This Octopus crawled along the rocks, and on two occasions reached out to touch my camera housing. They are one of the most intelligent marine creatures I know.
This is the winning entry in the Cairns Underwater Film Festival.
Education, Awareness & Respect. Inspirational thoughts and images about the ocean and wildlife.
This Octopus crawled along the rocks, and on two occasions reached out to touch my camera housing. They are one of the most intelligent marine creatures I know.
This is the winning entry in the Cairns Underwater Film Festival.
I have been making improvements to this particular video over the last few weeks, removing shaky or repetitive clips, adding in some new clips, and preparing it for my next entry into competition.
I believe that I now have it where I want it to be and I hope you find this latest instalment even more enjoyable than the first efforts.
The ocean does not judge me,
As I’m wrapped in its embrace.
It does not know the colour of my skin,
Or the look upon my face.
To it I am a living thing,
Immersed in waters cool and clear.
Never asking where I’ve been,
Or what has brought me here.
Taking me to calm my soul,
To carry far away my fears.
Within the depths to drift and sway,
To wash away my tears.
To be as one in this blue world,
That few will understand.
A single moment neath the waves,
Worth a thousand on the land.
The blue green waters lay rippled in the stiff breeze as we prepare on two days to suit up and enter the cold waters of Westernport Bay, Flinders, Victoria. The new concrete pier stretches out alongside the old worn wooden one, with its weathered timber boards click clacking as you slowly walk along them, whilst you peer into the shallow water to see how clear it is, and to look for the familiar shape of the stingrays that swim nearby.
After deciding that all looks good, we finally pull our wetsuits and dry suits on, then with gear checked and cameras in hand, we make our way under the pier and into the shallow water. As the cool water wraps itself around you, a slight shiver washes through your body, then momentarily, as you submerge yourself below the water, a mini brain freeze reminds you that it is winter and that this is Melbourne.
At first the visibility is not so great as the sediment spirals in the current before your eyes, with the soft sunlight painting itself on the rippled sea floor, then as you swim into the slightly deeper water, it clears a little so that you can now see 6 to 10 meters in front. Read More →
The following video has been produced here as a 2D film, however it is shot and rendered in 3D from the go pro set up.
2D file is below, from a weekend that had two wonderful dives over two days.
The Ocean covers more than 70% of our earth and the creatures that live there are the subjects of the videos that I share with you all. As I have previously stated, my goal, through this blog, is to generate respect for marine life so that we will all take more care of them and the environment in which they live. Education is the key to awareness, and with this in mind I shall be giving you a short background on a number of the creatures with which I come into contact, so that you can understand them more and through me get to know their beauty and the role they play in our survival. They are more than just animals, they are living things, and we share this world with them.
Mark Jones.
Respect For Life –
Through my writing, diving, my underwater photography and videography, I share what I see and think, and I have been able to grasp a deeper insight into life and the importance of it all. I have always been a caring person, but for most of my life I just accepted that what I was doing was natural and I remained oblivious to the things that were so obvious, and just accepted what I was doing as okay.
As I continued my diving, I came to understand and appreciate the creatures of the ocean that I interacted with, and I gained a new found respect for life as a whole, not just for human kind. I could not imagine putting an end to the life of a fish, or octopus, or squid, when these creatures would look me in the eyes with a sort of deep connection that is hard to explain unless you take the time to just do it. I asked myself, could I justify my continued existence as the reason why another living thing should die, when there were other simple alternatives for me to choose? I could not, so my life choices began to change ever so slightly. I am now a vegetarian and will not eat meat, or fake meat again, and I am never wanting for food in doing so. Read More →
Hello to those that have taken the time to read this blog page and those that have chosen to follow it. This is my first post of what I hope will be many.
As it is my first, it is aptly titled ‘In the Beginning.’
I have always found satisfaction in being able to offer support to those around me and share the little knowledge I have with them so that they too can experience some of what I have had the opportunity to experience. I guess I secretly aspired to be a teacher but never really got there, so this was therefore my way of doing that without being Read More →