Capturing Critters in Lembeh 2023 Underwater Photography Workshop Wraps Up

The 2023 Capturing Critters in Lembeh annual underwater photography workshop was fully booked—twice! This year’s workshop was an extra special event, as it was not only Lembeh Resort’s 10th annual event, but also the first workshop since the pandemic. To mark the occasion, instead of holding one workshop, the resort hosted two—back to back. This meant a record number of 43 participants across the two weeks!

Three photo pros joined the resort to co-host the event: Erin Quigley, Joel Penner and Jennifer Penner, who provided daily presentations, workshops and one-on-one sessions with the participants. They shared their knowledge and expertise with everyone taking part, and joined them underwater for some truly amazing critter spotting in the Lembeh Strait.

 

Capturing Critters grows from strength to strength each year, and the images generated this year portray some of Lembeh’s most iconic muck diving highlights. The participants dived Lembeh hotspots such as Nudifalls, TK, Hairball, Aero Bajo and Serena. Lembeh Resort’s dive guides certainly didn’t crack under the pressure, and they delivered some remarkable critter sightings, including blue-ring octopuses, flamboyant cuttlefish, hairy frogfish, seahorses, and wunderpus, to name but a few!

Lembeh Resort’s dive center manager, Brigitte Gassner, reported the following: “43 participants, 16 dive guides, 3 world-class photo pros, 4 boats, 1,161 boat dives, 16 bonfire dives, 8 blackwater dives, and immeasurable fun along the way! It was certainly a busy two weeks.”

 

Erin Quigley is no stranger to diving in the Lembeh Strait and was great addition the team of pros. Erin is an Adobe ACE certified expert specializing in post-production techniques using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. She’s also an award-winning underwater photographer and creator of GoAskErin.com, which provides one-on-one instruction and post-centric resources specifically developed for underwater shooters. Erin was certainly kept busy during both workshops, sharing her Adobe Lightroom skills and genius tips with participants!

Joel and Jennifer Penner are both experienced Lembeh Strait shooters and are the joint owners of Newmediasoup, LLC, a multimedia and event coverage company based out of Northern California. Joel and Jennifer create underwater images that captivate their audience and convey the beauty of what lies beneath the waves. Their combined love for the ocean is limitless; if they could, they would be in the water every day with their cameras! By sharing their passion for the ocean through stills and video, their hope is to increase awareness of the importance of ocean conservation and preserving marine habitats for future generations to enjoy.

 

During the workshop Joel and Jennifer hosted multiple presentations and spent one on one time with participants advising them on shooting techniques and image editing. They also captured some stunning images and video footage themselves!

 

Did you miss out on this year’s workshop? Lembeh Resort is set to host the 11th annual Capturing Critters in Lembeh workshop in January 2024. With award-winning photo pros Alex Tattersall, Saeed Rashid and Nicolas Remy, this promises to be a showstopping event. Find out more on the Lembeh Resort website.