More from the session with Pasadena's Tiffany Cameron on the shores of the Salton Sea in the desert area of California and hour south of Palm Springs. Tail by Eric Jonathan Ducharme (themertailor.com).

More "Dusk on the shores of the Salton Sea" with Pasadena model, Tiffany Cameron in an Eric Jonathan Ducharme mermaid tail. The Salton Sea is about an hour's drive south of Palm Springs, CA and about 3 hours of mountain and desert driving from San Diego.

Signed up for friend and colleague Nels Isrealson's Lighting Workshop at Palm Springs Photo Festival. Here he is talking about points of light. Reminds me a lot of Steve Jobs (visually). If you go to the movies, you've seen Nels' work in the lobby; those life-size+ posters and displays of Spyderman, characters in Pirates of the Caribbean, the Hobbit characters and lots of others.

At dusk on the banks of the Salton Sea between San Diego and Palm Springs, CA. Pasadena's Tiffany Cameron in one of my favorite tails from Eric Jonathan Ducharme, The MerTailor.

Recently joined Team Nauticam and migrated to this system for underwater work: Nauticam NA-5DMKIII housing, Canon EOS-5D MkIII, GoPro Hero3, Ikelite DS-161 Strobe/Movie Lights, Light&Motion SOLA 2000 Video Lights, ULCS Arms, Zen DP-230 DomePort for wide angle and Zen 45 Finder.

Testing props, wardrobe and anything else needing to be done for Mermaid Portfolio Workshop. We thought we'd want to mix a mermaid with a jellyfish, so had to find a jellyfish that could travel to Nassau by air. Here 'tis in late afternoon surface backlighting and video lighting from camera-left.

Underwater photography, whether it be dance, large and macro marine life, mermaids, art or fashion requires continuous experimenting and inventing. This shot was prompted by "I'm tired of being chained to this computer, let's go do something creative." In the process, we wanted bubbles, so instead of a scuba tank, we had some dry ice from an ice cream cake shoot and put some pieces behind the model. Works great.

Model: Christina Macfarlane
Dry Ice: Uncle Harry's Ice Cream Cakes

Worked in and underwater with Rachel Faulkner yesterday. Editing today.

5:30AM Delta Curbside Check-in.... pleasant and smooth; bags checked to final destination, CZM (Cozumel, Mex).

5:40AM Watching TSA scan checked bags, pulled one of mine, ignored the bright yellow "TOP" sign at the TSA Lock, opened it upside down and the Hero3 GoPro camera in a plastic container and two other items fall to the floor. The TSA numbskull put the camera back, not in its open slot, but center of the packed items and mashes the top closed. If the GoPro survived, it will be a miracle.

6:50AM Opened Delta Mobile iPhone app and scanned the baggage tags (uses the iPhone camera). Comforting to see they are "planeside."

7:10AM Wheels up and into pelting-rain zero-viz weather. The Boeing 757-200 seems unaffected and the climb-out is smooth.

7:15AM Somewhere around 30,000 feet, the 757 is above the clouds and punches into a glorious blue sky for the short smooth hop to Atlanta. Ahhhhhh.

I'm still pulling images from several dance sessions as I get ready for tropical underwater work. I've changed my underwater system from a Canon EOS-5D MkII to a MkIII and put the MkIII in a new housing. More about that later.

This is an image from November working with two talented young women, Lauren Taylor and Dani Sanchez, in and around Robert Minnick and Malena Sharkey's red ring in the studio.

Some more of the prop pieces to be used for the Evil Cowgirl images. Instrumental in these coming together were Chuck Guthrie and his daughter Nikki Guthrie. Still looking for the right boots and spurs.

The Evil Cowgirl will be a companion image to the Evil Mermaid.....

http://blog.chriscrumley.com/BlogBook/412

New cowhead for the Cowgirl series (Evil Cowgirl). Paint by Igor.

Taking a break yesterday at Bad Ass Coffee in Virginia Beach. This is Brynna Stegosaurus Raine, my Adobe Premier Pro instructor/mentor, project model, graphic designer, late night radio on-air personality and my conduit into the world of punk.

R2D2 was a famous robot in the Star Wars movies. This air compressor in the sunken Fujikawa Maru engine room has also been given the name and is a must-see when diving the Truk Lagoon/Chuuk wrecks in Micronesia (fly to Guam and hang a left). In order to get a good R2D2 photo, you have to be first off the boat and make a bee-line to the compressor at about 130'. If one diver arrives before you and swims into the compartment, all you'll see is R2D2 in a haze of sediment (no matter how careful the diver was). I was forgiven for blocking the entrance to the compartment for the less than the 30 seconds it took to shoot seven frames of R2D2 in clear water. Thanks everyone.

I got a lot of sleep on the Socorro Island boat and had a bunch of images running around in my head with ideas of how to treat them. After yesterday's tweak of dancer Lauren Taylor Shorb, today I turned to Tara Lynn.

I like the straight images, but I want to work with some shifts in the color pallet, adding some textures and, for some, a frame.

More to come as time allows.