Capturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop 2024 Roundup
Our 11th annual Capturing Critters in Lembeh annual underwater photography workshop has wrapped and what an incredible workshop it was! Thank you to our three visiting Photo Pros, Saeed Rashid, Alex Tattersall & Nicolas Remy who kept our participants inspired and striving for their best shots throughout the week.
As usual the workshop was packed with daily presentations, one-on-one sessions with the pros – and of course, incredible dives and critters!
Team Work Makes the Dream Work!
Our in house team, including our marine biologist and our amazing team of dive guides also spent time with participants, sharing their wealth of knowledge about our unique marine life and critter behaviour here in Lembeh. Our Dive Center Manager, Brigitte Gassner, delivered slick organization and coordination of a busy schedule, while our resort team ensured that guests were well looked after and enjoyed phenomenal dining in between dives and presentations.
Image by participant Jeffrey Sankoff
Incredible Critter Sightings
Critter sightings this year were above and beyond with some of Lembeh’s most iconic critters putting on phenomenal behavioral displays for our photographers. Some of the most notable stars of the week included blue ring octopus, pygmy seahorses, tiger shrimp, rhinopias, hairy frogfish, sargassum frogfish, hairy octopus, mimic octopus, wunderpus, beautiful soft coral cowries and a host of different nudibranch species.
Image by participant Patrick Sheehan
Pro Presentations
During presentations, participants learned from the pros about a number of topics from basic image composition, focus and lighting through to techniques to reduce backscatter and post dive editing in Lightroom.
The pros shared their knowledge during daily presentations
Underwater Photography in Lembeh
Our annual Capturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop goes from strength to strength each year and the images produced in each annual workshop continue to portray why the Lembeh Strait is a world famous destination for muck divers and underwater photographers. This is why we are so proud to call Lembeh Island our home – and are looking forward to Capturing Critters 2025!
A Word From the Pros…
Here’s how this years three pros summarised the 2024 underwater photography workshop and their experiences as co-hosts here at Lembeh Resort…
Frogfish by Saeed Rashid
Saeed Rashid
“I was amazed by how slickly this really busy underwater photography workshop is put together and how everything just slides into place. We do a couple of talks a day and three dives, and everyone at the end of it has improved their pictures no end.
Lembeh Resort is the most perfect resort to host this event. It has enough room not only to accommodate all the guests but also has a vast camera room as well as fantastic AV facilities for us to give all of our talks.
I really think the participants got a lot out of this. Not only did they have constant access to the three imported pros, that’s myself, Nicholas and Alex, but they also had the in-house photo pro and a fantastic Backscatter Authorised Photo Centre where they had the ability to hire kit and try new kits too”.
Read more about Saeed and view his portfolio here: https://www.focusvisuals.com/
Frogfish by Nicolas Remy
Nicolas Remy
“During the workshop we had quite a big group with different skill sets. Some participants were beginners and there were some very experienced photographers, but I think everyone got something out of it. Feedback from participants was that having three different photographers, Saeed, Alex and myself, teaching and sharing the way we do things really helped them and it was interesting observing the different ways of working underwater. I have seen the participant photographers steadily improve during the week, meaning that their photos got better and better. I’ve seen a number of their photos that I wish I would have taken myself!
Lembeh Resort is always a great place for hosting this sort of underwater photography workshop because we have dive guides who have exposure to photography – most of them are photographers themselves, so they know how to help us find subjects that are well positioned. There’s also a Backscatter Authorised Photo Centre with equipment to rent and I’ve seen quite a few participants taking advantage of this and renting snoots and accessories. The Photo Center does a great job of supporting everyone’s creativity and ability to try new techniques”.
Read more about Nicolas and view his portfolio here: https://www.nicolaslenaremy.com/
Sargassum Frogfish by Alex Tattersall
Alex Tattersall
“The workshop has been brilliant. We’ve had so much fun, so many amazing images and it couldn’t have gone better. Lembeh Resort is ideal for this kind of workshop – it’s a very warm place to be. The schedule was very well put together and we had enough time in the water and enough time in between dives to spend time with the participants. We’ve had amazing experiences with the dive guides who found all the critters you could ever ask for.
One of the other things that I think is very special about this underwater photography workshop is the fact that there were three of us (pros) teaching me all sides of underwater photography and the complementary angles and approaches that all of us have to underwater photography and each of the participants were able to benefit from different things. We had various different levels from very beginners up to very accomplished photographers. And I would say that every single one of them took away an awful lot of learning and experience.
It was great to see how participants also benefit from looking at how other people photograph particular subjects and how that inspires them to go down and try that kind of technique. I would say that these are just some of the key things that make this a very special experience for everyone involved, including us.
Read more about Alex and view his portfolio here: https://www.uwvisions.com/
Capturing Critters in Lembeh 2025
Capturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop 2025
In 2025 we will be hosting three more world-class Photo Pros here at Lembeh Resort. We are extremely excited to welcome Ron Watkins (USA), Paul Duxfield (UK), and Renee Capozzola (USA). The week-long workshop will once again be packed with incredible diving, Pro presentations, and one-on-one instruction and feedback.
Our 2025 workshop will be our 12th annual workshop and takes place from January 11th – 17th 2025. Take a look at what we have in store and contact us for more information or to make a reservation: reservations@LembehResort.com
Additional Participant Images
Baby seahorse by participant Richard Schifreen
Tiger shrimp by participant Dan Nathanson
Pipefish by participant Michael Wanke
Anemone fish with isopod by participant Andy Hopkins
FURTHER CRITTER READING
Lembeh is home to some of the most unique marine species on the planet. If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also enjoy some of our other articles about the special marine life found here in the Lembeh Strait: