John Moran, David Moynahan and I went to Keaton Beach on Saturday to get the "best damn scallop photograph in the world" as John puts it. It was John and David's mission actually. Without their vision, I would never have come home with images like these, images that look like they are of creatures from distant planets. I had no idea that scallops were so strange looking.

You can see that three of these images are close ups. The more distant image provides you with a view of what the whole scallop looks like. These images were made under controlled conditions. We brought an aquarium of sorts onto the boat and with a complex arrangement that included an alligator clip, a dowel, a base, weights, scallops, water, sea grass, off camera flash, a macro lens and high quality Canon 5D Mark II, all three of us were able to come home with amazing images.

But next time you are able to see a scallop alive, in its environment, take a close look with your naked eye. You don't need all this equipment to see that scallops are striking creatures. You can easily see their jewel-like blue eyes. When the sun hits them just right, even underwater, the black pupils light up white, like a diamond within a sapphire! It's crazy. Once they settle down, they open their shells, and you see them "breathing" the water in and out while they feed through an intimidating but harmless maw. SO COOL!