Instagram - Natural History Photography

philcolla

La Jolla shores and SIO at sunset from Mt. Soledad

La Jolla shores and SIO at sunset from Mt. Soledad last weekend.

Baby great white shark in the shallows, San Diego.

Baby great white shark in the shallows, San Diego. Thanks to @underwaterpaparazzi for helping me find this little guy, there were 7 swimming around this morning but they are not easy to see until you finally see one then they are everywhere. This one is just big enough to take down a thanksgiving turkey.

Instagram post 17869088021559500

Instagram post 17869088021559500

Circle shots from Catalina Head last weekend

Circle shots from Catalina Head last weekend

Belly shot, Pacific torpedo ray, Farnsworth Banks,

Belly shot, Pacific torpedo ray, Farnsworth Banks, Catalina

Yesterday was one for the Southern Calif record bo

Yesterday was one for the Southern Calif record books for me. We celebrated Merry’s birthday with two dives on the Farnsworth Bank and a dive at the West End. There was an enormous mixed school of bait on the Farnsworth Bank that went on as far as one could see in all directions made up of several species of mackeral or anchovies along with large numbers of blacksmith, halfmoon and rubberlip perch. Strangely, while I did briefly see one black sea bass, I did not see any yellowtail or game fish and it seemed like the kind of situation where schools of yellows would come through. When we first descended it appeared the top of the seamount was only about 30' deep but I soon realized I was looking at a massive shoal of fish. The shoal parted to show the seamount at the proper 60' depth. I was sort on a mission to find the best sections of the "yellow wall" that I could, so I took my largest tank and spent as much time as I could swimming around the sides of the high spot looking. After years of trying I finally found some massive carpets of the yellow zoanthids. These are bizarre little anemones that are relatively uncommon and we normally find them parasitizing gorgonians, but at Farnsworth they occur in such numbers as to completely cover large swaths of the vertical rock walls. The mix of colors - red, pink, purple, yellow - that can be found at Farnsworth is some of the most impressive underwater color anywhere on the Pacific coast. You can see some of the rivers of bait in the background of this shot, they were massive but appear small due to the fisheyeball lens. I got one better shot of the bait and a main subject but I need to clean it up first.

Backside Catalina kelp forest.

Backside Catalina kelp forest.

Catalina’s West End, my favorite spot on the isl

Catalina’s West End, my favorite spot on the island to dive. Great kelp forests down there.

Corallimorphs: not quite an anemone, not quite a h

Corallimorphs: not quite an anemone, not quite a hard coral. These Corynactis polyps lack the hard skeleton of a true reef-building stony coral, and lack the fully retracting tentacles of an anemone. While the brilliant clusters of identically-colored polyps arise from asexual reproduction (fission), Corynactis can reproduce sexually as well by releasing gametes into ocean currents. What would it be like if human procreation worked like that of corallimorphs, with individuals reproducing asexually through fission, generating small clones budding off our our torsos only to grow, detach and ambulate on their own? Yuck-a-doo.

Utah Badlands, a tortured, dusty and barren place

Utah Badlands, a tortured, dusty and barren place with occasional patches of amazing colors, textures and patterns.

Introduction to the Kelp Forest

Introduction to the Kelp Forest

Full moon with 22° lunar halo, Joshua Tree Nation $Full moon with 22° lunar halo, Joshua Tree National Park. The lunar halo (not to be cofused with lunar corona) forms when moonlight refracts through high altitude ice crystals. As no light is refracted at angles smaller than 22° the sky is darker inside the halo.$

Red and purple was the theme on Farnsworth Banks.

Red and purple was the theme on Farnsworth Banks.

Farnsworth Banks on Saturday, you can just see the

Farnsworth Banks on Saturday, you can just see the boat.

Garibaldi, nest and egg clutch, West End Catalina.

Garibaldi, nest and egg clutch, West End Catalina. Hoping to repeat tomorrow but with two working strobes this time.

West End, Catalina

West End, Catalina

Prince of the damsels, Flittering about the reef.

Prince of the damsels,
Flittering about the reef.
L'orange? Très passé!
- A haiku

Colorful Bentonite clay formations, Utah badlands.

Colorful Bentonite clay formations, Utah badlands.

Spring in Yosemite

Spring in Yosemite

Fisheye view of Sea World fireworks last night.

Fisheye view of Sea World fireworks last night.

Every day is Mother’s Day for a sea lion

Every day is Mother’s Day for a sea lion

Two years ago. There won’t be much in the way of

Two years ago. There won’t be much in the way of flowers this spring but I hear one or two places may be starting to show a bloom, fingers crossed.

Anemone, Gods Pocket, Vancouver Island

Anemone, Gods Pocket, Vancouver Island

Blue whale, San Diego

Blue whale, San Diego

Swimming nudibranch, Gods Pocket, Vancouver Island

Swimming nudibranch, Gods Pocket, Vancouver Island. Paradise.

Metridium fields, Gods Pocket, Vancouver Island.

Metridium fields, Gods Pocket, Vancouver Island.

Things my camera has seen recently

Things my camera has seen recently

Double-crested cormorant, La Jolla.

Double-crested cormorant, La Jolla.

Blue whale shot, circa mid 90s, Nikonos 15mm and K

Blue whale shot, circa mid 90s, Nikonos 15mm and K64 film.

Gull top shot, La Jolla

Gull top shot, La Jolla

Two’s company, 22’s a crowd

Two’s company, 22’s a crowd

Skypointing cormorant

Skypointing cormorant

Warm morning light on sea lions.

Warm morning light on sea lions.

Courting grebes, walking on water.

Courting grebes, walking on water.

Full moon rising over University of San Diego

Full moon rising over University of San Diego

Double-crested cormorant portrait, La Jolla

Double-crested cormorant portrait, La Jolla

Portraiture. Sunny and warm at the shore now that

Portraiture. Sunny and warm at the shore now that the pesky rain has gone away.

There were cool high cirrus clouds all afternoon s

There were cool high cirrus clouds all afternoon so I took a Terramar beach walk to stretch the legs and enjoy the sunset before the next front comes through tomorrow bringing 1" of rain, because in Southern California we shut down harder than a Richter 7 quake when more than a 1/4" of moisture occurs. A crop circle guy had scrawled two of his awesome artworks on the beach today.

Every winter I reshoot my favorite city skyline vi

Every winter I reshoot my favorite city skyline views, so I have fresh stuff for the real estate agents that want to pay me the big $$$. This is one of my favorite spots. Canon R5 and 200-400 is a potent setup to shoot these long range cityscapes, super sharp and clean, more than any other camera/lens setup I have used so far.

Strikingly different neck plumage, otherwise same

Strikingly different neck plumage, otherwise same place same time both adults

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