OUR CONVERSATION

My conversation with Oksana Maksymova, an underwater photographer, looking for the perfect shot.

Wojciech Zgoła: You take fantastic photos. Since when did you start photographing underwater?

Oksana Maksymova: It seems to me that the path to the professional underwater photography was predetermined from my birth. I was born in a city by the sea, thus more or less every day from early childhood was connected with the sea. Many summer days were spent exploring inhabitants of the Black Sea. In my youth, I was dreaming of working on research vessels that often came to our port. But life decided differently. And diving entered my life totally unexpected and the discovery of the underwater world radically changed my life. Very soon the small camera became my diving companion. At some point, I realized that I want to take not just photos, but good photos. Around the same time, one of my photos was awarded as a photo of the week in the quite well-known Russian underwater photographers’ community. The decision to devote my life to underwater photography coincided with the completion of several theoretical courses on various aspects of photography. And now for five years I am taking photos with professional equipment.

We met thanks to your photos,. I liked your macro shots so much that I wrote to you and you agreed to share the photo on the Perfect Diver calendar.

I really love macro photography. Thanks to it we can see all the details of the tiny sea creatures. It is impossible to do it underwater even with a magnifying glass. Obviously it requires special equipment and a lot of patience, but the result is worth it. Like that, for example, I discovered that tiny 10 mm-long pygmy seahorse has charming pattern on the lips, that Ringtailed Cardinalfish (Ostorhinchusaureus), male protects and incubates eggs in the mouth and that Redhead Stylophora Goby (Paragobiodonechinocephalus) has green eyes. The photo for your calendar shows a very rare species of blue Barrel Sponge Porcelain Crab (Aliaporcellanaspongicola). Its size is only 6–8 mm, but we can see a lot of details.

What's your occupation?

As previously stated, big part of my time I spend on underwater photography and everything related to it. This is the most amazing and exciting part of my life. It is new knowledge and discovery about underwater world and its inhabitants, new skills in photography, ideas and experiments with different types of lightening. It is exhibitions, competitions, participation in different projects and meetings with admirable photographers and scientists.

Does your family dive? If so, do you spend your holidays diving, if not why?

My daughter is not a big fan of diving. We went diving few times together. It seems that she was not fascinated by such holidays. For me personally, diving and underwater photography are two different things. Underwater photography is not a holiday. It is something that absorbs entirely time, energy and thoughts. However, during underwater photography trips I often meet associates and colleagues with who the time is priceless.

Is Odessa a good dive site? Why?

In the vicinity of Odessa there is no fascinating, rich and diverse marine life. In addition, the visibility is poor and water is quite cold. There are couple of spots with sunken ships for the fans of the wrecks. In comparison with my favourite places in South East Asia, unfortunately Odessa is not better.

Do you dive in both wetsuit and dry suit?

I always dive in wetsuit. I have never tried to dive in dry suit, but I am sure that i will easily learn this skill if needed.

So, you prefer warm water. Does the temperature matter in photographing the objects you choose?

As it is clear from the answer on the previous question, I prefer warm water. It is related not only with the objects for photography but also with my personal need for warmth. I can hardly stand the cold. But in fairness, I would like to note how much I admire the photos of my colleagues that were taken in the cold water.

Where do you like to take underwater photos the most? Generally.

I like to take photos the most in The Coral Triangle. The Coral Triangle is a roughly triangular area of the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

Do you dive without a camera, with your hands free? Or never?

Last year I dive always with camera. Not just camera, but huge camera, flashes, lights, snoot, additional lenses and different devices that allow to try to take a good picture. It happens that 90-minute dive is not sufficient to photograph just one object. It’s hard to judge myself as a photographer. I am always not completely happy with my work and think that I could have done better.

And then what is your dream of underwater photography?

I dream to take picture that I could call a perfect one.

What do you think of the garbage in the oceans? What do you think of plastic in relation to the oceans and animals? Do you encounter rubbish while diving in different places?

It is one of the biggest tragedy of humanity. Sometimes it seems to me that most people do not realize, how disastrously terrible the situation is. I was just under water when the current was bringing a drastic amount of plastic garbage. It is hard to explain my feelings when I had to literally rake the garbage with my hands. It is one of the worst feelings in my life. It is a feeling of the end of the life of the civilization.

Have you checked Perfect Diver Magazine? And what do you think about it?

Your magazine is of a fairly high level. It is very informative and interesting with the right balance of text and visual information, not overloaded with publicity. I learned about it quite recently and I am sincerely glad that I found another place to meet enthusiastic people who are in love with the sea and its inhabitants.

Your next Covid dive plans?

Covid took away the opportunity to photograph in my favourite places. But life continues and we must try to live in new reality. There are still some destinations where it is possible to dive. I will improve my skills with wide angle photography. Maldives, Egypt, Mexico are open if respecting certain requirements. Let’s hope for the best and that 2021 will be better and the borders for travelling will be open again.