Brian Skerry, underwater photographer

http://www.brianskerry.com/commercial.html

Commercial Assignment

In addition to his editorial work, Brian Skerry is also available for commercial assignments. If your campaign involves anything underwater from a swimming pool to sharks in the sea, Brian will deliver the results you want.

Over his thirty-year career, Brian has worked with art directors and coordinators to produce specific looks to images and campaigns. We use a wide variety of lighting equipment and techniques from surface and underwater HMI lighting (movie lights), banks of underwater strobes, slaves, tungsten lights and more to create the perfect image.

We also have underwater communication equipment, so the art director doesn’t ever have to get wet! Surface communications equipment allows directors to talk to Brian underwater and make adjustments until the shot is in the can. The combination of underwater communication gear and digital cameras and feeds to surface monitors make underwater shoots easy for the surface team to direct.

Swimming pools can be turned into studios where fashion models or athletes are photographed in stunning detail. Or if the campaign requires ponds, lakes, coral reefs or the deep sea, we’ve got you covered.

For commercial assignments, Brian is represented by National Geographic Assignments. For more information please contact Alice Keating at akeating@ngs.org and visit www.nationalgeographicassignment.com

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Brian speaking at the Boston Sea Rovers clinic, 2003.

Upcoming Events

For nearly two decades Brian has presented programs to tens of thousands of people in numerous locations worldwide. His adventurous programs combine stunning imagery with science, environmental issues, unique historical perspectives and an entertaining sense of humor. Using a fresh speaking style, Brian will take the audience around the world and deep beneath the sea. He will guide you inside and around historic shipwrecks and bring you eye to eye with mythical sea monsters.

Programs can be tailored to specific audiences ranging from corporate executives to first grade children. For corporate audiences, themes such as risk management, perseverance and teamwork can be highlighted through Brian’s experiences in planning and executing complex expeditions.

Brian’s lectures also offer a rare behind-the-scenes look at how his photographs are made. While on assignment Brian has been lost at sea, nipped by a shark, chased by a sperm whale, "stabbed" by a German U-Boat and once surfaced in a blizzard from a dive in 28-degree water to witness his dive boat sinking. These personal anecdotes of “surviving the assignment” are often more compelling than the story itself!

Brian is also available for book signings either in conjunction with speaking engagements or separately. Signings can be accompanied by an arrangement of Brian's Fine Art Prints on lighted easels, grouped behind the signing table, creating the perfect backdrop.

Periodically Brian offers underwater photography workshops in locations throughout the Unites States and around the world. The dates and locations of workshops will be posted on this page.

To schedule a presentation or workshop with Brian Skerry, or for more information, please contact us.
Lectures

February 29, 2008 – NANPA (North American Nature Photographers of America) Annual Summit – Keynote Speaker, Outreach Event – Destin, Florida

April 23, 2008 – Tri-Beta National Biological Honor Society,
Worcester State College, Annual Induction Ceremony –
Worcester, Massachusetts

July 24, 2008 – Massachusetts Audubon Society, Visual Arts Center
Canton, Massachusetts

October 31, 2008 – WildPhotos 08, Royal Geographical Society
London, England

November 6, 2008 National Geographic Society,
Masters of Photography Series, Grosvenor Auditorium -
Washington, DC

February 13-15, 2009 – Whale Quest Conference
Kapalua Resort, Maui, Hawaii
Exhibits

Ocean Wild – Audubon Visual Arts Center,
May 18 – September 21, 2008
Canton, Massachusetts

Right Whale ~ photos by Brian Skerry

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1062892/Pictured-A-photographers-close-encounter-majestic-right-whale.html

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:14 PM on 26th September 2008

This is the amazing moment when a 50-ton right whale decided it needed to take a closer look at a wildlife photographer and his assistant. Pictured: A photographer's very close encounter with a majestic right whale

Brian Skerry, underwater photographer, was shooting pictures off the coast of Aukland Islands, New Zealand, when the giant mammal came within a few feet of his colleague Maurricio Handler.

He said: 'It look at me with great curiosity. But no aggression.'

Right whales are baleen whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena. Four right whale species are recognised in this genus. Photos by Brian Skerry of right whale.



Hello there: the right whales takes a closer look at photographer's assistant Maurricio Handler. Whale and Man Meet

Sometimes the family Balaenidae is considered to be the family of right whales. Bowhead Whale, which has its own genus, Balaena also belongs to the Balaenidae family, and so is sometimes considered a right whale. However, this article focuses on the Eubalaena species.

Right whales can grow up to 60 feet long and weigh up to 100 tons. Their rotund bodies are mostly black, with distinctive callosities (roughened patches of skin) on their heads.

They are called 'right whales' because whalers thought the whales were the 'right' ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of the shore.

Populations were vastly reduced by intensive harvesting during the active years of the whaling industry. Today, instead of hunting them, people often watch these acrobatic whales for pleasure.



Graceful: The giant mammal seemed to perform a beautiful dance for the photographer. Whale dance by Brian Skerry




Up and away: Two right whales swim towards the surface

The four Balaenidae species live in distinct locations. Approximate population figures: 300 North Atlantic Right Whales live in the North Atlantic; 200 North Pacific Right Whales live in the North Pacific; 7,500 Southern Right Whales are spread throughout the southern part of the Southern Hemisphere; 8,000–9,200 Bowhead Whales are distributed entirely in the Arctic Ocean.

The right whale's diet consists primarily of zooplankton and tiny crustaceans such as copepods, as well as krill, and pteropods, although they are occasionally opportunistic feeders.

They feed by "skimming" along with their mouth open. Water and prey enters the mouth but only the water can pass through the baleen and out again into the open sea.

Thus, for a right whale to feed, the prey must occur in sufficient numbers to trigger the whale's interest; be large enough that the baleen plates can filter it; and be small enough that it does not have the speed to escape.

The "skimming" may take place on the surface, underwater, or even close to the ocean's bottom, indicated by mud occasionally observed on right whales' bodies.

The full story of the right whale is in the October 2008 issue of National Geographic.

Map of New Zealand:

New Manta Ray Species Discovered

National Geographic News

New Manta Ray Species Discovered, Expert Says
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
July 31, 2008

What scientists call the manta ray is actually at least two distinct species with unique behaviors and lifestyles, a scientist announced recently.

The more commonly known manta ray is smaller and more easily seen, usually staying near coasts.

Little is known about a second, larger species that avoids contact with humans and seems to have wider migration patterns. It also has evolutionary remnants of a spine and a harmless, nonstinging barb on its tail.

The two types—which are not yet named—also appear visually distinct, exhibiting unique colors and textures.

Andrea Marshall, a Ph.D candidate at Australia's University of Queensland, presented the findings last week in Montreal at a first-ever symposium of ray experts.

Graceful Giants

Manta rays are graceful giants in the ray family that can weigh over 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms).

Mantas may have wingspans of almost 25 feet (8 meters). The fish are also harmless and do not possess the poisonous barb found in some of their cousins, including some stingray species.

Australian environmentalist Steve Irwin was killed by such a barb.

While both manta species roam all the oceans, they appear to have a different lifestyle.

The smaller rays—familiar to divers in Hawaii, the Maldives, Mozambique, Australia, and Japan—are year-round residents of certain marine spots, such as coral reefs.

Scientists suspect the larger, more mysterious, rays are highly migratory animals that wander the world's seas.

(Read about another mysterious ray, Asia's giant river stingray.)

Lucky Site

The species discovery was the unexpected result of five years of hard work and a bit of good fortune, Marshall said.

"As luck would have it, it looks like here in Mozambique is the only [known] location where we see both species interacting on the same reef," said Marshall, whose effort was funded by the Switzerland-based Save Our Seas Foundation.

Though much of Marshall's time was spent underwater, she also logged long hours collecting data around the world in a search for proof that the species were distinct.

To build her case she pursued evidence from DNA labs and Indonesian fishing villages, where the migrating species is still commonly caught.

Rachel Graham of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Punta Gorda, Belize, was impressed by Marshall's work, one of the longest-running manta studies ever conducted.

"We were just incredibly excited about this," she said. "The work was very in-depth and I think [for the most part] the group was convinced."

Conservation Challenges

The new species discovery will add to challenges for those seeking to protect the vulnerable, slow-to-reproduce rays.

(Related: "Photo: First Giant Manta Ray Born in Captivity Dies" [June 18, 2007].)

The smaller manta species is at risk because of their limited range.

"If someone comes into a coastline or island group and starts up a fishery, you could wipe out that population in a year or two," University of Queensland's Marshall said.

"That would [threaten] regional extinction like what may [be happening] in the Gulf of California."

The migratory mantas provide their own challenges, she added. They respect no borders, so protection efforts must involve a complicated cooperation between many nations and groups.

"Both species face independent issues in terms of conservation management," Marshall said. "We have to understand the threats to each."

© 1996-2008 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Giant River Stingrays Found Near Thai City

Photo: Giant River Stingrays Found Near Thai City

Stefan Lovgren in Chachoengsao, Thailand
for National Geographic News
April 29, 2008

This is the seventh story in a continuing series on the Megafishes Project. Join National Geographic News on the trail with project leader Zeb Hogan as he tracks down the world's largest freshwater fishes.

When anglers called that March afternoon to say they had caught a giant freshwater stingray near this bustling Thai city, biologist Zeb Hogan couldn't believe it.

He had just spent a week in the remote Mekong River in northern Cambodia, searching for the ray—which might be the world's largest freshwater fish species—to no avail.

Hogan, of the University of Nevada in Reno, is documenting the rays as part of the Megafishes Project, an effort to document Earth's 20 or so freshwater giants.

Hogan is also a National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

Many of these behemoths, including the giant stingray, have declined in recent years. The ray, listed as "vulnerable" on the 2007 World Conservation Union Red List of species, has been overfished in its Mekong River habitat, Hogan said.

But when Hogan arrived at the river that afternoon, he found that not only had the anglers reeled in a 14-foot-long (4.3-meter-long) ray, but that the creature had also just given birth to a dinner plate-size baby. (See photos of the new mother and baby.)

The newborn clung to the rough skin on the back of its mother, which was being held at the riverbank by nine handlers.

"Amazing," Hogan said. "A stingray this size giving birth before our eyes."


Recreational fisher Rick Humphreys holds a giant freshwater stingray baby less than an hour old in Thailand on March 31, 2008.

The anglers who reeled in the baby's mother were taken by surprise when the giant creature suddenly gave birth as it was being held near the banks of the Bang Pakong River.

The baby measured 48 inches (122 centimeters) from its snout to the tip of its tail.

The event may be the first time that anyone has witnessed a live birth of a giant freshwater stingray in the wild, Humphreys said.

Biologist Zeb Hogan studied the stingray as part of a research effort to document the world's remaining freshwater giants.




Additional photos from NGS gallery.