CAPTURING THE
UNDERWORLD Kenyan-Italian photographer Jahawi Bertolli talks to Nomad’s Leroy Buliro about his time spent diving into the depths of the ocean to document marine life with the aim of shedding a light on their conservation.
How did you get into underwater photography? One day while filming a music video, we needed an underwater shot of someone jumping into a pool so I went in with a GoPro and my cousin, the talented director Phillipa Herrmann, joked that I should venture into underwater photography as there was no one doing it in Kenya. A few months later, I was sitting in my studio writing music for some beautiful footage when my frustration at being trapped in landlocked Nairobi came to its pinnacle. I decided that I wanted to be out there, within nature, filming, and not stuck in a studio. Once that project was completed, I moved to Thailand and enrolled in an underwater cinematography course…and that’s how I got behind a camera. Which has been your most exciting assignment yet? Hunting down photos of blue whales in Sri Lanka which is an interesting place for
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cetaceans because it is one of the few places that has a resident population of Blue Whales alongside many other species. The nutritious upwelling of plankton and krill at the drop off of the continental shelf in the south of the island makes it possible to support these massive creatures year round. For the best chance of photographing blue whales, Sri Lanka was the place to go. It is also a very culturally interesting place with superb waves for surfing. When did you finally get to see some blue whales in Sri Lanka? On our first day, we were woken up by the owner of the guest house where we were staying. “There are huge numbers of whales being spotted,” she said in excitement. We hadn’t planned anything for that day given that it was our first morning. The day was dark and cloudy and the water an eerie gun metal grey. The lack of sun meant that the krill were closer to the surface providing a huge feast for the whales; this was however
not the best weather for photography. The whales were close to the coastline and when we found them, we realised that the boat was surrounded by at least 15 feasting blue whales; even with all their years of experience, the crew had never seen so many together! We spent some time just watching them to see their behaviour and once the captain was convinced it was safe, I decided to take the plunge. How was the first dive? The water was very murky and visibility was poor. Swimming on, I came across a bubble trail left by one of the whales that had a 6 metre wide tail. Water visibility was bad and it was impossible to get a good shot. The water was 1 km deep and 500 metres long, cargo ships were moving silently through the mist... not the best conditions, so we called it a day and went back to shore deciding to wait a few more days for better conditions. This was actually one of the only times I’ve ever felt really uneasy in the water.
