The Underwater Designer

10/02/2024

Calling fellow Texans 🤗 Work has finally brought me home with Dive Avelo! I’m so excited to see this offered for an exclusive weekend with Dive World Austin and then again next week with Dive Shop San Marcos. I hope to sea you there. If you’re interested in learning to dive this revolutionary lightweight dive system, give these shops a call.

https://diveavelo.com/tour.html

I’ve been filming, photographing, and designing the Avelo brand for the last four years. It’s been a real joy not only working with Avelo but also diving the system to create my work. I’ve enjoyed the benefits and freedom of its superior buoyancy control. Don’t miss out and sign up for your own adventure.

Dive World Austin
12129 Ranch Rd 620 N #430
Austin, TX 78750
512-219-1220

Dive Shop San Marcos
1911 Old, 1911 Old Ranch Rd 12
San Marcos, TX 78666
512-396-3483

Photos by Jennifer Idol

06/02/2024

It's pretty exciting to have my work as an underwater photographer and filmmaker featured on This Lens by SmugMug. I love sharing our underwater world and giving insight into what's below the water line.

This production was made during the filming of Protected Waters: Exploring La Jolla with Alex Rose. She did a great job capturing me underwater for these segments while we worked with some unusual conditions.

I'm more nervous working in front of someone I know and love so well than with a group of strangers. Although I find being in front of the camera instead of behind it awkward, this was an amazing collaboration. The production team at Teak put this together. I can't say enough kind words for them.

Taking the story underwater
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD5lR6uQU8Q

I've used SmugMug to power my website for a decade. It has helped me quickly communicate who I am, what I do, and why it matters. Although I am a front-end web developer, I never have time to work on my website. To that end, I look forward to launching my brand refresh this year. I promise. It's hard to make time for my materials when I work on so many amazing projects.

Many thanks to Odyssea By Fletcher, Alex Rose, and Anton Lorimer for helping show what it's like to work as an underwater photographer and filmmaker.

The full story:
https://www.smugmug.com/this-lens/jennifer-Jennifer Idol

Jennifer Idol believes we cannot love what we don’t know. After bearing witness to the devastation caused by the Deep Water Horizon oil spill from a plane, J...

05/12/2024

Wishing a fintastic Mother's Day to everyone. Humpback whales are very nurturing. It's special to observe these intimate moments. This encounter was during our Big Fish Expeditions expedition in French Polynesia.

04/22/2024

Can you have too many shark experiences? Absolutely not.
I love every encounter on our trips with Big Fish Expeditions

04/16/2024

Just drying off my feet from a week at sea on our Tiger Beach trip with Big Fish Expeditions. We had a fintastic trip with great guests. Read all about it in my trip report.

What was left unsaid is that I'm pretty sore about having to leave, but Dolphin Dream Team said stowaways aren't a thing ;)

I so love spending time with these lovely sharks! Join me next April for more tiger shark action. These are incredible animals that are so worth keeping as part of our ecosystems. They're quite misrepresented and I feel lucky to see them if only for a moment.

https://www.bigfishexpeditions.com/2024/04/15/tiger-beach-2024/

04/11/2024

We had an awesome time on our Big Fish Expeditions trip to Tiger Beach. We're just now heading in and closed out with some lovely tiger sharks. We saw all six species of sharks on this trip (I photographed five of them).

Our lovely guests had a great time enjoying all the sharks we saw. The tiger sharks are the draw but the bull was especially fun for me to see. We enjoyed watching them across the reef and sand. Other sightings included the lemon sharks, nurse sharks, reef sharks, and great hammerhead.

I can't wait to return next April 12-18, 2025!
Sign up on BigFishExpeditions.com to join me on this sharky adventure
https://www.bigfishexpeditions.com/trips/scuba-diving/tiger-shark-diving/

01/28/2024

Thunder Bay International Film Festival is more than the sharing of inspirational films. It is an exchange of thoughts, education, and insight between filmmakers, students, and the community. The in-depth and open conversations illuminate how we can do better for our world, for communities, and as creators. I hope to see you next year at this festival in beautiful Alpena as we celebrate our waters from all perspectives above and below.

It is a must for filmmakers who get the opportunity for candid and supportive reviews.

It is enriching for those who attend to also get to meet people such as dignitaries Paula Jones and Jay Haigler, who showed Black Godfather of Scuba, a documentary not just about Dr. Albert José Jones, but of the extraordinary community and history he created. Dr. Jones founded dive club Underwater Adventure Seekers and co-founded the National Association of Black Scuba Divers - NABS. His wife Paula is an articulate children’s author and dive expert who is championing this community with her entrepreneurial daughter Kendall Jones. Most poignantly, Jay Haigler of Diving With A Purpose spoke to the important work of protection, documentation and interpretation of African slave trade shipwrecks and the maritime history and culture of African Americans.

Other content creators were also broadcasting the events such as The Great Dive Podcast. I had the joy of chatting with them about the intricacies of the scuba industry and how we can show adventurers how diving is the plunge they need to take to sea the world.

I’m moved by this experience and amazed again by this gem of a National Marine Sanctuary.

Visit NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and learn something.

Many thanks also to the Friends of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Stephanie Gandullafor their passion and commitment to this event and the mission of the sanctuary. For twelve years, nearly 800 films have been shown in this remarkable destination. I’m honored that the film Alex Rose and I showed was well received and encouraged to take it farther.

01/26/2024

Travel time! I'm heading to the amazing museum at NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary for the premiere of our film in the Thunder Bay International Film Festival.

Read about our latest film, Protected Waters: Exploring La Jolla as featured in The Alpena News.

Alex Rose and I collaborate on this special film series to illuminate protected waters. It's a joy to work with such a dedicated filmmaker with a marine biology background so that we can provide informed footage about complex ecosystems. We have a little fun too!

https://www.thealpenanews.com/news/local-news/2024/01/thunder-bay-international-film-festival-all-weekend-in-alpena/ #:~:text=%E2%80%9CProtected%20Waters%3A%20Exploring%20La%20Jolla%E2%80%9D%20is%20produced%20by%20Jennifer,to%20dive%20all%2050%20states.

01/25/2024

We’re thrilled to share the trailer for our film Protected Waters: Exploring La Jolla as we dive into how an ecosystem is supported by protected waters.

Fellow explorer Alex Rose and I are premiering our film at Thunder Bay International Film Festival this Saturday!

Many thanks to Trystan Snodgrass, Andy Nosal, Net Zero Expeditions, and Odyssea By Fletcher

Protected Waters: Exploring La Jolla trailer

Join us on an adventure as we dive into protected waters and investigate how and why they are preserved and managed. We showcase extraordinary life and cultu...

01/17/2024

I'm honored and amazed to be a finalist for the Underwater Photo Competitions World Shootout Best Picture of 2023 and Wide Angle category.

It is an absolute joy to share my image of a beautiful encounter I had with a humpback whale in French Polynesia on our Big Fish Expeditions. This was truly a special moment. I very much look forward to our trip this fall and observe more of this magnificent species.

01/12/2024

Alex Rose and I are thrilled to announce the next film in our series, Protected Waters: Exploring La Jolla, is premiering at the Thunder Bay International Film Festival (TBIFF) with Friends of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Join us on Saturday, Jan 27, 2024, at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena, Michigan, as we dive into the many Marine Protected Areas in Southern California.

Special thanks to Net Zero Expeditions, Trystan Snodgrass, Jules Jacobs, Andy Nosal, and Odyssea By Fletcher.

https://thunderbayfriends.org/index.php/film-festival/

07/09/2023

I’ve been completely swamped in reviewing footage from Catalina and then this …
I’m going to the dark side and it appears I will be selling my Sony A7siii with Nauticam housing and my Nikon D5 with Nauticam housing. Official sales postings coming soon.

Officially, the blame lies with Reef Photo & Video for outstanding customer support (Nauticam housing getting ordered tomorrow) and with John Borys, Alex Rose, and Peter Venoutsos. You are all very bad influences in the most loving way possible. Watch out John! I’m look forward to another shoot with you.