2025 St. John's Island National Marine Laboratory - Visit
During this year's Festival of Biodiversity, we struck up a collaborative dialogue with the Tropical Marine Science Institution (TMSI) and was invited to St. John's Island for an intertidal photowalk followed by a lab visit to photograph specimens at the National Marine Laboratory (SJINML).
Before the break of dawn on 23 Aug 2025, NPSS was joined by Dr. Nicholas Yap, TMSI team and volunteers from Resorts World Sentosa at Marine South Pier setting off for St. John's Island. Due to works at St. John's Island Pier, we disembarked at Seringat Island jetty before hiking towards the St. John's Island Beach.
The day's exploratory objective was to understand and scope collaboration between photographers and citizen scientists. Dr. Yap highlighted that anecdotally - up to 50% of the effort spent in putting together scientific publication comprises good photographic presentation.
Elevating the overall quality of photographic output of documented marine life was a key motivation here.
A Sumatran squall briefly interrupted the session at 6:45am but we were able to press on once the overcast skies cleared.
Following the rising tide, we continued on to SJINML where we were hosted with refreshments and prepared for the lab photography session after an introduction by Dr. Yap to the facility.
It was a challenging and new experience for many NPSS members who are used to working with terrestrial subjects. Different approaches were used for lighting marine life and working distances differed for various specimens sizes. Special mention goes to some of the F2 baby boxed jellyfish specimens barely larger than 2.5mm (featured below).
