The clouds in the sky made for a very dramatic picture and the waves rolling in on the beach added to that. I decided to go out with the camera to shoot some pictures.

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm

And then it did get rougher. Not completely out of the blue, but still quite sudden.

D800, ISO800, 1/500 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 14-24mm

And then I had to run back to dry the camera. It’s supposed to be … water repellent… Although salt water isn’t the best thing to be bathed in as a camera. I dried and cleaned it as good as I could. For now it’s still working. Hopefully it continues to.

And then there are the less common ones. Frog fish… Got a moray eel, an extremely cute juvenile harlequin sweetlips, a few different pufferfish, and a few beautiful sea urchins.
The sea urchins really were something different. The colors are stunning (and unedited!). It was almost like being in a club with a big (neon) light show. The colors are radiating, pulsing almost!
You’re missing out on a beautiful world if you only live above water.
I guess the powers that be put all the colors in the ocean, out of the reach of human destructive hands as much as possible…

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/32, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

Have you been the victim of an outrageous claim from a photographer for placing a photograph to accompany a piece on your blog?
Are you a blogger and have you ever received a threatening letter from a lawyer or photographer in which you were told to pay hundreds or even thousands of euros, because you ever had a photo placed with a blog post?

Let us know. Mail it to xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.nl and tell us in that mail:

• the year in which it was on your site or on your blog
• the year you received the threatening letter in which was announced you had infringed copyright
• where you took the picture. Google Images or another place on the internet?
• the photograph plus article / column / blog
• the name of the photographer and the lawyer of the photographer
• how did it end? Did you pay? Did you settle? Didn’t pay? Went to court?

Mail us! We plan to fight a principal battle against these practices by photographers

I’ve written before about copyright infringement. I’ve been on the infringed end of the rope. I’ve sued and settled. And I’ve sent take-down notices. And I’ve let things be.
Generally I’m ok with people using my images on PRIVATE blogs, provided they accredit the picture with my name or a link to my website. I’m NOT ok with people using my images on commercial blogs or websites. I will pursue those, if I find them.

What Kluun is doing here is probably the most hypocritical thing I’ve seen in a long time.
He is in the business of writing. He knows everything about copyright and copyright infringement.
And yet he accuses the photographers whose pictures he steals of outrageous practices.

These claims he’s talking about? They don’t just come falling out of the sky.
These claims he’s talking about are penalties for him breaking the law.
He hides behind Freedom of Speech, but he’s got his ego so far up his ass that he’s confused with the terminology.
Freedom of Speech means (bluntly) that you’re free to say whatever you want. Freedom of Speech doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want and STEAL images to illustrate your Freedom of Speech.

First of all, I think 90% of these claims would not have even existed if he would’ve taken the common courtesy of asking permission to use the image, instead of just copying them off the internet. He, as a writer, should know that, just because it’s on the internet, it’s not for free. Had he had the decency to ASK the photographer “Hey, I saw this great image on your website (or I found this great image of yours in Google), can I use it to accompany a piece of text I wrote on my blog? I will accredit you with the image.” I think most of the photographers would’ve gladly said yes. But if you go ahead and just nick just about any picture you come across which you can use and assume that a) the chances a photographer will find it because the internet is so big are non-existent; or b) everything on the internet is public and thus for free and for grabs; or c) you are a writer and everyone has to respect YOUR copyright but there’s no need to give a shit about anyone else… Yeah, sure, then you can expect that at some point you run against a wall. And rightfully so.
And we’re not even mentioning the fact that he’s making money with his blog through Google Ads. So his website in fact is a commercial website. He was making money with stolen work.

The guy is a writer, he’s written several books. What do you think he and his lawyers would do if we were to copy his books and go about pasting that on our blogs without proper accreditation?
So he’s expecting photographers, who also have to pay their bills in a market that is already highly competitive and very hard to survive in, to shut up and give us his pictures and he’s making money on everything he does and expects others to stick to the rules and not touch his work?
Does that sound fair to you?

The law is already on its way to orphan a large part if the images, we don’t need another idiot to sue photographers for trying to make a living.

I sincerely hope, as a photographer, that Kluun will lose any lawsuit he’ll start and that he has to pay every penalty (and then some) he’s received so far.
Kluun, as a person with celebrity status in a country, should accept the fact that he has a role model function to fulfill, and don’t assume that he’s above the law.
I usually don’t wish bad to people, but he’s just an example of a hypocrite for which I don’t feel any empathy. I hope he gets to pay.

D800, ISO6400, 1/2000 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm, burst series

D800, ISO6400, 1/8000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm

D800, ISO6400, 1/2000 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm

And of course, it may happen so, that in this kind of weather (or any kind of weather, for that matter) other *little* critters may come out to have a look as well…

D800, ISO100, 1/320 sec @ f/4, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/320 sec @ f/5, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

The cool things: a (quite small) school of Jackfish. I remember last December, when we were diving in Bohol (without camera ) and we actually got to dive INTO a much larger school of Jackfish, and they started circling around us. That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.
There were just “a few” in this school, but it was still really nice.
A good handful of scorpionfish (I’m getting better in spotting them ), a barracuda, a Sweetlips (Rubberlips) and a lot of other small stuff.
The scary thing: a titan triggerfish. A big one, too. Imagine I shot that picture with a 90mm macro, and it’s still that big (probably just over half a meter). And it looked like it was in a bad mood (did you see the teeth?). When they come after you and grab a hold of you, they’ll bite through your wetsuit.

But really… I can’t say anything else but every dive is an awesome experience.
I’ve got it bad… Real bad… I could do this every day for the rest of my Life

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe