtle reminder you aren’t the biggest fish in the sea. However this grouper was the same grouper I had just seen. He had been following me the entire time. He was about the size of a large labrador and he was fast. He followed my flash light around looking for prey, the same way my cat chases a laser light. This was amazing, I was paired up with a 150lb grouper as a dive buddy. We spent the next 10 minutes or so hunting for his dinner. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. Once we came upon the squid pictured here, I approached slowly so I could get a nice close up of him. (When making images underwater using a flash you are always concerned with the water column. You want to reduce your distance to the subject so you don’t get a bunch of back splatter when the flash fires. Here ends the dive photography lesson, let’s get back to the story.) Squid are pretty rare, and ones that pose for you are even harder to come by. I shot several images as I worked my way closer and closer. I finally got this image before he saw the grouper coming for him. As the squid let out a large could of ink, my grouper buddy must have darted off in pursuit because I didn’t see him again for the rest of the dive.

Calling All Readers…calling all readers……

Is variety the spice of the blog? If you have a second, I would appreciate your feedback. I have two main goals with LightAsMagic.com. I believe photography is an incredible vehicle to connect to the moments of of your life. I try my best to share that belief and encourage others. Also, this site forces me to raise the bar on my own art. Looking back through the archives, I know I have become a better photographer since I began running LightAsMagic.com. I hope that if you are a photographer, you have bettered yourself by following my journey, and if you aren’t a photographer, I hope you are considering becoming one. Or, at the very least, the images and stories have offered you a bit of levity in your day.

My question is this: Do you like the variety provided here? This week was a bit of an experiment. We started the week off with a commercial image featuring flash, followed that with and HDR landscape, followed by a minimalist shoreline, and now….a denizen of the deep! I will be the first to admit, that is a pretty crazy week. Do you like that type of variety? Do you enjoy the random glimpses into the world. I know I do. The world is huge, and I love following other artists who can offer me a small window into what they saw from wherever they happened to be. If you don’t mind, can you take a second to let me know what you like at LightAsMagic.com (images, processing notes, videos, tutorials, reviews, photo series, interesting links, etc.), and what you would like to see more of.

As always, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate the kind words you leave here, in emails, and tweets. They are much appreciated. If you have a second, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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