research Archives - Fred Buyle - Nektos https://nektos.net/category/research/ Underwater imaging and exploration through the ancient art of Freediving by Fred Buyle Sun, 17 Mar 2019 20:59:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 The Click Effect, 360/VR documentary for the NY Times https://nektos.net/2016/06/07/the-click-effect-360vr-documentary-for-the-ny-times/ Tue, 07 Jun 2016 01:02:33 +0000 http://nektos.net/?p=2343 The post The Click Effect, 360/VR documentary for the NY Times appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

]]> For more than five years now we have been gathering 360° images and sounds for the Darewin Project.
New technology allows us to capture cetaceans’ sounds and behaviors like never before but the most important component remains freediving.
Freediving is the ultimate tool when it comes to observe and spend time with cetaceans to understand more about them. I’m always happy to see freediving reaching mainstream media. Qualitative media are being picky nowadays, not only you have to provide good content but it also has to be properly delivered into an interesting package.
Whale research made by freedivers filmed in 360° is a good start. We were then lucky to meet and start a great collaboration with film director Sandy Smolan who saw the potential of the story. He directed the 360° documentary for the NY Times and Annapurna Pictures known to find features films and projects that are off the beaten tracks and bringing them to a large audience produced it.
When the film was released, the NY Times ran a full page freediving picture everyday for five days.
Here is the link to the 360/VR film on NY Times website, words by James Nestor of course.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/16/opinion/sunday/conversation-with-whales.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

And a cool making of the project by Zach Rockwood:

 

 

 

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]]> Guadalupe 2015 expedition https://nektos.net/2015/11/02/guadalupe-2015-expedition/ Mon, 02 Nov 2015 07:26:13 +0000 http://nektos.net/?p=2243 The post Guadalupe 2015 expedition appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

]]> Another great white shark tagging expedition to Guadalupe this fall, the 7thfor me over there since 2009.This year we camped on the island for two weeks, we had to shorten the stay due to boat logistical considerations though.2015 is another El Nino year and this truly effects Guadalupe Island. First the water was 25°c, almost 5°C above normal, this means that the white sharks were usually staying deeper where the conditions are more stable for them. On the other hand the amount of sealife was phenomenal: yellowtails, yellowfin tunas, mobula rays, wahoos and the week before we arrived 2 whale sharks were seen!Above the water the conditions were affected as well. The abundant rain changed the island from that dry and inhospitable gigantic rock to an almost friendly green landscape. And ofcourse the rain affected us as well,in our basecamp during the 3 first days,most of it has no more roof on top of the old walls and the remaining parts of it are leaking.
All the gear was soaked and we had tofight to find some dry places to put our sleeping bags.
This year we had to share the place with a lot more mices and cockroaches than last year and the mices were very very active at night and didn’t hesitate to climb on us when they were not making holes in our bags and food containers!
In the water we had many great whites, we could tag 6 of them and saw many with with tags we placed last year. We were working from Dr Mauricio Hoyos‘boat and we had to be ready andfast to get in the water as the sharks were not staying very long around it, we noticed that the bigger the boat is, the more they stay, the feel more comfortable and can take more advantage of the large shade area to make their approach more discreet. The more time we spend in the water with these animals, William Winram and I are more conscious of their abilities as apex predators, they learn about divers and their behavior adapts.
For that reason even though we know them better and better each year we are paying more and more attention to their behavior. I hope that the « expedition leader/photographer » who was performing outside of the cage stunts with his clients noticed that as well and will eventually give up doing it beforesomeone really gets hurt.
The Islander brought us back to the mainland, they have been supporting us since 2009, if you want to
book a Guadalupe trip do it with them, they are the best crew and from thei cages you’ll be able to observe more sharks than from any other boat.We are now back on the mainland and about to leave for our next adventure, a sailing/freediving/tagging trip we wanted to do for many years…..

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