I shot this back in 2002 or 2003 on a night dive with a couple friends. I recall it being my friend Greg's birthday and to 'celebrate', my friend Moira and I thought it would be funny to put a naked Barbie doll and a toy turtle together out in the open and get Greg's attention. We pointed them out as if they just happened to be on the reef.

Why did we think this was funny?

You see, Greg caught a lot of flack for touching a turtle during a trip to Cozumel earlier in the year. He claimed he was just looking for a little 'love' from the turtle, hoping to catch a ride.

Needless to say, we heckled him about wanting to 'ride' turtles for quite some time. How the naked Barbie wound up part of out joke, I honestly can't remember. But it was funny at the time. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Shortly after the Barbie and turtle joke, I came across a red anemone, not unlike many red anemones common to this area. This shot was pretty much junk to me back in '02 or '03 as I didn't really know much in the way of post processing skills. It was too dark and was riddled with dust specs and hairs from the scan as well as bits of backscatter. I cleaned it up, slapped a little Orton Effect for good measure, and here it is. A little different, but I like it.

If you look close, there are two shrimp in this shot. They were attracted to the flashlight mounted on top of my camera housing. They were swarming in by the dozens. How only two wound up in the shot is beyond me.

Nikon N90s
Nikkor 60mm
Velvia 50 slide film
Aquatica Housing and Flat Port
Sea & Sea YS-120 strobes on TTL