Marshall's Mysteries 18

Colin Marshall · Issue 141, Nov/Dec 2024 · pp. 70–73

homemade UV dive lights, Ivan and I descended into the still black waters just in front of the dive shop in the shadow of Mount Agung, an active volcano which towers somewhat ominously over the small tranquil town of Amed. This underwater landscape is transformed under UV. Once drab and dull creatures jump out at you in brilliant, luminous yellow, green, orange, and blue. It was a psychedelic world completely separate from the place I have dived many times before during the day. Once the immediate awe wore off, I faced the steep learning curve of taking photographs in this foreign world. I desperately negotiated with my camera, increasing the ISO and slowly dropping the shutter speed and aperture to capture images with enough light and depth of field to do justice to these fairytale-like creatures. Two particularly tough yet rewarding shots were of an orangutan crab glowing orange under …