Ok - so admittedly, I intentionally have not posted in a while, but that was so that I could post my 600th post on the six year anniversary of starting my blog. A lot has happened over six years, and I've taken a ton of photographs (I honestly don't even know how many!). I have done some bigger posts for other anniversaries, so I wanted to do something similar again... but how to do it.

Then it hit me, why not take a look back at my top six favorite styles of photography. Some have been a strong interest since the start (like macro photography of spiders and bugs), while some are pretty new (videography - ok, I know it isn't technically photography, but it still requires a camera!), and some I only enjoy sometimes (landscape), though others I'd do every day if I could (underwater), and some I work hard to get (wildlife), and others that I don't work for but allow it to come to me as the subject warrants (black & white). Of course sometime I am doing multiple styles of photography all at once. But let's take a quick stroll through some examples of each style with some photos that may have gotten over-shadowed or missed for whatever reason throughout the years...

MACRO Definitely my favorite form of photography, macro gives me the chance to show things that most people overlook or never even see. Of course, a lot of the time, those things are the "creepy crawlies" and spiders that most people don't want to see anyway... but I find those things fascinating. Particularly jumping spiders - my absolute favorite macro subject. But macro can be very versatile - spiders, bugs, flowers, abstracts, underwater, fungi, just about anything. And when other forms of photography just aren't feasible because of bad light conditions or such, there are always macro subjects to be found.

BLACK & WHITE This is a style of photography that I have to admit I don't work at at all. I let this one come to me. If the scene or subject screams to me to be shot in black & white, I might see it while I'm taking the photo or sometimes not until I'm home and processing the photos on the computer and sometimes still not until months or years later looking back at the photo. The great thing about B&W photography is it can be merged with any type of photography, and as you'll see, I've tried it on just about every style of photography I do. Actually, that makes me realize that I have yet to ever convert a macro spider photo to black & white... I guess that will be an upcoming project! While I was tempted to process some new photos for this little set, I decided to just dig through the archives to find ones I'd processed previously and get them some due screen time...

WILDLIFE Wildlife photography spans a number of areas for me... birds, reptiles and amphibians, mammals, truly wild, and zoo kept animals. All of it is a huge draw to me. Luckily, Anya and I have moved to a place where we get exposed to so much more wildlife than we did before. As such, I was able to pick this entire assortment from photos I've taken right here on our property or close by (technically the owl and the snake were from the local park where we go to walk the dogs). This is definitely what I probably consider one of my most difficult forms of photography. The amount of patience and luck required are simply staggering at times, and the time investment is one I wish I could devote more effort to. But as I said, luckily all of this is right outside our door, so the convenience factor certainly is helping me to improve and get better shots all the time!

UNDERWATER Well - what can I say about underwater photography other than I wish I could get to do it more often! It is a very challenging form of photography, and quite often by the time I'm getting into a groove and starting to feel like I'm able to get more creative with my shots, that's exactly when the trip is over and it will be another year before I get to try again. Honestly, if I could go diving every day, or even every weekend to hone my underwater photography skills, I would. For now though, I'll just have to be happy with the once a year that I do get to go experience and record such amazing things!

So there you have it... six styles of photography, six years worth of trips, experiences, passion, sights... all recorded and shared here in 600 posts. Amusingly enough, at three years, I made the claim that I looked forward to three more years but figured a site redesign was in order before then and I'm still using the exact same site. I do think that needs to change, but part of my reluctance is the fantastic compendium that this site has become for me. I quite often refer back to old posts to share things again or even just a reference for myself. So hopefully I can figure out the challenge of upgrading this site while maintaining the integrity of all of the history that I've built here. For now though, I'll focus on continuing to capture and share photos like these!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Bill

PS: If you are interested in exploring further into some of these examples, the section headers and the "button" below are links to the history of posts that have been tagged with that label, so if you want to see more of any specific style of photography, just click and explorer!

You might think that a post with the title of "Impressive Teeth" might be about a shark or perhaps even a baracuda, but no... these particular set of chompers belong to a "small-ish" eel.

Spotted Morays (Gymnothorax moringa) are pretty common on the reef, and they are often pretty bold and will hold their ground and allow a close approach, making for some nice close-up shots. They also need to continually force water over their gills by opening and closing their mouths which allows for a nice view of their impressive fangs. It might appear intimidating at first, but they are rarely aggressive.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/160th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port and Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

The most impressive things about their teeth? Notice that third row of teeth down the middle? They're the only animal that I know of that have those. They've meant to help them catch and hold fish. (Oh - and check out the bonus banded coral shrimp in the above shot).

Here's a slightly closer shot...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/160th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 400. Ikelite Housing and Port and Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

- Bill

I need to go diving.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 53mm. 1/120 sec at f/14. ISO 160. Ikelite Housing and Port with dual Ikelite 161 Strobes in eTTL mode. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw

If you're curious, that is a Goldentail Moray (Gymnothorax miliaris) from a trip we took to the Turks and Caicos a couple years ago.

- Bill

Another dive photo today...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/170th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 2500 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. No post production.

Getting a little stir crazy here if you can't tell.

- Bill

As I mentioned yesterday, Roma was one of my favorite dive sites the entire week. Within 15 minutes of hitting the water, our diver masters had found us a Blue Ribbon Eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita), and the Tiger Mantis Shrimp I showed you yesterday.

The Ribbon Eel was another critter on my wishlist, and since the brochure for Wakatobi "advertised" that we would see them, it was very nice to not be disappointed. In fact, reviewing the brochure now that we're home, we realize that we saw a majority of what was presented there.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/260th sec at f/8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 320 (Auto). Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite DS161 Strobe in TTL Mode. No post production.

Why This Photo: Well, let's see... I got certified to scuba dive, saved up for over a year, spent a bunch more for the camera equipment, traveled half-way around the world, all to get to see some of the wonderful creatures I'd only ever seen in nature documentaries and books. I guess I took this photo just 'cause I could.

What Works: The vertical format works well with this subject, and the diagonal line he produces through the shot provides a nice balance. Focus is tack sharp right on the eel's face, and its tiny razor sharp teeth are easily visible. The relatively shallow depth of field produces a softly defocused background to keep the eel as the main subject with minimal distraction.

What Doesn't Work: The black patch on the rock to the right of the eel is a bit distracting, a tighter crop would work better here. Also, the vantage point is still slightly above the eel, a lower vantage point would produce a more intimate image, and perhaps could have made the eel more comfortable with my presence (though I wasn't the only diver sticking a camera in its face!).

Of course, Mike, one of our dive instructors says he's been on dives and seen fields and fields of ribbon eels, but this guy was the first I've seen in person, so he is the coolest ribbon eel I've ever seen.

- Bill