topside | An Bollenessor

Continuing the theme from the two last posts with some ‘topside’ photos of rockpools. We had a very low tide recently which called for some rockpooling on our local shore here in Flushing. We looked (as always) for anything that we could find, but trying to get some ‘close-focus-wide-angle’ pics of fish with the Panasonic Leica 9mm lens was the main aim. Above a Male Tompot guarding eggs (see pic below) as well as a male Connemara Clingfish (no eggs spotted), recognizable by the bright red cheek markings. I have not been underwater very much, but have a bunch of macro photos of snails and stalked jellyfish that I will put on the blog next. (And remember, I post more frequently on instagram: @an_bollenessor!)

I tried my hand today at taking photos of rock pools above water – tricky! I used my Leica wide angle lens with a polarizing filter and a handheld strobe in a diffuser. It was fun playing around, although felt my back after an hour or so trying! It is difficult to keep the reflection of the flash out of the shot. The tide was not low so these are small, mid-shore pools dominated by coralline algae and some (fine) red seaweeds. Beadlet and snakelocks anemones, limpets, periwinkles, thick- and purple topshells are the most common animals. Some sunshine and blue sky – let’s see when I can try my hand at underwater photos again!