OPS-E

11/06/2023

Day two in the water with Louie Psihoyos, Simon Hutchins and Kirk Krack of the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS). On a freediving photo shoot in Dominica to image the worlds third deepest diving mammal the S***m Whale. OPS is doing this on a trip with Amos Nachoum of Big Animals who is providing the charter and expertise.

S***m Whales are the largest of the toothed whales along with being the largest toothed predator on earth. They migrate seasonally and have a worldwide range. Mature males average 16m in length, weighing 45 tonnes and can dive to depths of 2,250m for up to 120min using echolocation as loud as 236 decibels.

Because of their amazing depths, their bones can show effects of Avascular Necrosis that signals decompression sickness. Uniquely S***m Whales may also exhale before they dive much like free divers do in training or ‘empty lung’ diving. This helps a S***m Whale maintain more manageable buoyancy, but also helps reduce on-loading of nitrogen contributing to decompressing sickness and narcosis. After a deep dive, they’re known to surface for a quick breath and then do a number of short repetitive 10m dives which some scientists believe to be a form of decompression. In recent years they have been discovered to sleep in pods in a vertical position around 10m from the surface for up to 2hrs at a time.

With the largest brain on earth of any animal, they also live up to 70 years. Hunted to near extinction for their amazing S***maceti (oil) as depicted in the novel Moby-Dick, they are now protected by the International Whaling Commission.

OPS is comprised of Academy Award winning director Louis Psihoyos and Head of Expeditions, Simon Hutchins. In 2010 OPS won an Oscar for Best Feature Documentary with their movie The Cove. They’ve gone on to produce other documentary movies such as Racing Extinction and Game Changers. Before starting OPS and working on The Cove, Louis was an award winning photographer for 18 years at National Geographic.

OPS has now turned their attention to a multi-platform project spanning the next several years. Having developed the world largest mega-pixel underwater camera engineered by Simon, an ex-airforce electronics technician and photography specialist, this u/w camera can produce a print that’s 2m X 3m in size.

From rebreather diving in Indonesia, shallow rivers of Salmon in Canada to S***m Whales in the Caribbean and much more, OPS looks forward to telling award winning stories before these stories are lost.

www.opsociety.org

06/08/2023

The following blog and pictures are from our guide, Burt Jones. Burt assisted us during our recent expedition to Misool Eco Resort new Raja Ampat. Burt and his wife Maurine have been guiding here for years and his detailed knowledge helped put us on spot for amazing subjects. Burt and Maurine also assisted us expertly through our 25+ bag logistics and multi-day travel.

Although these pictures aren’t from the OPS-E camera and our project, they are an excellent representation of the quantity and diversity of the life that can be seen in this area of the world and the subjects we were shooting.

Enjoy Burts photos,

OPS-E Team

https://birdsheadseascape.com/diving/raja-a-multifaceted-journey-part-1-by-burt-jones/?fbclid=IwAR1HnWLnVEkEz8z8XPo7ReVDGASkbMnQJWoWqFDgUIyS7Qt4uWDFlEYt9Eg_aem_th_AYpE1mTfCagkVOQtzsV5ktxpzpkdTqXPkFP-r_tn6jRELbQJbeUCpNMj615dhbPIGbU

I recently had the good fortune to spend almost 3 weeks at Misool Resort in SE Raja Ampat. Although I’ve visited the Bird’s Head Seascape numerous times since Maurine’s and my first journey in 2002, this was the longest period of time I’ve spent in one location. Most of my previous trips wer...

05/25/2023

Our last day before leaving we took an afternoon excursion to Wayilbatan Lagoon. Here a wall face that was once a cave but has since broken and eroded away, reveals stalactites that are still dripping. On the wall you can see ‘smears’ of red/orange hue of the Betel Nut that was used by local peoples 3,000-5,000 years ago to paint animal and other symbols of rock art.

Our boat crew for our stay was Jemy, Van, Salmin and Amri. They are amazing people who added value to everything our expedition required. Always willing to lend a hand moving our heavy gear on/off the boat, helping us get into and out of our kit, helping carry bulky equipment underwater and ready to help with our logistics and always with a smile. Their local knowledge of the sites, tides, currents and where the sun would be along with the plant and animal life was invaluable.

We’ve learned a lot and will take these lessons home to refine and retool for our next expedition. Not only do we have a list of imaging equipment alterations and upgrades, but we all have a list of personal equipment and dive protocols to refine and hone.

It was interesting and fun to watch a team, which has been training together once a month for a week in Fort Lauderdale and then for a week in the Cayman Islands, come together and gel. Still there we’re learning curves in the real environment and it was equally fun to witness and be a part of the evolution to function as highly as possible. All of this in service of bringing the public on our journey to witness the best of the marine environment in what will eventually be a stunning wall sized portrait. In the future we’ll be able to release some images that are representative of the beauty Misool offered us.

Louie Psihoyos, Simon Hutchins, Greg Mooney, Marc Montocchio and Kirk Krack make up the ‘Missol 2023 OPS-E Expedition’.

OPS-Explore
OPS-Expose
OPS-Exhibit

OPS-E is a ocean imaging project in conjunction with the Oceanic Preservation Society (opsociety.org). Imaging the worlds most beautiful and fragile marine environments so others may enjoy, be inspired and rise to action.

05/22/2023

‘Piper down, piper down’…

Slowly, one by one, we’ve all been succumbing to a cold/flu (not covid) that in the beginning was minor, but now 4th person in (out of 6) has knocked one team member out of action for a couple days pretty hard and unlikely to recover for a few more.

So we pivot, adapt, shift, evolve and still make good art happen but our ‘behind-the-scenes’ person is now integral in helping primary imaging. On top of all this there looms some pretty hardy weather and winds that may change our game plan again so another quick pivot, adapt, shift and evolve is going to happen in parallel. All this is easier when you have a well rehearsed team and we’ve been training now since January for this multi-year project.

In the meantime, we’ve hit a dozen great sights where we’ll do 200-300 captures on one subject alone. Besides all the small hard and soft corals, we’ve seen Mantas, lots of sharks along with a cornucopia of fish density and diversity unlike anything some of have seen before.

Following are some simple photos of us making it happen. Wish we could show great examples of our images and the subjects, but that’s for the gallery wall in a 2m x 3m format…or maybe your dinning room?

Louie Psihoyos, Simon Hutchins, Greg Mooney, Marc Montocchio and Kirk Krack make up the ‘Missol 2023 OPS-E Expedition’.

OPS-Explore
OPS-Expose
OPS-Exhibit

OPS-E is a ocean imaging project in conjunction with the Oceanic Preservation Society (opsociety.org). Imaging the worlds most beautiful and fragile marine environments so others may enjoy, be inspired and rise to action.

05/19/2023

We’ve been training as a team since January for this multi-year project with expeditions around the world. Our first expedition is at Misool Eco Resort, near Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

Currents bring out life and make a reef ‘bloom’. So todays 2.5-3 knot current didn’t disappoint. Handling a Phase One land camera in a custom housing, with custom electronics, with a custom Roden Stock lens and 4 strobes supported by two light poles each with two strobes is no easy feat in this current in one spot for a 5-person team.

We locked in with our reef-hooks picking the rubble spots to anchor. Calculated slow movements to position ourselves and our equipment trying not to get ‘lifted’ off the bottom and into the main force of the current. Current was at our backs and you can zoom in on the picture to find our reef-hooks which was important.

You know it’s almost 3 knots current when what little bubbles you do let go from the rebreather disperse down your front eddy for 2-3 meters horizontally before bubbling up.

This must be a little like what videographers shooting mountain climbers must feel like…except for the potential of ‘sudden deceleration syndrome’ 😉.

Louie Psihoyos, Simon Hutchins, Greg Mooney, Marc Montocchio and Kirk Krack.

OPS-Explore
OPS-Expose
OPS-Exhibit

OPS-E is a ocean imaging project in conjunction with the Oceanic Preservation Society (opsociety.org). Imaging the worlds most beautiful and fragile marine environments so others may enjoy, be inspired and rise to action.

-E