On May 4th, the New Jersey Historical Divers Association will host their Shipwrecks and Sunken Treasure Symposium at the InfoAge Science/History Learning Center at 2201 Marconi Road in Wall, New Jersey. I will be doing a presentation along with Dan Lieb, Gary Gentile, David G. Concannon and Ken Hayes. The proceeds from the symposium will benefit the New Jersey Historical Divers Association.
I am presenting a program called “New Jersey Marine Life.” I know that a lot of you have seen my presentation “Beneath The Garden State – Exploring Aquatic New Jersey.” The presentation that I am giving is brand new. It may cover some of the subjects that my book presentation covers but all the photos will be new. I think there are only two photos in the presentation that are in both.
There are a few ways that I tried to make this presentation different. I am showing beautiful marine life photos (like I always try to do) but I also am trying to teach people about the marine life that I encounter and photograph. I am taking this further and talking about some of my experiences (good and bad) over the last thirty-one plus years.
An example is this “free swimming” baby crab. It is only about 1/2” long. I shot it in the water column.
This blue shark is nowhere near as beautiful as the one that I will show you. I will also talk about a near death experience on a dive many years ago and how we all will learn how we will react when we are stressed to the max.
All of you who have been diving as long as I have have stories to tell. Some are good and some are bad. I think that they all benefit newer divers. None of us know how we will react in a stressful situation until we are in it but knowing how another diver reacted might help turn the tables in a favorable direction.
Why is this photo important. What kind of story can I tell with this photo? I guess that you will need to show up to find out.
If you are a New Jersey diver or wish to be one, you should attend this symposium. We all need to support the groups that highlight New Jersey Diving and help make it the great sport that it is. Dan Lieb and the New Jersey Historical Divers Association (NJHDA) work hard to promote diving in the Garden State and we need to support Dan and the NJHDA. A flyer for the symposium is below:
If you want to download a PDF of the file, click here.
I thought that I would end this blog with another photo.
Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) are one of the most amazing animals that you can see and swim with off the New Jersey coast.
The grow up to be huge. They can be ten feet tall from the bottom of the their bottom fin to the top of their top fin and reach a weight of 2000 pounds.
They feed on jellyfish so they are not a danger to people. When we find a mellow sunfish, we get into the water and snorkel with it. If it is really mellow, you can rub the side of the animal as it swims along.
My wife and son have done that and you will see a photo of that in the show.
Please join me and the other great presenters on May 4th for a great afternoon of amazing and interesting photos and information. Dan Lieb is running a morning workshop about Mapping Shipwrecks and Gary Gentile has a workshop on The Mechanics of Shipwreck Photography. Both are must attend workshops.
© 2013, Herb Segars. All rights reserved.
