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     Catherine Salisbury says, "Magical Encounters brings me back to my roots and my love of animals and photography. It has been a pure pleasure spending time with all the marine species that I encountered doing these panoramic images."Most of the photography was done in Bonaire, which is a marvelous place to have intimate contact with marine animals. It is one of the few places in the world left where wildlife isn’t afraid to approach you. And the great water visibility, constant climate and reef accessibility make Bonaire an all around perfect underwater environment. "I chose the panoramic format for two reasons. First off, it mirrors the field of vision that you get underwater. But more importantly, the format allows a still image to capture a movement through time. The image is more than a split second. Each panoramic image is the story of my encounter with these underwater creatures and reflects the magical moments I shared with them. "The recipe is basic. The photography was done on a 3.3 mega-pixel Olympus 3040 camera with a Light and Motion Tetrus housing. The lighting was natural, so that I could achieve a rich background for the animals. A 20mm wide-angle lens was used on the housing unit. But time, patience, empathy and passion for discovery were the key ingredients that made these images." See more of Catherine's amazing photos at her Magical Encounters website. |
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| "Eagle rays are curious animals. This group of rays was checking us out, making numerous fly-bys in the blue. Not close enough to photograph, my dive partner decided to leave me alone on the reef, with the hopes of making the rays a little more daring. I hid behind a large gorgonian till my tank was almost dry, blowing as few bubbles as possible. And voila! A beautiful winged migration. Either they hadn't seen me or had calculated that they seriously out-numbered me." |
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| "There are more turtles in and around Bonaire now than before, this after years of turtle protection programs. And the turtles have become less weary of divers. This small turtle stayed with us for most of the dive, swimming along side us. From time to time he would stop and take a break, resting between the coral and surfacing for a breath of fresh air. From the identifying markings on his shell, we have seen him on several dives — and each time he joins us for a swim." |
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| "We did a back-flip out of the boat, finding ourselves face to face with this giant manta ray, feeding along the reef. We quickly dropped to the bottom so as not to scare him away. The strategy seemed to work as he stuck around for close to an hour. He would approach me head on, fly over my head, circle around me and then fly out to see my dive partner. He was clearly doing carefully choreographed figure eight patterns — as we watched with awe." |
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| "When moray eels are hunting out in the open and find themselves face to face with a shutter-happy photographer, all they can think of is to find a coral bolder and hide underneath it. However on this part of the reef, there weren't a lot of good quick hiding places. As a result, we had the privledge of seeing a spectacular ballet of green ribbons along a beautiful stretch of coral reef. After covering a substantial distance, one moray turned back at me with his mouth open and his teeth showing, as if to say — you've out stayed your welcome — and then he promptly slithered under a rock." |
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