Before we dive into the latest and greatest on fish photography, let’s catch the readers up. What are some changes since we did that interview back in 2015?
Other than getting older and greyer you mean? The biggest news is that I have retired from my advertising agency, kinda. The company has been refocused, and there’s a pun, toward photography. When my agency was in its prime, my photography skills were an asset in satisfying supporting my clients’ needs. I decided to take my best advice in that when you turn your hobby into your job, you lose both. So now it’s primarily photography.
I am also continuing to produce other photographic art. I’ve been involved in a bunch of different areas. I was on a Borosilicate marble kick for a while, literally photographing marbles. We won’t talk about how many of these expensive glass balls I now own. I kicked up my drone photography, which has always been fascinating to me. Aerial photography offers a unique viewpoint that has greatly inspired my creativity.
I continue to create frozen flower compositions and have photographed over two thousand specimens so far. This project enables me to explore creative possibilities, constantly asking myself “what if” with each shot I take. Recently, I have been incorporating inanimate objects such as beads and clock parts with the flowers, aiming to enhance the visual composition within the ice. And I have been doing a lot of traveling. My trip of a lifetime was in 2019 when I visited Australia to give talks about my fish photography. On top of all this, I’m doing infrared photography, HDR rust photography and, of course, photos of my very large dogs.
A decade ago, Parachromis managuense (commonly called the Jaguar cichlid) was your favorite species to keep. Talk about about this species – what it takes to keep them, breed them, etc.
It’s funny you asked that. A few years back I started to downsize some of my collection. And by that, I mean literally. All of my tanks held large cichlids: Trimacs (trimaculatum), citrinellus, managuense, zaliosus, hogaboomorum, etc. Almost all my big boys are gone, the last being my 20” Red dovii pair that went to my good friend, Big Rick, at the Ohio Fish Rescue. The pair were just getting too big for the 400g tank. Being at Ohio Fish Rescue, I know they will be treated like rock stars in some enormous tank. This pair of Red dovii are well known from my photos and videos. Here they can be visited, and I’ll be able to see them when I attend the Ohio shows. It was good for everyone all around.
But to answer the question. I have a lot smaller cichlid fish now: panamense, nanolutea, Honduran Red Points, Neets and Platinum convicts. They are just so much easier to keep. I also have two nice sized tanks open and screaming for my attention. I had planned on getting one of the big boys as a wet pet. And my head went immediately to another managuense. So, I guess that’s my answer. I would love to get one good looking male managuense. Second choice some flavor of Midas cichlid.
What’s that one “bucket list” species you want to work with and why?
I have them now. The panamense cichlid and the nanolutea. I’ve always loved them. When we collected in Panama, I had several bags of each that I was excited to bring home along with some asfraci. This ended in a boondoggle when Fish and Wildlife determined it wasn’t going to happen, and they confiscated the fish. It happens, but since then I have had them on that “gotta have” list.
One other species is the Honduran Red Point. When my good friends at Tangled Up In Cichlids closed their doors, they gifted me with all three of these species. There are a lot of fish that are wearing the Honduran Red Point title, that may be partway there, but not the real deal. The pair that I have were breeding stock for TUIC for years and lineage pure from an F0 pair collected years back. They are spectacular. HRP produces a very small batch of fry that are tiny and grow slowly. That said, they are still of the “convict flavor” and breed prolifically.
Funny story big cichlid folks will appreciate. For my first breeding of HRPs, I took out all of the fry so I could raise them in a bigger tank. Normally, I never remove fry and prefer to let nature decide which ones survive, but this time I made an exception. The fry grew, and I finally decided I needed to thin the group, so I put them in with the dovii thinking if they wanted a snack it was right there. The dovii ignored the smaller fish. The smaller fish started breeding in the tank with the dovii. The final straw was when I saw the female dovii cowering in a corner while being annoyed by a group of the HRP’s. It was a 18” size difference. I removed the smaller fish and let sanity return to the dovii tank.
Most folks don’t know about the good-natured banter you and I have about our respective fish keeping. You’ve always kept the big brutes, or tankbusters as they’re typically called, whereas I have always kept dwarf species. However, you have ventured into keeping some smaller Central American species like Trichromis salvini and the nanolutea. What are some other, smaller species you’ve developed a soft spot for and why?
I have definitely softened over the years. I am more in line with where you were at with smaller cichlids. There are a couple that I had for years that finally passed, and I wished I would have kept a lineage of fry going. Trichromis salvini is one of them. Years back, we collected some in Tabasquilla, Mexico. They were a very nice strain of super red salvini. I had a pair for a couple years until the male decided he wanted a divorce and promptly ended her life. That male was the largest salvini I had ever owned at close to seven inches. Gone now. The other species is Neetroplus nematopis, the Neet. I only have one now that is close to fifteen years old. At one point I had a half dozen that slowly died off.
But the real change in my direction was a new found love for the livebearers. This started with getting some of the Montezuma swordtails from Rusty Wessel. I absolutely love the fish, love the breeding, and love that they don’t require a fifty percent water change. I keep a lot of the loaches, coryadoras, and a handful of tetras. Another gift came from my good friend Charley Grimes, who gave me a couple dozen of his Celestial Pearl danios, which I absolutely love. I can’t wait to get them in a photo tank when they get larger.
Now let’s talk fish photography. We briefly covered your prowess as a fish photographer in that 2015 interview, and you’ve only gotten better. Cell phone cameras have improved greatly in the past decade, making it easier to photograph and video nearly everything. Can you share some tricks or tips with the amateur photographers out there looking to get some great photos of their fish without expensive photography equipment?
This is the number one request that I get when I am invited to speak at a club, “can you include something for Iphone photographers?” Phone cameras have come a long way, and in some instances can produce not only RAW images, but also photos that rival some of the things I can do with my Nikon Z9 or other large format cameras. Like any other photographic tool, the first thing you need to do is learn all you can about the functions.
Do you know how to lock focus? A long push on the screen on the subject you are focusing. The camera will stop refocusing and keep the subject locked in focus. More importantly you are telling the camera to use this focal point to determine the exposure. I saw a photo posted the other day of a Black Ram cichlid. The fish itself took up a very small portion of the photo and the background was a light aquarium gravel. The fish itself was black alright but also devoid of any detail. What you need to remember is that the phone camera works on a meter average. In other words, it’s taking the much larger lighter background into consideration when it is setting the exposure for the photo. The result was it defaulted more to the background and buried the fish in shadows. Spot focusing or lock focusing helps with some of that.
I think that the biggest advancement for the phone photographer isn’t the camera, it’s the apps that are coming out to edit the photos. Raw processors will give you a lot of latitude in improving or repairing a photo because the camera is able to capture more data in the RAW format. Then you have filters and AI, which have become game changers with their instant improvements.
The easiest fix I’ve seen ignored with a lot of phone photos is the color correction. All lights have different colors. When I see photos that are tinted yellow I think, just adjust the color balance. Not a lot of work is needed to make it better. Really, the universal solution comes down to one word: light! The more the better. If you are taking photos on the fly, and everyone does it, I do it all the time, shoot away. Better to get the shot than to ignore the opportunity. But if you have a little time and want to take more creative control over your photos, add more light. LED lights are inexpensive. Depending on the tank size, you may need two or more. Take note of the color temperature. All of them have a color temperature filter.
What you won’t be able to do consistently is capture a fish in motion. Sure, they stay in place sometimes, but try and photograph a moving Giant Danio and stop the action. Your phone camera generally has an aperture opening that is wide to let in as much light as possible. At that aperture, depth of field and focus become an issue. When you get in tight to photograph a fish, the focus and camera speed becomes even more critical. You’re also forced to shoot at a much slower shutter speed, which means motion blur. The good news is the more light you add, this is less of a concern. Learn how to operate your tools and add light to control the photo.
It’s no secret that cichlids have unique personalities, compared to many other fish. Talk a little about how you take advantage of these personalities in your photography?
I feed all of my fish the same way. I hold my hand in front of the tank and slowly move it to the top and drop in the food. Cichlids to goldfish, all the same. It’s a simple, conditioned response. When I stand in front of the tank with my camera, they watch, and if I want them pointed toward the surface or looking left or right, I move my hand and they follow. It’s tried and true; I’ve used this method for years. You’re always going to have that rock star model that simply performs when you approach the tank. I’ve had several and will attribute most of that to spending time with the fish. One of the prime times, at least for cichlid photography, is when the pair are actively breeding. Being cichlids, they are annoyed with your presence and will actively flare and almost never look better. Like any other personality, it develops when stimulated. I spend a lot of time with a camera in front of the tank. When they bring out that big cichlid smile for the camera, it’s magic.
I remember my very first time reading about how to take photos of fish. It said that it was best to wear dark clothing and keep the room dimly lit. No sudden movements or flash as it will startle the fish. I broke all those rules immediately. I am asked often if the flash harms the fish. You can search for a medical answer, but I will just say definitely no. What will spook them sometimes is the first couple of times you put a flash unit over their tank. They just get used to it. The pre-focusing IR beam that your camera sends to focus startles them sometimes as well, but they get over it.
Your article in the October 2025 issue of Cichlid Magazine nicely summarized the history of aquarium photography. How do you think this art might continue to evolve over the next decade?
Well, I was surprised to learn that many of the techniques I developed were actually in practice for a very long time. Many techniques I use for aquatic photography date back to 1900; for example, William T. Innes also used a movable glass wall to partition his photo tanks. Most people taking photos do so with their phone. As technology continues to develop, better phone photos will be easier to obtain. I think that the first phone that comes out that has the ability to trigger a remote flash will be a game changer for the aquatic phone photographer.
Cameras in general are improving. I’ve had some form of Nikon in my hand now for over 50 years. The ability to stop action, shoot in lower light, and focus are light years away from the older Nikon cameras. The Nikon Z9 that I use at top speed is 1/32,000th of a second. Fast enough to capture a bullet coming out of a gun. It’s ISO has a phenomenal range of 32-102,400. It’ll capture photos that are in near darkness. From a personal perspective, new technology will continue to enable me to push my creative spirit to create more art.
In 1902 Arthur Dugmore published a 125 page how to book on setting up to photograph animals. It covered birds, reptiles, amphibians’ insects, domestic animals, flowers, leaves, trees, fungi and of course…fish.
Dugmore’s photos caught the eye of Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, noted as the most important figure in American photography of the time. He published Dugmore’s photos for one of his quarterly photographic journals “Camera Work.” He explained that he had chosen Dugmore’s photographs because they “demonstrated that even scientific subjects may be given pictorial worth without loss to their scientific value.” He was referring to the wide variety of nature that Dugmore photographed, but basically saying that aquatic photography can also be art.
I’ve always approached aquatic photography the same way I do with all of my photographs. I try and create art. This past January, I was honored to have the cover photo and my article on the evolution of aquatic photography published in the Photographic Society of America Worldwide. Ten thousand of the world’s best photographers are members. It was definitely a milestone for me, and proof once again, that fish photos can be art. Steiglitz was right.
I mentioned in the introduction that you have been traveling around and giving a talk about the history of fish photography. Tell the readers what they can expect to hear, see, and learn from your presentation?
Several years ago, I read a book by Al Klee call the “Toy Fish: A history of the Aquarium Hobby in America.” There were a few pages that were dedicated to early fish photography, primarily by Dr. R.W.Shufeldt. Klee went on to dub him the Father of Aquarium Photography. I was hooked. What I’ve done with the talk is take a look back at the beginning of fish being photographed. For example, some of the early tools, like the first underwater flash by Louis Boutan. The first underwater flash was a thick glass bottle, mounted with the neck down. A Coil of magnesium ribbon is placed inside the jar before replacing the air with pure oxygen. An electric current was used to ignite the magnesium ribbon, producing a very intense flash of light. The system had some bugs. The magnesium vapor coated the inside of the bottle minimizing the light output and coating it with vapor. More importantly, the high temperature produced at ignition frequently caused the bottles to explode, even underwater. He eventually improved on the design.
A lot of the camera techniques that I use for my photos, that I thought I developed, were actually being done in some form or fashion 100 years ago. All my presentations are photo heavy; it’s my happy place.
We covered a lot of ground above. Anything we didn’t talk about that you would like to add – fish, photography, the hobby in general?
Before all the known social media sites, fish people used to post their photos on forums. I can remember posting photos and getting someone who would accuse me of “photoshopping” the image. It used to bother me. Then I thought, “it looks so good they can’t believe it.” Lol. We are faced with that very same thing today. This time by the AI saturation. AI can be an amazing tool. I’ve used it to take the glare out of glasses and other things that would take hours to correct. Unfortunately, AI can be a crutch. It’s everywhere online and it’s destroying the social media experience. If I see another friendly sick sea turtle being assisted by a Moray eel and a Queen Angelfish, I’m going to scream. How many times browsing have you asked yourself, “Is that real?” And it’s really only starting. So, this is my plea. Keep it real. Use AI in moderation. Preserve natural art. Learn and read as much as you can about your camera. Experiment. Take lots of photos. And really, just enjoy the hobby.