The Mantas and Whale sharks expedition is the benchmark experience of its kind in the world; of all the locations in the world, Socorro, Yap, Raja Ampat, PNG, Kona, Komodo, Mozambique where mantas are known to congregate, the Maldives is without doubt the capital. Documented by science and photographic evident, the mantas and whale sharks feeding phenomenon at Baa Atoll is unique and occur nowhere else in the world.   When the tide, moon, sun, wind are align, a vortex of 200 mantas…whale shark hang on the surface to feast on the broth of living wriggling planktons. Superlative takes on new meaning. During this expedition, we will also explore some new sites in the northern atolls – these area are pretty new to marine tourism and you will be diving some of the most enchanting and pristine marine environment of the Maldives. The photo pro and nature guides for this expedition are two professional photo journalist and sharks expert Michael AW and Doug Perrine. Doug and Michael will share with you photographic and Photoshop tips that will take your photography to the next level. There will also be natural history lectures about ecology and conservation of sharks.
 
Mantas & Whale sharks Video Trailer
The Expedition platform for the expeditions is the Maldives latest state of the art live-aboard, the Ark Royal. Exquisitely designed and furnished, the Ark Royal offers boutique styles live-aboard diving experience. Palatial cabins are equipped with LCD TV, en-suite and the spacious lounge is set up with wi-fi Internet, generous space for camera work, presentations and fine dining experience. Diving supported is on spacious dedicated dhohi, three to four dives per day and nitrox is free.   

Cost: US $3,580 (11 days/ 10 nights/ full board – twin sharing) To participate email: expeditions@OGSociety.org (Less USD200 for Ocean Geographic Society member)

Photo Pro & Naturalist

Cabell Davis PHD  - Oceanographer in Residence
Dr Davis is a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and is the Director of WHOI's Ocean Life Institute with over 30 years experience in plankton ecology. He has conducted research on 50 oceanographic cruises and co-developed the Video Plankton Recorder, an underwater video microscope with automatic imaging of high-resolution fragile plankton data. He recently worked with MIT engineers to develop a small underwater digital holographic camera for imaging plankton.  He is now modeling the impact of climate change on the fisheries ecosystem. His current interests are in developing modeling and observing systems in support of ecosystem approaches to managing ocean resources.

Doug Perrine - Author, Marine Scientist, Photojournalist
Doug Perrine is widely regarded as one the world’s foremost marine wildlife photographers. His photographs have been published in thousands of magazines, books, calendars and other graphic products. He is the author of seven books and numerous magazine articles on marine life. He founded the stock photo library SeaPics.com, and operated it for 18 years before selling it in 2003 to concentrate on his own writing and photography.  He has served as a consultant for filming projects for the BBC NHU, National Geographic, Discovery, Disney, and other companies. His photographs have won a number of awards, including the grand prize in the prestigious international Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2004. www.seapic.com

Michael AW
Pursuing the art form of documentary photography, Michael AW is well known for his saturated colour imagery. His work on environmental issues, wildlife and eco-travel , besides earning him more than 50 international awards, have also been featured in BBC Wildlife, National Geographic, Action Asia, Asian Geographic, GEO, Ocean GEOGRAPHIC, Nature Focus,  Smithsonian magazine, to name but a few. His  photographs won the jury of the prestigious Nikon International Photo Contest three times and the World Festival of Underwater Pictures, Antibes, five times. He was named Natural History Museum BBC Photographer of the Year Wildlife in 2000 and in 2006 and the Best Winner for the underwater category.  Michael AW was the founding director and publisher of Asian Geographic and Scuba Diver Australasia for seven years before founding Ocean Geographic in 2007. To communicate the beauty of our blue planet and the need to protect it, he founded OceanNEnvironment, a charity organization registered with Environment Australia.  “Beneath the Bunaken”(1993) was his first and “Philippines- Heart of the Ocean” is his 27th book of the sea. Michael AW was the official photographer for National Geographic’s Emory Kristoff Inner Space Speciation Project 2007 in the Celebes Sea.  In 2008, recognizing the highly effective and unrelenting campaign against the consumption of shark fins soup in the Asia Pacific region, Stan Waterman, the President of the Sharks Research Institute conferred upon Michael AW, the prestigious Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Award, in Manila at the Celebrate the Sea Festival -  a festival he created eight years ago to honour the sea and has been celebrated in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and soon in Indonesia.   He remains today, an active Fellow International – The Explorer Club; Fellow – International League of Conservation Photographers; Ambassador – SEACAM
www.michaelaw.com

The reefs of Maldives are among the nature’s underwater wonders where reef fishes to thrive in astonishing abundance, in density unrivalled anywhere in the world. Without the threat of spearguns, dynamite, cyanide, reef fishes swim blithesomely among divers and snorkellers. Making pictures underwater in the Maldives is akin to shooting in the world’s largest aquarium teeming with fish life; many species are predictably found in enormous numbers. Not only is the profusion of fish life amazing, but also the predictability of seeing the same fishes at the same site within soft corals in colours of rainbow is the trademark of underwater Maldives. The Maldives is the fishpond of the Indian Ocean.

Fish Pond of the Indian Ocean Expeditions is focus to explore the signature sites of Ari, North and South Male, and Faafu atolls. Publisher director, Michael AW, author of two books and two broadcast documentaries about the Maldives have specially designed the itineraries of these tours to show you the underwater finest of the nation of atolls. Scientists and Photopros on board these tours are Dr Cabell Davis from the Wood Hole Institute, Ocean Geographic photographers in Residence Mathieu Meur, Amanda Cotton and Mikael Jigmo.  The scientist and photopro will share with you photographic and Photoshop tips that will take your photography to the next level. There will also be natural history lectures about ecology and conservation of coral reefs.

The Expedition platform for the expeditions is the Maldives latest state of the art live-aboard, the Ark Royal. Exquisitely designed and furnished, the Ark Royal offers boutique styles live-aboard diving experience. Palatial cabins are equipped with LCD TV, en-suite and the spacious lounge is set up with wi-fi Internet, generous space for camera work, presentations and fine dining experience. Diving supported is on spacious dedicated dhohi, three to four dives per day and nitrox is free. 

Cost: US $3,580 (11 days/ 10 nights/ full board – twin sharing) To participate email: expeditions@OGSociety.org (Less USD200 for Ocean Geographic Society member)

Photo Pro & Naturalist

Cabell Davis PHD  - Oceanographer in Residence
Dr Davis is a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and is the Director of WHOI's Ocean Life Institute with over 30 years experience in plankton ecology. He has conducted research on 50 oceanographic cruises and co-developed the Video Plankton Recorder, an underwater video microscope with automatic imaging of high-resolution fragile plankton data. He recently worked with MIT engineers to develop a small underwater digital holographic camera for imaging plankton.  He is now modeling the impact of climate change on the fisheries ecosystem. His current interests are in developing modeling and observing systems in support of ecosystem approaches to managing ocean resources.

Doug Perrine - Author, Marine Scientist, Photojournalist
Doug Perrine is widely regarded as one the world’s foremost marine wildlife photographers. His photographs have been published in thousands of magazines, books, calendars and other graphic products. He is the author of seven books and numerous magazine articles on marine life. He founded the stock photo library SeaPics.com, and operated it for 18 years before selling it in 2003 to concentrate on his own writing and photography.  He has served as a consultant for filming projects for the BBC NHU, National Geographic, Discovery, Disney, and other companies. His photographs have won a number of awards, including the grand prize in the prestigious international Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2004. www.seapic.com

Mathieu Meur - Photographer In Residence
Mathieu’s interest in free diving, led to SCUBA and is now a certified dive instructor. Underwater photography with his keen interest in digital technology was a natural consequence. This blend of digital technology with underwater photography, found him authoring presumably the first PADI-approved digital underwater photography specialty course in the world in 2001. This led to regular contributions and columns on photography techniques to dive and photography publications. In 2004, Mathieu co-authored “An Essential Guide to Digital Underwater Photography” with Michael AW, dedicated entirely to the techniques associated with shooting digital underwater. The book received an overwhelming response, and was quickly sold out.  An updated version was published in 2005. Following the success of this introductory book, he went on to co-author “An Advanced Guide to Digital Underwater Photography” with Michael AW in 2007. Over the past few years, Mathieu has travelled and dived extensively throughout the world, trained several hundred divers, conducted seminars, and penned numerous articles in dive publications on underwater digital photography, dive travel and equipment.  Nearly twenty years on after his first dip into the scenic ocean, and several thousand dives on five continents and over 100,000 images, Mathieu's main focus is now set on discovering new destinations, and harnessing the varied experiences. www.mathieumeur.com                                                                                                          

Mikael Jigmo - Photographer In Residence
A Swede by birth, who currently lives with his family in Singapore while he works in the field of Value Added Services for Telcos.  The innate nature lover in him, transformed from its chrysalid stage when he picked up SCUBA diving in October 2005. A PADI certified Assistant Instructor and Digital Photography Instructor, he is now Ocean Geographic’s Photographer-in-Residence. Although a recent entry into the underwater photography world, Mikael has garnered attention and awards for his pictures, the latest was at the Celebrate the Sea Festival in Manila in June 2009 for his Outstanding Achievement in the WOW category. Mikael has also published his work in Scubadiver Australasia and in Ocean Geographic. Captivated by the beauty of the sea and its creatures, he teamed up with an avant-garde Singaporean designer, Jaire Remy in 2008 and created Haute Couture Aquatique which launched its first line of  ladies apparel at the Celebrate the Sea Festival in Manila. An ocean devotee, Mikael’s latest endeavours may be browsed at: www.mikaeljigmo.com

Amanda Cotton – Media Associate
Advertising photographer and web designer, Amanda Cotton, has never left home without at least one camera in tow for over 20 years. Specializing in underwater and travel photography, her technical abilities and skills were further mastered through rigorous professional education. Amanda was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. As an avid scuba diver, dive instructor, and surfer Amanda has always loved being in and around water. Amanda's goal is to help the general public embrace the beauty below the waves, in hopes that with awareness comes concern. The conservation and preservation of our aquatic ecosystems is of the highest priority to her. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Professional Photography while attending Brooks Institute of Photography, and is presently pursuing a graduate degree in Computer Arts/New Media from The Academy of Arts in San Francisco. Amanda is quite honored to have been the recipient of many awards including several from the International Photographers Awards (IPA), Celebrate The Sea, Underwater Photography Annual Awards, and many others. Amanda writes for Ocean Geographic Magazine covering environmental and marine conservation issues, and is currently Gallery Editor for Shark Savers, a non profit shark conservation organization dedicated to bringing awareness, education and action toward protecting one of the oceans most misunderstood animals, the shark. www.acottonphoto.com

 
IVAN CHOONG  - Photographer In Residence
Ivan Choong loves photography, travelling and diving in equal measure. Overseas you'll find this diploma holder in computer engineering armed with a camera. His speciality underwater is nudibranchs and recently, he created a wave by photographing nudibranchs and other subjects with a mirror, creating stunning and creative images. In August 2008, his work won recognition and was conferred the title, ‘Olympus Professional Photographer’ in Singapore. Back home, this entrepreneur is most likely to be in front of a computer tending his online businesses.

Michael AW
Pursuing the art form of documentary photography, Michael AW is well known for his saturated colour imagery. His work on environmental issues, wildlife and eco-travel , besides earning him more than 50 international awards, have also been featured in BBC Wildlife, National Geographic, Action Asia, Asian Geographic, GEO, Ocean GEOGRAPHIC, Nature Focus,  Smithsonian magazine, to name but a few. His  photographs won the jury of the prestigious Nikon International Photo Contest three times and the World Festival of Underwater Pictures, Antibes, five times. He was named Natural History Museum BBC Photographer of the Year Wildlife in 2000 and in 2006 and the Best Winner for the underwater category.  Michael AW was the founding director and publisher of Asian Geographic and Scuba Diver Australasia for seven years before founding Ocean Geographic in 2007. To communicate the beauty of our blue planet and the need to protect it, he founded OceanNEnvironment, a charity organization registered with Environment Australia.  “Beneath the Bunaken”(1993) was his first and “Philippines- Heart of the Ocean” is his 27th book of the sea. Michael AW was the official photographer for National Geographic’s Emory Kristoff Inner Space Speciation Project 2007 in the Celebes Sea.  In 2008, recognizing the highly effective and unrelenting campaign against the consumption of shark fins soup in the Asia Pacific region, Stan Waterman, the President of the Sharks Research Institute conferred upon Michael AW, the prestigious Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Award, in Manila at the Celebrate the Sea Festival -  a festival he created eight years ago to honour the sea and has been celebrated in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and soon in Indonesia.   He remains today, an active Fellow International – The Explorer Club; Fellow – International League of Conservation Photographers; Ambassador – SEACAM
www.michaelaw.com