Underwater Photography
One of the Greatest pleasures of life, is to just be present with life itself. -Damien Beri
My 2013 internship aboard the Sun Dancer II in Belize where Captain Eddy and Amanda were my photography instructors and dive guides. Wayne Hasson taught me the underwater photography basics from international phone calls made via Florida to Belize.
Photography by Damien Beri, President of the Coral Conservancy. It all started when…
I got an awesome gig working as an Intern in Belize, onboard the Belize Sun Dancer II, Live-aboard dive boat. The owner, Wayne Hasson and father to my friend Caroline Hasson took Time to educate me briefly on the overall goals of underwater photography and how to make the cameras function properly and operate the various functions. From a single brief conversation with Wayne Hasson I seemed to have a new understanding for marine photography. Now it was about learning to get in the positions to take the shots!
My First Professional Shot
Two Grey Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus) are enticed into a romantic face-off. Shot taken at Chain Wall dive site on the Lighthouse Reef Atoll in Belize. Here, I used an organ peel guests had tossed overboard as bait which I quickly withdrew right before the shot was taken. Shot on Canon G16 with Fantasea Housing. Wayne Hasson was a large advocate for that camera setup and you can easily see why.
Nassau Groupers (Epinephelus striatus) in Belize are similar to playful puppies. They will follow you until you give them attention! Unfortunately this makes them easier to hunt, and their populations are dwindling.
Nassau Groupers, like many other groupers form large, predictable mating SPAGS where thousands of fertile groupers come together to breed. This predictable large accumulation of fish makes them easy targets for poachers and fishermen looking for a quick meal.
Documenting Coral Bleaching in Hawaii.
Massive Porites undergoing severe bleaching in Waikiki. Photography used for research and publications purposes.
“Feeding Invasive Lion Fish To Sharks Is Fun, But Stupid And Dangerous”
Invasive Lion Fish plague the Caribbean… Part of our efforts to reduce the insane Lion Fish populations was to hunt them, and feed them to the various organisms on the reefs.
This practice is currently illegal in the Caribbean and has been banned due to shark attacks on reefs where people fed Lion fish to sharks.
One of the most fascinating experiences of my life has been watching the ecological and behavior shifts associated with hunting Lion Fish on reefs in the Caribbean. The more reefs and Lion Fish we targeted, the more the resident reef predators would learn to hunt the Lion Fish on their own. It was like we were teaching the predators that they could in-fact hunt this pesky invasive. Below you will see the evidence of 3 Nassau Groupers, a Barracuda, a queen Trigger Fish, and two large Black Tip Reef Sharks locate a Lion Fish, and communicate through specific movements to me, a diver, that the fish was there and they were ready and willing to eat it! Amazing.
Various organisms trained to hunt Lion fish. Behind me, two large black-tip reef sharks sneak up behind to steel a snack from the soon-to-be speared lion fish. We used tri-tip paralyzer sling spears to minimize damage to the reefs.
Damien Beri working as on-board Humpback Whale Videographer for the Turks and Caicos Aggressor II.
Then I went to the Dominican Republic to document the annual Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) to the Silver Banks.
Atlantic Humpback Whales travel thousands of miles each year to reach tropical, sheltered areas such as the Silver Banks of the Dominican Republic. Many of these mature females making the long migration give birth along the way. These tropical sheltered waters function as breeding/nursing grounds. In this video, a mother humpback whale escorts her juvenile calf, while an unseen male bull Humpback Whale pursues her from beneath. Female humpback whales are capable of mating almost directly after birthing calves. A majority of these whale interactions are in fact males attempting to seduce females with songs and dramatic pectoral fin slaps and breaching events.
Night diving with Nurse Sharks and Cubera Snappers in Turks and Caicos, on the Turks and Caicos Aggressor II.
