 |
|
|
|
My photograph of a sheephead in a healthy kelp forest is on the cover of PISCO's updated booklet, The Science of Marine Reserves. You can download a copy with the link in the previous sentence or to get a hard copy contact Kirsten Grorud-Colvert or Satie Airame.
In 2007, PISCO updated The Science of Marine Reserves booklet, originally published in
2002. The booklet is now presented in two versions: a U.S. version in
English and an international version in English. The booklets are
accompanied by a 15-minute video first released in 2002. These
resources provide the latest scientific information about reserves in
an understandable and accessible format. They are designed to be used
by natural resource managers, government officials, scientists, and the
interested public.
Marine reserves are one of the best tools to help ensure that healthy oceans are preserved for future generations.
Cover photo of a sheephead in a healthy kelp forest by Jim Knowlton.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Last September, I purchased a Sony V1U camcorder and an Amphibico Endeavor underwater video housing. The V1U can shoot 60i as well as 24p/30p video and records in HDV format on Mini-DV sized tapes. My Endeavor Housing has a dome port that covers 94° with full zoom through focus capability. It allows control of camera functions including white balance, gain, shutter speed, iris and manual focus. It also has a 3.5" Standard Definition LCD rear viewfinder. The V1U allows up to six different picture-tonal settings to be saved and recalled as picture profile data and the Endeavor housing allows me to select these profiles underwater. In my different profiles, I have different settings for knee point so that I change my setting depending upon the conditions of where I am shooting - such as low knee for situations where highlights need to be contained, such as close to the surface, near white-wash or splashing animals. I use settings similar to those used by Drew Wong during his review of the Endeavor housing for Wetpixel.
I customized my housing for my video lights and went on a three day dive trip with Truth Aquatics to Catalina Island and Santa Cruz Island off California during September 20-22, 07. Though there was a large swell rolling past, we had pretty clear visibility. At Catalina, I shot amazing kelp forest video with teeming schools of blacksmith perch, anchovie and others. At Santa Cruz Island, I captured an electric ray, a harbor seal, and a rock pile located in a marine reserve that was full of rock fish. I was amazed at the number of fish in the marine reserve that I don't think would have been there if fishing was allowed. The following images are reduced size frame grabs from my HDV 30p video.
Blacksmith perch at Ship Rock, Catalina Island.
Blacksmith perch at Rock Quarry, Catalina Island.
Spiny Lobster at Catalina Island.
Anchovy in kelp at Catalina Island.
Anchovy close-up at Catalina Island.
Anchovy at Catalina Island.
Electric ray at Santa Cruz Island
Moon jelly at Santa Cruz Island.
A cave full of rockfish & sheephead in a marine preserve at Santa Cruz Island.
Harbor seal at Santa Cruz Island.
My Amphibico Endeavor Housing with my Sony V1U HDV 30p camera. I added the ABS tubing for buoyancy to counteract the weight of my lead cell battery. A machinist made my base from black Delron plastic. The camera is just slightly negative underwater.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ocean lovers! Two Blue Ocean Productions films will play in the Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival, October 19-21, 2007. The Festival will be held at the Arlington Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara on Friday night and Saturday and at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum on Sunday. Grassroots for the Ocean, a short film made for Santa Barbara non-profit Heal the Ocean, will play during the Ocean Respect film category that begins at noon on Saturday. Healthy Oceans PSA, a public service announcement made for the City of Santa Barbara Creeks Division, will play during the Main Event & Awards session beginning at 7:30 pm on Saturday night. For more information and schedules of other films, check out the www.sboff.org website.
The Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival is a competitive filmmaking event developed to bring the finest ocean films from around the world to Santa Barbara for screenings. At its core, the festival is a visually stunning event, capturing the beauty, the power and the grace of the sea and its inhabitants. Adrenaline junkies, SCUBA divers, sailors, fishermen—all will find inspiration and education on the screen at the Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blue Ocean Productions, in conjunction with the City of Santa Barbara Creeks Division, and Santa Barbara Project Clean Water, has produced four public service announcements (PSAs) that explain how runoff from houses and streets end up in storm drains that lead directly to the ocean. Whereas water in our houses from sinks and toilets go to water treatment facilities before entering the ocean. The message is that we can improve our local ocean water quality by reducing or eliminating the use of pollutants in our front yards because they end up in the ocean.
Here is a link to a Spanish PSA currently playing on Spanish TV:
Storm Drain vs. Sewer PSA
Here is a link to the English PSA currently playing on Cox Cable:
Healty Oceans PSA
Typical household pollutants that enter our gutters and lead to the ocean include fertilizer, motor oil, soap, pesticides, trash and yard debris. To reduce pollutants that can enter the streets, dont overwater lawns after fertilizing because the overwatering allows the fertilizer to enter the street. We can also pick up pet waste, trash and yard debris rather than hosing them into the gutter. Consider using pesticide free pest control, such as insecticial soap instead of harmful pesticides. Take your car to a car wash facility that treats and recycles soapy water rather than wash your car in your driveway. And never clean paint brushes and rollers in the gutter. Because a healthy ocean starts in our front yards!
The PSAs were written by Jessica Scheeter of the Santa Barbara Creeks Division, Candice Constantine, formerly with Santa Barbara Project Clean Water, and Rocio Lozano-Knowlton, bilingual outreach specialist and consultant with the Santa Barbara Creeks Division. The PSAs were directed and edited by Jim Knowlton of Blue Ocean Productions. Credits include Paul Mathieu, Director of Photography, audio mixing by Emmet Seargent of Beagle Studios, narration by Rocio Lozano-Knowlton and Sonia Groves, Acting by Lourdes Uribe, Osiris Castaneda, Mike Romo, Luis Perez, Eva Perez, Dahlia Zarate, and underwater video by Jim Knowlton.
Three of the PSAs are in Spanish, and will play on Spanish TV in Santa Barbara County. Each PSA will play for approximately 4 months each during the next year. One of the PSAs, Healthy Oceans, was made in English and currently plays on Cox TV.
|
|
|
|
|
|
While photographing at Los Islotes, a small islet in the Sea of Cortez, near La Paz, Baja California Sur, Jim recently photographed a bullseye electric ray (Diplbatus ommata). Bullseye electric rays grow to about 10 inches long, and get their name from the conspicuous eyespot on their back. Like other electric rays, this species has a pair of organs capable of producing electric discharge that it uses to stun or kill its prey.
"I've been trying to get a shot of one of these rays for years. Whenever I saw one, I always had a Nikonos V with a 15mm wide angle lens, which is not the best lens to use to get an animal thats only 10 inches long. But now with my Fuji S2 digital SLR in an Aquatica housing, I can use a variety of lenses that allow me to capture smaller animals. This ray posed for me at about 60 feet deep on a cobble stone bottom."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two underwater photographs of nudibranchs by Jim Knowlton will be exhibited along with other nature related art in an exhibit at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, CA. The exhibition, titled, Nature Observed: Painting, Sculpture, Photography & Prints will open Saturday, May 26 and run through Monday, September 3, 2007. The exhibition is presented by the Museum of Ventura County at their satellite location in The Oaks Mall at 402-B Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. Call 805-496-7460 for more information.
Jim photographed the two nudibranchs while diving in February 2006 near Santa Rosa Island, located within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of California. During the two-day trip, he photographed 12 species of nudibranchs, all of which are about and inch or two long.
Nudibranchs are essentially snails without shells, and their name literally means “naked gill.” In most species, the gills are prominently displayed on their dorsal surface. Their bright coloration is believed to warn potential predators that nudibranchs are strongly scented and can have stinging cells called nematocysts stored in their finger shaped gills. Nudibranchs have a pair of tentacles located on top of their heads, which biologists believe are used as sensory organs to assist in finding food and seeking a mate.
Jim used a Fuji S2 digital camera in an Aquatica underwater housing, a Nikon 60mm macro lens, and two Nikonos 105 strobes to capture these images.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grassroots for the Ocean, a short video about people that clean up and protect the ocean, was selected as a finalist and will screen at the 30th International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana on May 15th, 2007, at 12:30 pm. This Blue Ocean Productions film originally screened at the Heal the Ocean 2nd Annual Benefit concert on September 29th, 2006 at QAD in Montecito, CA.
Grassroots for the Ocean
Produced by Hillary Hauser, written and edited by Jim Knowlton, Narrated by Sam Chew, footage courtesy of Greg Huglin, Mike DeGruy, Greenpeace, The Ocean Conservancy, KEYT, Jim Knowlton, Jeff Maassen and The California Coastal Records Project, music by Randy Tico, audio mixing by Emmet Sargeant, narration recording by Steve Gordon and DVD design by Michelle Perry of Graphic Traffic. Special thanks to Geopark for funding this film. Run time 4:15.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi, Welcome to my blog. I’m creating this blog to provide information about my photography and video productions. I’m going to use this blog for both my websites. At www.jimknowlton.com, I display my ocean related photos taken over the last twenty years while diving, traveling, working and exploring the oceans. When I am diving with my cameras, I feel like I am exploring a different world, where I can soar through deep canyons, swim through forests of giant kelp and see beautiful and strange creatures. I enjoy taking photos during my dives and I hope they inspire others to appreciate and protect the underwater world. On www.jimknowlton.com, you can see some of my photos. It’s only a small fraction of my library, though I regularly add more to the stock photo section.
At www.blueoceanproductions.com I provide information about projects that I am creating with others. It’s an exciting time right now because the Internet and technology revolutions are allowing people to use media to inspire environmental education and protection of their favorite places. Non-profit organizations, government agencies and cretive people are using sites like YouTube.com to post their short films and PSAs to get their message out. Computers and software now give people the tools to create their message and to prepare them to play on the internet or on self produced DVDs.
In my photography and videos, I like to combine my interests in the ocean, photography, video production with environmental protection and education. In this blog I plan on posting photos from my latest adventures and links to my recent projects. Feel free to send an email to me if you like one of my blogs or if you have ideas you want to share.
Cheers,
Jim
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|