uw photos!

I met some interesting people at the blogging dinner event last night (you know, the one with the long name). The Stanford Harmonics sang, reminding me of my freshman year of college (you are basically greeted by a capella when you arrive at Stanford!), we drank Stormhoek wine, and ate really, really delicious chocolates from Charles Chocolates. At the end of the evening, I silent-auctioned a few of my underwater prints and matched the total amount for a donation to Sea Shepherd, my favorite marine conservation organization.

Some of the folks I met (the ones with websites):

Brad Fitz and his friend, Adam Mie (Six Apart) and Dav Yaginuma Angyl and Christina (sp?) Chuck Siegel and Joyce of Charles Chocolates Robert Pazornik of LicketyShip (same-day delivery of products)

Also spent some time talking with Loyl and James (Paypal). We bonded over software engineering vs. other paths in life.

Ernie and Min Jung were there, too, but I didn’t really get to talk to them. I know a bunch of people Min Jung knows, but we had never actually met before last night (she didn’t seem to know who I was, anyway, so it might as well just have been a random introduction).

My ever-supportive friends Bill Rivard and Warren Wu showed up to see my photo presentation, but the event was… not so organized and ended up starting really late. Warren had to leave early and missed both dinner and my photo presentation. :(

Finally, thanks to Kai for organizing the event!

I have no photos from the event because I forgot my camera in the rush to get all of the presentation gear into my car. Those of you who know me probably don’t ever remember me without a camera somewhere close by, and I felt pretty naked without it. I sort of expected there to be a billion cameras around because it was a pseudo-blog-people-event, but everyone seemed to be using camera phones to record both still images and video. I definitely am not used to that. Most of my time is spend on photography trips, and I’ve become accustomed to having 30 SLRs clicking all around me!

Hmmm. Maybe I’ll just present some of the photos I showed in the presentation, instead (below). I’m mostly showing the non-shark images here, as they were the ones that people seemed to be most interested in. It was a welcome change from folks I normally present to, who are usually much more interested in sharks and other large animals.

You can also check out photos from Angyl’s gallery and Mie’s coverage. UPDATE: Kai has also posted commentary and photos, and also an uber link update. LJ user Flashfire has an entry, too. Even more: Sunyata, Siouxsie.

Only some of the images below are captioned. Sorry ’bout that.

Reef scene (Mike's Point), Irian Jaya (photo: Eric Cheng)

Giant clam and reef scene (Kri Island), Irian Jaya (photo: Eric Cheng)

Soft corals and anchovie school (Dinding Selatan, Sel Pelee), Irian Jaya (photo: Eric Cheng)

Reef scene (Mike's Point), Irian Jaya (photo: Eric Cheng)

Leaf scorpionfish (Taenianotus triacanthus), Indonesia (photo: Eric Cheng)

Halimeda ghost pipefish (Solenostomus halimeda) (Dinding Selatan, Sel Pelee)

Chromodoris coi nudibranches

Mantis shrimp (Dinding Selatan, Sel Pelee), Irian Jaya (photo: Eric Cheng)

Orangutan crab (Dinding Selatan, Sel Pelee), Irian Jaya (photo: Eric Cheng)

A squat lobster in a crinoid

A closed-up anemone with anemonefish

False percula clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris), Indonesia (photo: Eric Cheng)

False percula clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris), with eggs, Indonesia (photo: Eric Cheng)

2 Coleman shrimps (Periclimenes colemani) and a Urchin zebra crab (Zebrida adamsii) on a fire urchin (Asthenosoma varium) (Dinding Selatan, Sel Pelee) Mystery critter at far right.

Coleman shrimp (Periclimenes colemani) on a fire urchin (Asthenosoma varium) (Dinding Selatan, Sel Pelee) There is a mystery critter at the far right, with tentacles (?) wrapped around the urchin spines.

Whale shark, from below

Martijn, with a whale shark

Shark #008

Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) at Guadalupe Island

View of the lagoon, with coconut trees (Maitai Dream, Fakarava)

Seb Bertaut with grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) (Apataki - Tehera/Shark Plaza)

Seb Bertaut and grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) (Fakarava - South Pass)

Seb Bertaut, in the middle of a school of grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) (Fakarava - South Pass)

A split photo of Moorea and Blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) at the surface (Moorea - Tiki Place)

(photo: Eric Cheng)

(photo: Eric Cheng)

A female tiger shark named "Baby Cakes" (Galeocerdo cuvier) (Tiger Beach)