My new BLOG: "Saving the Ocean - One Photograph at a Time" is finally up and running.

As chief photographer of the Save our Seas Foundation I have one single minded mission. I am determined to create photographs that make a difference and change human behavior that is damaging to the ocean. I want my images to educate, inspire, mesmerize and create an appreciation for the fragile marine realm and, in a small way, contribute to safeguarding the world’s oceans for future generations.

My website will continue to be my platform for image galleries and longer features. I hope that my new BLOG will be a more immediate tool to share my thoughts and ideas and to communicate conservation concerns and successes.

I have just returned from a very succesfull 18-day expedition to Djioubti, a small rarely visited country on the Horn of Africa sandwiched between Somalia and Eritrea. The expedition, a collaborative effort between the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles, MEGAPTERA and the Save our Seas Foundation, researched and documented a unique populations of whale sharks. We accomplished a few photographic and scientific world firsts so watch this space for more information.

With a foreword co-authored by eminent Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson and actor Harrison Ford the book examines the enormous impact of climate change on biodiversity and focuses on how nature itself might provide some of the solutions to this challenge. This lavishly produced volume is illustrated with over 175 photographs by esteemed members of the International League of Conservation Photographers, a nonprofit organization that uses the power of photography to help educate the world and to further conservation goals.

I have just returned from the Maldives where I spent three weeks working on one of the most exciting stories I have ever come across.  I can't show any images at the moment, so you will have to do with this self portrait of me and my good buddy "cut-tail" the whale shark. .

I am currently on assignment for the Save our Seas Foundation on a island atoll called Aldabra, situated in a remote and isolated part of the western Indian ocean. I have travelled here to photograph and document the diversity of marine and coastal life that inhabits Aldabra's seas. My primary mission is to photograph the island's shark fauna and document the wide range of habitats (mangroves, coral reefs,seagrass beds and channels) they inhabit.  Aldabra is a world heritage site and having enjoyed protection since the 1970s. The nearshore and inner lagoon waters are teeming with sharks and in a matter of a few days I have already encountered schools of 40+ blacktip reef sharks, large aggregation of Indo Pacific lemon sharks and and grey reef sharks. In addition an abundance of large schools of bohar snappers and incredibly high concentrations of large groupers indicate a  near pristine inshore marine ecosystem. However a initial search of the pelagic realm has yielded no sharks whatsoever and I have also yet to encounter tiger or zambezi (bull) sharks. It is still early days, but I am beginning to wonder if the islands remote location has meant that long-liners and other commercial fishing vessels have been able to overfish the surrounding offshore waters  for many years.

 For a daily expedition blog by Cheryl-Samantha Owen direct from Aldabra please visit:  www.sosfexpeditions.blogspot.com or www.saveourseas.com

Awesome. Amazing. Inspirational. There are a handful of wildlife photographers on this planet who can really be called masters. David Doubilet and Frans Lanting spring to mind. Both are extremely knowledgeable about their subjects, both artists with their cameras and both live for their work. Thomas Peschak’s name after the release of his latest book Wild Seas Secret Shores takes a well-deserved place alongside these talented photographers. His work is simply awesome, amazing and inspiring.  For anyone who has a love for nature, this book is a must, and for the diving community its compulsory reading.