AZULOCEANO - UNDERWATER CINEMATOGRAPHY
STOCK FOOTAGE SAMPLES
SAMPLES OF FOOTAGE OF VARIOUS SUBJECTS. TO VIEW MORE IMAGES, PLEASE CONTACT ME.
Dorados hunting sardines. Magdalena Bay, East Pacific. Mexico. It is stressful being a sardine. When you are a living treat, a delicious capsule of high energy nutrients, everybody wants to eat you. Sardines are among the most important fishes of the ocean. Their destiny is to feed a phenomenal range of marine animals, including marine mammals, birds and other fishes. Here they are being annihilated with great violence by dorados. I always wonder what is happening in the minds of these little fish in these terrifying moments. Sardines are being overfished to alarming levels. Most of the catch is then burnt to be processed into fish meal that is used to feed livestock. We deny the ocean dwellers their own food so we can fatten the sad creatures that fatten us.
Dorados hunting sardines. Slow motion.
Skipjack tunas hunting mackerel. Sea of Cortez. Baja California.
The small tunas are mercilessly decimating the panicking mackerels. The skip jacks have brought up the school of mackerel and have them pinned against the surface. Patrols of these fast moving predators prevent the bait fish from fleeing towards the depths. These bait balls might disappear entirely in a matter of hours.
Skipjack tunas hunting mackerel. Sea of Cortez. Baja California.
Skipjack tunas hunting mackerel at real speed.
This video is shown at almost the real speed in which the action takes place. It is a bit faster than this but it looks unnatural if presented faster. I could not dive down to film from another point of view because the tuna stopped hunting as soon as I dove down. The footage is unstable when filmed right by the surface due to wave movements. It have to be stabilized in post so it looks good enough to present.
Inside a shoal of mackerel. Sea of Cortez. Baja California Sur.
Inside a mackerel shoal 2. Sea of Cortez. Baja California Sur.
ORCAS. Pod of orcas traveling with two young calves. Gulf of California, Sea of Cortez. Various pods of orcas visit the shores of the Sea of Cortez along the year. Very little is known of these different pods.
ORCAS: Two young orcas. They are carrying a piece of dolphin meat. They do not mind my presence and one of them is curious about me.