Don't sting the hand that feeds you - Bahamas

When I saw this I could not help thinking of Steve Irwin's encounter with and untimely death by one of these creatures.

Downward perspective and B&W seem perfect for this image.  Well composed.  Excellent image.

Yes, I remember the unfortunate incident that met with the untimely death of Steve Irwin and like yourself and I am wondering why risk it!

I agree with Wayne, the composition is admirable as are the B & W tones.

Very well done Tony!

Alf

I stayed dry and took photos. You can also go under water and h

Thanks for stopping by.

Tony, not for me either but what a view... just amazing and such a great shot!  Bravo!

This is a gorgeous image for me!

My family, two daughters and my wife had the experience of our life in Caiman Island, Stingary City, a small boatt took us to a distant sand bank in the middle of no where, land couldn't be seen, we were a group of 12 people. When we arrived a group of dark huge stingaries came to the botton of the boat and the man said follow me. and he jump toward them with food in his had. I was the first to jump next to him and immediately the beast were all around me, their skin was silky and they just wanted food. Everyone jump in, including my daughters and wife. The water was cristal clear! We swim to the botton of the ocean to get shells with cunk in them and the man put some lemon on it and that was all we ate. Three hours of high exaiment among the Stingaries! You made my day with this image my friend.

Warm regards.

A particularly striking image, especially in B&W.

Jim Phelps

Like many creatures in nature they're gentle until stepped on or bothered, but a fine shot and well done in b/w... Mike

One of your best outside the landscape module. You manipulate light, tones and shapes to present to us this strange original image.

Keep on shooting Tony!

Thanks.

What a wonderful story and experience.  Thank you for sharing that with us.  

I love the sea and swimming in the ocean and have been doing that even before I could walk.   I also have a healthy dose of respect for the ocean and its creatures.  This gentleman seems to be very knowledgeable and comfortable with the 'rays' but  I wondered why he was wearing a wet suit because the water is quite warm and it is shallow. At one point he took one up out of the water and held the top part against his stomach. My primary mission was to take photos and there was no desire mingle with the 'rays'.

All the best,

Good to hear from you. Glad you liked the image. 

Mike - I agree.

Gentle but avoid hurting or scaring them.  In my youth, I have stepped on black sea urchins and pieces of their spines break off into your foot and that is quite painful but never life threatening. The solution is to pour acid on the spines but on a beach there is only one source of acid and that is a revelation for another day. 

Thank you for your kind words. I am drawn to landscape and nature shots but I like to get out of the box and explore other areas of photography when I can.  I seem to have more chances of that when I travel. Keep on shooting,