We put out a call for submissions for this Your Photos on Quest segment a little late. As a result, we only got a handful of submissions. Thankfully, John Albers-Mead was one of them. Everyone who looked at his photos inevitably ended up calling a nearby colleague over to their computer screen saying, "Wow, you've GOT to take a look at this photo!" We were amazed by the details, the light, the colors, the textures and the compositions of his images. And we were especially blown away when we learned that he does not do any underwater photography! Looking at his photos, you would swear that his camera is in an underwater housing. In fact, we really didn't believe it and I ended up asking him about it three times just to make sure.
If you've ever tried to photograph something beneath the water's surface, you know how challenging it is to make sure there's enough light on the object to reveal its details but at the same time, to be careful not to get reflections on the water, thereby obstructing the view. It takes patience. And time. Albers-Mead says he composes the whole photograph based on the light. At one point in the interview, he told me (with the giddiness of a child at Christmas) that one time, he lay at the lip of a single tide pool for 2 hours waiting for the right light. He was perfectly happy just observing the tide pool drama unfolding, in which a couple of nudibranchs munched on each other. He is the quintessential "amateur," meaning he makes these trips to the tide pools a couple of times a month for the LOVE of it.
He shares his photos on Flickr and has quite a following. But he is also a docent at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach. If folks have an interest in tide pools, this is the place to go. Of course, this area is also prime real estate and it wasn't so long ago that this area was slated for development. Now, with rising sea levels and temperatures, as well as the acidification of ocean water, these tide pools may not be around forever. But while they are, I would recommend looking at John Albers-Mead's Flickr set BEFORE you go see them in person. I guarantee that you will have a deeper appreciation for the tide pools when you first see them through his loving eyes.
