Follow my Lead by Cédric Péneau
Location
Reunion Island (my home)
Equipment
- Nikon D7200
- Tokina 10-17 fisheye lens
- Nauticam housing
- mini-dome
Dive Centre
No dive center, we rent boats with friends and go whale watching and swimming. I am a scuba diving instructor with a 12 year experience with whales so I guess I know the dos and donts…
The Shot
We are very lucky to have humpback whales visiting our shores every Austral Winter (from June to October). They come from the Antarctic to mate and give birth to their calves, who can enjoy the warm clear water of Reunion Island. Whales are quite easy to find (look for the blows !), but getting a good swimming interaction is trickier, for that you have to be lucky and especially very patient, and to approach slowly with your boat and swim the last 100 meters as calmly as you can.
The rest is up to the whales, sometimes they don’t want to be near you and swim away, but sometimes they stay calm or can even get playful. This was the case of this mother who is called Rabajou and who kept swimming towards and around us. The closer you are the better your shot gets, as we don’t use any strobes and rely on ambient light, that’s why most of the time I use Tokina 10-17 fisheye at 10 mm.
Nick and Caroline Robertson-BrownNick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology.
They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered.
Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus.
To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com
