J.Kowitz Photography

J.Kowitz Photography Photographer and Cinematographer freediving around world to share the beauty of the ocean.
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10/07/2026

A humpback whale mother and calf turning in synchrony.

Humpback whales migrate thousands of miles from Antarctic feeding grounds to Moorea's warm waters every year, from roughly July through November, to give birth and nurse their calves before the long journey south. This mother stayed close, letting her calf practice the surfacing and diving patterns it'll need for a lifetime in open ocean — while she barely used more than a fraction of her strength to keep pace beside it.
Calves nurse on extremely fat-rich milk and can gain hundreds of pounds a week here before they're strong enough to migrate. Encounters like this are brief and on the whales' terms — French Polynesia regulates whale swims closely, with strict distance limits, time caps, and licensed guides required, all to protect mothers and calves during this critical window.

07/07/2026

French Polynesia in one breath — whales swimming below you, rays gliding over the sand, reef sharks cruising the drop-off, and water so clear it feels like flying.
This is what French Polynesia looks like when you slow down and let the ocean come to you. Days like this are exactly what we build our trips around.

07/07/2026

Watch until the end! While on expedition in Moorea swimming with Humpback Whales we observed a mother and calf resting below, the calf came to the surface every few minutes for a breath while mother rested. After some time mother started to move towards the surface for a breath, the calf sped up its movements and with a few flicks of its tail it launched itself in the air directly in front of our group, landing with a massive splash, but that wasn't the end, it swam under us and breached again backdropped by the beautiful mountains of Moorea.

On expedition with .expeditions

06/07/2026

Communication through movement... We had the privilege of observing one of the most curious playful whales this day. While swimming with whales in French Polynesia this particular juvenile female humpback whale approached our group, its eyes tracking our movements, it slowly and skillfully maneuvered around our group coming close and performing a type of dance. This spinning, rolling dance is a form of non-vocal signalling used during social interactions.
Such kinematic behaviors highlight the visual, physical and social nature of humpback whale communication.
A special thank you to .michael.poole
for the educational days on the water and sharing his vast knowledge of humpback whale behavior.


03/07/2026

Saving an entangled whale! Heading offshore at first light with we immediately spotted 2 humpback whales directly out front of the harbor. As soon as we had the drone up our hearts sank as we saw an animal trailing over 100’ of gear that was deeply embedded in the head just after the blowhole and wrapped through the mouth.

Our captain who’s trained in whale disentanglement called the NOAA authorities responsible for marine mammal entanglement response. We were then directed to begin gathering documentation of the animal working under permit #24359.

For 2.5 hours we took drone, topside DSLR photos and Insta360 underwater footage to capture imagery of the nature of the entanglement in order to provide the NOAA response team with as much information as possible so they could organize a plan effectively.

When the rescue teams arrived there was nothing more we could do, we continued on our journey hoping for the best.

The two response teams worked tirelessly for 5 hours, and eventually had the best result possible. These skilled crews managed to remove 251 ft of line, 10ft of chain, and several hooks from the animal, along with a large portion of line that sank and was lost. All in all, an approximate 320ft of gear was removed from the whale. An asymmetrical cut was finally made near the mouth of the animal, which should allow the whale to shake free the line running through its mouth with ease now that all that drag had been removed.

This was one of the most successful disentanglement efforts of the season, and this whale will most likely survive to live a much longer and healthy life once given time to recover.

Our role in finding and staying on the animal until response arrived was crucial, but the absolutely stellar response by the NOAA showcases the degree of specialized training and coordination of our Kona team. Huge mahalo to network for the incredible job well done. Safe to say we saved a humpback whale!

30/06/2026

Sometimes your filming nature and it completely ignores you, then awkwardly acts like it was caught in an embarrassing act. I have absolutely no idea what was going on here, but these two were completely locked in and couldn't have cared less about the camera.

While diving on Ningaloo Reef, Australia, they floated around lips attached, and carried on like I wasn't even there.

Nature is weird sometimes. Any guesses on what this was. My thoughts are two dominant males fighting over their territory on the reef.

04/06/2026

Wait for it... This is the first time I have ever seen this. We were swimming with this absolutely beautiful Tiger shark in shallow water off the Ningaloo reef in Australia. I didn't noticed until I edited and watched the video, at six seconds it does what you see.

An absolutely beautiful Tiger, so calm chill and unbothered. The shallow clear waters here are incredible.

29/05/2026

A school of yellow tail Barracuda make a close pass while free diving in Australia. People have this idea that Barracuda will instantly attack if they see something shiny but the majority of time this is not true. It does attract their attention but they come close to investigate not immediately attack.

22/05/2026

A Green Sea turtle takes a quick breath during golden hour in Hawaii.
Sea turtles can hold their breath for around 30 minutes while actively swimming, but when they’re resting or sleeping, they can stay underwater for 4–7 hours at a time. Watching this one rise through the golden light for a single breath was a reminder of how perfectly adapted they are to this ocean world.

20/05/2026

POV your cage diving with Great White Sharks.
The moment that cage drops below the surface, your eyes widen, your body cold, senses heightened, you can’t look away.
Heavy silence. Pure adrenaline. Then out of the blue, a Great White appears like a ghost from another world.
New Zealand delivered an incredible shark diving experience. These animals aren’t mindless killers like the movies made them out to be — they’re calculating, intelligent, curious, and absolutely breathtaking to witness in their own environment.
A healthy ocean needs predators like this at the top.
And seeing one this close changes the way you look at the ocean forever.

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