Issue no. 36

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Soura Magazine | Issue 36 | 2013 - Volume 2

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CONTENT | ISSUE 36 22 David Doubilet The Fragile Underwater 34 Andreas Franke The Sinking World 42 Ronny Kiaulehn Surf & Shoot 52 Tomohide Ikeya The Photo Chef 60 Mark Tipple Man of the Ocean 68 Mick Gleissner Fashionably Submerged 72 Zena Holloway Diving into the Image 78 Fernando Zuffo Making of Swimming Pool Campaign 86 Jason deCaires Taylor Underwater Sculptor 94 Sarah Harvey Water and Paint 102 Viktor Lyagushkin and Phototeam Orda Cave Awareness Project 110 Vivek Kunwar Your Quick & Easy Reference to Creating Underwater Photos

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The Fragile Underwater | David Doubilet

David Doubilet

The Fragile Underwater

David Doubilet has a long and intimate view of the sea. He is a contributing photographer and author for the National Geographic Magazine where he has photographed 65 stories. Since his first assignment in 1971, he has become one of the most published photographers in the history of the magazine.

Doubilet has spent a lifetime photographing the fragile underwater world since he first put his Brownie Hawkeye camera in a rubber anesthesiologist’s bag at the age of twelve. It swam like the Hindenburg and made bad photos but Doubilet prevailed and has since spent five decades exploring the far corners of our water world from interior Africa, equatorial coral reefs, rich temperate seas to beneath the polar ice. He is considered a master of light who works in both color and black and white mediums and has been referred to as the “Audubon of the Sea”. Doubilet considers photography a universal language that creates a visual voice for a fragile and silent world beneath the surface.

© Image Courtesy of Jen Hayes

Doubilet is a Rolex Ambassador, feature columnist, contributing editor and author of many books about the sea. He is honored to be the recipient of the many prestigious awards, including: The Academy of Achievement Award, The Lennart Nilsson Award in Scientific Photography and The Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award. Doubilet was named a Contributing Photographer-in-Residence at the National Geographic, a NOGI Fellow and is a member of both the Royal Photographic Society, International Diving Hall of Fame and a founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

A male clownfish diligently guards and attends to a clutch of eggs in the warm of Anilao Philippines.

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The Fragile Underwater | David Doubilet

Australian sea lions play in an underwater meadow at Hopkins Island South Australia. The sea lions are a curious and playful often biting my fins and pulling my strobe cords.

The Fragile Underwater | David Doubilet

A group of chinstrap and gentoo penguins gather on a small iceberg near Danko Island, Antarctica.

The Fragile Underwater | David Doubilet

Barracuda form a near perfect circle around a diver in Papua New Guinea 28  Soura Issue 36

Connecting to Water As a National Geographic Photographer I have spent decades traveling through the seas, from the warm equatorial waters to beneath the polar ice. I started snorkeling when I was eight. My father was a physician who had hoped that I would become a doctor but I was very bad at math and I was obsessed with making underwater images. He decided to support the idea, and we built my first housing when I was 12 using an anesthesiologist bag. He died when I was 17 and I became determined to make images in the sea that made a difference.

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I believe photographs are a universal language that speaks to everyone and I believe photographs have the power to seduce, shock and inspire.

My goal is simple. I want to make images that connect people with the sea. I want to show the beauty and the devastation that exists in a hidden world that covers 70% of our planet.

I believe photographs are a universal language that speaks to everyone and I believe photographs have the power to seduce, shock and inspire. Most importantly I believe images can induce change. I like producing stories for National Geographic because millions of people read the magazine. Many divers often visit the places they read about.

One example is Stingray City in Grand Cayman. Thousands of people visit the place each year and the stingrays have become beloved global ocean ambassadors.

I am still fond of making black and white photographs using film. I shoot Nikon DSLRs in Sea Cam Housings on my assignments but in my personal time I still like to shoot black and white and then go into the dark room and develop my own images. It is an art form and I think the images are elemental. One of my favorite black and white images is called Chance Encounter. It shows a parrotfish meeting a large group of grunts in the Galapagos Islands. The image has many different meanings to many people.

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I want to show the beauty and the devastation that exists in a hidden world that covers 70% of our planet.

For much of my professional life I have worked in warm tropical and cool temperate waters. I have spent years photographing coral reefs around the world and have recently spent nearly three years working in the coral triangle that includes the ocean waters of Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. My most recent story in National Geographic Magazine in the November 2013 issue was titled Paradise Revisited: Kimbe Bay Papua New Guinea.

What was meant to be a gift story became one of the most challenging of my career. My wife Jennifer Hayes and I arrived at Kimbe Bay to the worst monsoon in decades; washed out bridges and a muddy ocean. The reefs were vibrant and robust but I could not see or photograph them. We had to travel to seamounts far offshore to get to clear water. We experienced floods, cyclone, equipment explosions, the bends, malaria, chikungunya equipment lost to the depths and a missed deadline but we made the story happen.

Despite the challenges I would go back today to learn more about why this reef system flourishes while others fail.

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I love water and light more than anything on this planet.

Ice is one final form of water and it is sculptural.

Jennifer and I now find we spend 50% of our time in the polar ice. The world of ice is elemental to me, much like black and white imagery. I love water and light more than anything on this planet. Ice is one final form of water and it is sculptural. Working in the ice is challenging but it has become an obsession worth having. © All images courtesy of David Doubilet www.DavidDoubilet.com

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The Fragile Underwater | David Doubilet

A squadron of lemon sharks patrol the surface sea at dusk in the Bahamas.

The Fragile Underwater | David Doubilet

A baby green sea turtle swims toward the protective waters of the open sea off Nengo Nengo Atoll, French Polynesia.

Three southern stingrays soar across the shallow waters of North Sound Grand Cayman Island. The sound is like working in a living aquarium filled with life and light. It is one of my favorite places to photograph in black and white.

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A parrotfish pensively encounters a group of Galapagos grunts at Cousins Rock, Galapagos Islands, Equador.

A southern stingray glides across the sands of North Sound Grand Cayman Island. Thousands of cruise ship tourist come to North Sound each day to visit the stingrays that have become ambassadors for the sea.

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The Sinking World | Andreas Franke

The Sinking World of

Andreas Franke

Andreas Franke has been in the business for 24 years, specializing in creating still life photographs. He studied at the Austrian Academy for photography and graphic design in Vienna. Franke worked as assistant photographer in Austria and Germany, conducted workshops in California, and held exhibitions worldwide, all while acquiring several international awards.

Franke is a traveler. He travels through the world and between the worlds. His job frequently leads him to several countries on several continents. So does his passion for scuba diving. In his pictures, Franke crosses the borders between fantasy and real life.

Andreas Franke on the World of Shipwrecks In my photography I try to construct illusionistic worlds far beyond the often shallow and eye-catching ad business. This is why my works are always based on a strict concept, which is perfectly implemented photographically and technically.

Every little detail is part of a precisely arranged production. The moment I start the photo shoot, everything becomes clear: the concept, the realization, even the post-production. It is only the interpretation that I leave to the spectators.

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The moment I start the photo shoot, everything becomes clear: the concept, the realization, even the post-production.

To me, it is important to exploit the technical advances of photography in order to reach the borders of photographic visualization. Today, we have new options that we may not have had a few years ago. This opens the way for imagination and creativity. With my photographs of sunken shipwrecks, I want to pull the spectators into unreal and strange worlds. Mystical scenes of the past play within a fictional space, dream worlds you can get lost in or that you can identify with. This creates a new and unexpected atmosphere. This work shows very much of myself, since I am always on the lookout for stunning themes to create new images never been seen before.

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With my photographs of sunken shipwrecks, I want to pull the spectators into unreal and strange worlds.

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The Sinking World | Andreas Franke

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The Sinking World | Andreas Franke

The Kitchen from Hope Series

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The Sinking World | Andreas Franke

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Stavornikita Project Franke finds sunken worlds, worlds threatening to fade from our recollection and to further descend into oblivion.

Through his work he breathes new life into them. Once again he awakens the dead.

The SS Stavronikita lies at the bottom of the ocean at 13.8 N, 59.38 W, right off the Caribbean island of Barbados.

A traveling salesman, the Stavronikita fell victim to a devastating fire over 20 years ago and with no hope for recovery it was lowered into the silent depths to lie there - fossilized into an artificial reef which one thought would sleep for all eternity.

Mohawk Art © Image by Lee County

The wreck of the sunken Stavronikita is a stunning symbol of life’s irrepressible avidity. Life cannot be drained. It cannot be exhausted. It unfolds, thrives, proliferates, burgeons and multiplies. Franke created surprising, bizarre and equally bewitching images by combining photographs of the wreck with Rococo era sceneries produced in a studio.

The exhibition aboard the SS Stavronikita ran from December 2012 to April 2013. Magnets were attached onto the pictures, which were then fastened onto the ship with great care taken not to disturb the ecological balance of marine life or to damage the outer skin of the Stavronikita.

Those who search for life at its fullest on land will search in vain. They will have to dive to a depth of 24 meters.

Artwork delivered to Mohawk © Image by Lee County

The USS Mohawk Underwater Art Gallery The USS Mohawk CGC, a 165-foot World War II warship that is now a living reef thriving with exotic marine life – was transformed into an underwater art gallery on June 1, 2013.

Franke led a team 28 nautical miles off the coast of Sanibel Island, near Fort Myers, to install 12 images that became a gallery within the ship’s inner spaces and remained on display through Sept. 14, 2013.

For this project, Franke exhaustively researched the history of the Mohawk, which launched 14 attacks against German U-boats and rescued 300 torpedoed ship survivors. Based on his research, envisioned the life of sailors past aboard the Mohawk – their daily lives and dreams of home – and superimposed images of models in period clothing onto original photography.

Many divers assisted in art deployment © Image by Lee County

Each image measured roughly 2.5 by 3.5 feet and was encased in steel-framed Plexiglas. During their time at sea, the photos evolved with accumulation of marine life, which gave them a seaworthy patina and life of their own. For divers, the artwork was a stunning view as the destination was in the midst of its peak dive season. In the clear waters, divers enjoyed 50-70 feet of visibility, perfect for viewing the ethereal images.

At the end of their underwater exhibition, The Sinking World images were displayed at the Lee County Alliance for the Arts galleries in Fort Myers on Oct. 4, 2013, which marked the opening night and cocktail reception.

© All images courtesy of Andreas Franke www.TheSinkingWorld.com

Fish share wreck with art © Image by Lee County 2013 | Volume 2 41

Surf & Shoot | Ronny Kiaulehn

Ronny Kiaulehn

Surf & Shoot

Ronny Kiaulehn was born in a little town near Munich, Germany in 1968. He received his first camera, an Agfa Pocket on his 6th birthday, then bought a Pentax ME with his brother when he was 12. At 14, Kiaulehn had the key to his school’s darkroom, from then on; he spent more time developing his photos than focusing on school work. It was at the same time that Kiaulehn discovered windsurfing. In 1986, he moved to the Canary Islands in pursuit of his dream to become a professional windsrfer. Kiaulehn was already shooting windsurfing as well as his friends in and around the water at the time.

In 1989, he began working in the R&D department of a large windsurf company. His job was to test their equipment, boards and sails, in oceans and seas all around the world. After leaving that job in 1996, after 10 years of being in touch with water and the power of nature every day, Kiaulehn couldn’t imagine getting an office job– that’s when he decided to spend all of his savings on professional camera equipment to get back into photography.

He started out doing mainly surf/windsurf photography in the beginning, and then extended into mountain biking photography.

His work then began including all kinds of outdoor sports, like running, road biking, sailing, and stand up paddling, etc. Now he also does other kinds of photography such as lifestyle, fashion, portrait and quite a bit of studio photography. Working for some of the leading sports brands in the market.

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Surf & Shoot | Ronny Kiaulehn

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Below the Surface Yes, I have to admit I am a full on tech-freak and I love to face difficult shooting situations. Especially when I need to modify and build equipment to make it work the way I need it to. Underwater photography is the perfect subject for this.

I love to create my own lighting, that‘s why I work with battery studio flash units most of the time when I do outdoor and action photography for my clients. I like the challenge of setting up my studio set also under really difficult conditions, like carrying 50kg of lighting equipment up a mountain top to do some mountain bike action shots for a client’s catalog.

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When I decided to get into underwater photography it was clear to me that I wanted to adapt the same lighting techniques I use outdoors to water.

When I decided to get into underwater photography it was clear to me that I wanted to adapt the same lighting techniques I use outdoors to water. There was no way I was screwing some normal underwater TTL flash onto my housing to blow it straight in the faces of my models.

So before I got in the water for the first time I spent weeks with building all sorts of custom housings. For my flash remote triggers, for some of my on camera flashes, and even a huge casing to fit one of my studio flash heads, to also get the big power units below the surface. Now I was able to work the same way I was used to on land, underwater, having the freedom to wirelessly trigger all kinds of strobes positioned outside and inside the water, ready to get creative without having cables floating around all over the place.

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I was able to work the same way I was used to on land, underwater, having the freedom to wirelessly trigger all kinds of strobes positioned outside and inside the water.

After stressing out over setting up the location with all the lighting gear, checking all the equipment and rushing the MUA to get the models ready, when the moment arrives that I pick up my housing and I submerge in the water and hold my breath, I can totally relax, enjoy the peaceful silence and the beauty of everything moving in slow motion. It‘s just a magical.

Considering that I have quite a wide range of different kinds of photography jobs, I probably enjoy the underwater ones most because they need a lot more planning, preparation and skills. They are not as predictable as studio or outdoor shoots, but this is what makes them very special and a real challenge. And in the end, it makes me feel like I got back to my roots... in the water... below the surface.

© All images courtesy of Ronny Kiaulehn www.RonnyKiaulehn.com 2013 | Volume 2 45

Surf & Shoot | Ronny Kiaulehn

Bike Fashion After I felt ready to offer professional underwater photography as one of my services, I wrote a newsletter to all my current clients. One of them was the german BikeMagazine, the biggest mountain bike magazine in Europe. A few weeks later, they called me to ask if I could do an editorial fashion shoot for them.

They wanted to have something special, so I suggested to do it under water. In the beginning they were a bit sceptical about it because they could not really imagine what it could look like. I convinced them to do it anyway. They were really impressed with the result and thought it was probably one of the most spetacular fashion articles they ever had.

Surf & Shoot | Ronny Kiaulehn

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Rock Band A few years ago I had done a CD cover under water shoot for a new Italian rock band after they saw a few underwater images on my website and loved the idea. They came over with a bunch of old instruments and we set up an underwater stage for the shoot. My son Pietro loves to come with me when I work in the pool so he can hang out in the water with me and have some fun while I am working. In a little break, while the band was changing their outfits, he picked up a guitar and jumped in the pool with it. So I took a few shots of him, just for fun. When I prepared the image selection for the band I also put in a few shots of him because I thought they worked out pretty well. After the band saw the little boy going off on the guitar they called me and told me that this will be the cover of their new album! Pietro was really stoked about it, as he is a big fan of the band.

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Surf & Shoot | Ronny Kiaulehn

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Macbook Slash This was actually my first underwater shoot and a personal project to test if all the equipment would work together the way I thought it should. Just a few days before, a friend had passed by my studio and asked me for help with his Macbook. We tried to get some life back into his Mac, with no success.

At the end of the day he decided to buy a new notebook and just left his notebook in my office, so I took it with me the next day to my first under water shoot. I didn‘t really have a plan of what to shoot, apart from some simple test images to see what it would look like.

So I got this idea: What would a guy look like if he accidently dropped his notebook into a swimming pool and jumped in behind it to try to save whats left of it? The result was the Macbook splash images. A few months later I sold the shoots to an IT consulting company.

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The Photo Chef | Tomohide Ikeya

Tomohide Ikeya

The Photo Chef

Tomohide Ikeya is currently working as a freelance photographer in Japan, where he was born in 1974. From 1992 to 1999, Ikeya worked as a chef in an Italian restaurant. Then in the year 2000 made a career switch to photography, and it was in 2002 that he became and independent freelance photographer. Some of his work has been internationally acclaimed. His work titled Wave was awarded 1st place in the category of Advertising (self promotion) at the International Photography Award 2007. His work titled Breath was awarded 2nd place at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris in 2010, in the fine art category of nudes. Breath also garnered Ikeya 1st place at the International Photography Awards in 2009. Ikeya then released a photography book titled Breath this year.

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The Photo Chef | Tomohide Ikeya

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The Photo Chef | Tomohide Ikeya

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The Photo Chef | Tomohide Ikeya

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Scene of Struggle I only became aware of the existence of life and death after connecting deeply to the world of water.

This happened long before I started photography: by chance, I was invited to go diving, and when I saw that underwater world it captured me at once. The various phenomena and life forms, which exist only in the water and the beautiful play of water and light, brought me a strong sense of elation and excitement.

In that world, it is difficult to walk as you would on the ground, and weather conditions can sometimes prevent you from entering it at all. Training and careful preparation are necessary.

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When we are covered in water, the fear inside of us surfaces. Beyond this, the condition of not being able to breathe reveals our attachment to life.

Above all, though, there is a limit to the number of breaths you can take. Among the many restrictions that exist in this world, my work titled Breath focuses on a breath, the most essential factor of life. Breathing is indispensable to us; it repeats continually during our life, and we consider death to be the point at which breathing stops. Usually, breath is invisible, and I think it never registers in our consciousness.

By separating ourselves from this phenomenon, which is so close to our own lives, we can consider its essence and value. This occurs in the water. When we are covered in water, the fear inside of us surfaces.

Beyond this, the condition of not being able to breathe reveals our attachment to life. I capture this entirely unpredictable scene of struggle.

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Life is not just about visible beauty, but also about true strength, which we have from birth.

I superimpose this highly restrictive scene onto human “life.” People encounter all kinds of troubles during their lives. Even if someone knocks down a barrier preventing them from doing something with their own hands, this will not change the fundamental essence of our own limitations. These limitations, too, are part of “living.”

Perhaps the essence of life, granted to everyone, is to live while struggling against death. Math or science can’t change this. Life is not just about visible beauty, but also about true strength, which we have from birth. © All images courtesy of Tomohide Ikeya www.Tomohide-Ikeya.com

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Man of the Ocean | Mark Tipple

Mark Tipple

Man of the Ocean

Mark Tipple has emerged as a notable documentary photographer over the past 3 years, working closely with organizations seeking social change in Australia and surrounding countries. His progression has seen the formation of Gallery Project, a concept to sell fine art prints and fund further projects of the organizations he works with.

As the principal photographer of The Underwater Project; an ongoing reportage showcasing Australia’s relationship with the ocean, Mark aims to connect the different areas of his work to bring light to stories traditional media shies away from.

Mark’s clients include Edify, The Salvation Army, World Vision, Christian Surfers, House With No Steps, Planet Ocean, Beyond Water, Nanda Dian Foundation, and 100Revs. His work has appeared in publications such as The Australian, The Telegraph, The Independent, National Geographic as well as on TV on the Discovery Channel and The BBC.

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Man of the Ocean | Mark Tipple

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Man of the Ocean | Mark Tipple

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Chasing Water My catch phrase was (and still is), “If you’re not doing what you want to be paid for how are clients going to know what you want to get paid to do?” Increasingly, this is getting tough. Budgets are dropping while we see the race for the bottom and the margins between ‘us’ and ‘them’ grow.

Upon graduation I thought the phone would start ringing and I’d be sent to Jamaica via Estonia to do what I wanted to do and rest easy in excessive day rates. When the phone didn’t ring I slowly realized that no one knew who the hell I was let alone what I wanted to do.

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The ocean has always been a place of rest and solitude for me, and for these months of obscurity I gazed to the horizon close to tears wondering how to get my name out there.

The ocean has always been a place of rest and solitude for me, and for these months of obscurity I gazed to the horizon close to tears wondering how to get my name out there. I stumbled on a swimmer as we were diving under a wave and with a camera in my hand I found something that was cool to me that left me wanting more, both in the image and the concept. However simple it was, people diving under a wave held something so foreign to me, even after a decade of surfing and working on the water.

I asked a good friend to come swim, and chasing the clear water we went to remote South Australia to work on different ideas of trying not to drown underwater, and came up with the start to the Summer 2010 series of the Underwater Project. Over the next six months as friends saw the results they asked to shoot with me. Without realizing it the personal series had and was making it’s mark on the wider public, with commercial interest and print sales enabling me to do almost exactly what I wanted to do without compromise.

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However simple it was, people diving under a wave held something so foreign to me, even after a decade of surfing and working on the water.

Even if it’s just a teaser to the teaser of a pilot, making a start on your personal project will make it more than just an idea in your head, and will also help clarify what you’re looking for, so that when it comes to talking to interested clients, your pitch will be spot on and they’ll rush to sign on the dotted line.

As the fifth summer of shooting underwater starts, I guess I’m in a position to say yes or no to a lot of other projects or shoots that aren’t quite right, for the old adage of quality vs. quantity has never been further from the truth. With the whole shift to motion more than half of my commercial work isn’t in photography, with clients seeing the films I’ve made as a passion project and said the words that are worth their weight in gold, “Can you do what you do but for us?” and the freedom continues. © All images courtesy of Mark Tipple www.MarkTipple.com

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Man of the Ocean | Mark Tipple

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Fashionably Submerged | Mick Gleissner

Mick Gleissner

Fashionably Submerged

The underwater environment is of a very different kind.

Capturing images of its’ magnificence has always been considered a demanding form of photography, since it requires very specialized equipment and techniques to do well. While most underwater photographers specialize in photographing animal life and underwater landscapes; some focus on shipwrecks, submerged cave systems, and the like.

Mick Gleissner decided to up the ante by dedicating himself to a different sort of underwater photography.

Gleissner has traveled around the globe, but it was Asia that captured his imagination and heart. For over ten years now, Gleissner has been immortalizing the beauty of Southeast Asia’s underwater world through photography.

In 2005, he raised the bar when he merged his passion for diving and photography with his fascination with fashion and beautiful women. The stunning amalgamation is Gleissner’s Underwater Fashion Photography.

Just about immediately, Gleissner’s Underwater Fashion Photography caught the attention of television’s fashion authority, Fashion One. In a partnership that spelled sizzling chemistry, both trendsetters joined forces to kick-start 2006 with the Fashion One Calendar 2006: Nautical Angels Underwater. Featuring an array of Gleissner’s breathtaking underwater pictures and the launch of Reality TV Show Underwater Action.

Portraying beautiful daredevil models called “Mermaids” in unique and intricate underwater set designs, Gleissner’s revolutionary form of underwater photography has continuously captured the attention of internationally acclaimed media. Among those that have featured his work are Elle, Maxim, Photo, Photographie, Seastar and Duiken’s Magazines, as well as The Weekend Standard and Metro dailies. © All images courtesy of Mick Gleissner www.Mick.com

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Fashionably Submerged | Mick Gleissner

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Diving into the Image | Zena Holloway

Zena Holloway

Diving into the Image

The daughter of an airline pilot, Zena Holloway was born in Bahrain in 1973 and raised in London. At 18 she travelled the globe working as a SCUBA instructor and developed a passion for underwater photography and film.

Completely self-taught, Holloway’s images are striking, instinctive and driven by a deep understanding of her medium. She delivers the remarkable – combining the highly technical aspects of underwater photography with superb creative direction resulting in extraordinary magical imagery. She has taken underwater photography to entirely new depths.

Holloway’s renowned underwater photography appears regularly for publications such as How to Spend it, GQ, The Observer Magazine, 125, Tatler and Dazed & Confused.

She has won many international awards and accolades and her commercial clients include: Nike, Umbro, Radox, Polydor, Sony, Epson, Herbal Essences, National Geographic and Jacuzzi.

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Diving into the Image | Zena Holloway

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Diving into the Image | Zena Holloway

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Against the Tide

I didn’t have a role model; I’m self-taught and specializing just in underwater photography was quite a radical approach.

I didn’t know if I would be able to create a business from it and how readily my imagery would be accepted.

Most worthwhile painters and photographers don’t replicate what already exists but use their craft to create work that is an interpretation of what they see or imagine. Photographers use light to paint an image, and in most cases, a variety of processes afterwards to change and bend what they’ve captured to further alter it from reality.

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The trick is to recognize when the accidental process is going in a good direction and when a different approach is needed.

Most of the work I do now is driven by commerce but when there is an opportunity to work on a more creative project it’s uplifting to have the boundaries removed. Creating great imagery is a team effort and a talented crew is vital. Their input removes any opportunity for creative blocks.

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One of the great things about working solely underwater is that I can pull references from all sorts of sources, and once applied to an underwater environment the results take on their own direction. On an editorial shoot where creativity is allowed to evolve and the water plays its part, there are lots of opportunities to create something different. The trick is to recognize when the accidental process is going in a good direction and when a different approach is needed. The more references I start with, the more ideas I find to move the work forward. I was often unsure if the path that I was on would actually work.

I’ve always been utterly stubborn about going in my own direction and I recognized from a young age that different is good.

I’ve always been utterly stubborn about going in my own direction and I recognized from a young age that different is good. Art by committee never works. To create something new takes a certain amount of courage but to not at least try and push the boundaries is just boring. I’m all for the mavericks of society who swim against the tide. © All images courtesy of Zena Holloway www.ZenaHolloway.com

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Making of Swimming Pool Campaign | Fernando Zuffo

Making of

Swimming Pool Campaign

Fernando Zuffo

The self-taught photographer Fernando Zuffo began his career early in life and gained ground in his field with his first works, in which he used techniques such as manual staining, fusion through cropping and image overlay. Thirty-three years into his career, Zuffo has expanded his skill-set with digital technology, without ever compromising what he believes is the true core of this art: quality.

Refracting Light The first problem we faced was how to evaluate and show the water depth. We looked for a real swimming pool to accommodate the models comfortably with freedom of movement to be able to achieve the desired positions.

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To give the real impression of being inside the water, the scenes were photographed under a cloud of smoke.

Recreating Water The ideal environments were then reproduced inside our studio and to give the real impression of being inside the water, the scenes were photographed under a cloud of smoke.The light refraction through the water on the floor and on the pool walls were also produced in the studio, using special light effects we researched and developed especially to this end. When it came time to recreate the pool environment, the photos were reworked and color was adjusted to simulate the specific water tones. The models, accessories and some composition details were created inside the water to give the real movement effect.

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The photos were reworked and color was adjusted to simulate the specific water tones.

Aquatic cameras were used for the pictures of the models inside the pool. The details of the water boundaries should be in focus to allow the natural visual flow from the water to the landscape. The solution was to photograph this boundary using an aquarium to reproduce the water foreground. The highest level of complexity was to develop a perfect tuning of the light on all elements inside the water to achieve a scene as close to real as possible. © All images courtesy of Fernando Zuffo www.Zuffo.com.br

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Client Terra Type Announcement Art Director Gustavo Victorino Assistant Photography Marcos Constantine, Lucas Gaspar Pupo (support for underwater photos) and Gabriel Zuffo.

Objects Production Lais Negrini Finishing Fábio Henrique Souza Photographer & Director Fernando Zuffo

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Making of Swimming Pool Campaign | Fernando Zuffo

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Making of Swimming Pool Campaign | Fernando Zuffo

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Making of Swimming Pool Campaign | Fernando Zuffo

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2013 | Volume 2  85

Underwater Sculptor | Jason deCaires Taylor

Jason deCaires Taylor

Underwater Sculptor

Jason deCaires Taylor is an internationally acclaimed eco-sculptor who was born in 1974 to an English father and Guyanese mother. Taylor grew up in Europe and Asia, where he spent much of his early childhood exploring the coral reefs of Malaysia. Educated in the South East of England, Taylor graduated from the London Institute of Arts in 1998 with a BA Honours in Sculpture and went on to become a fully qualified diving instructor and underwater naturalist. With over 17 years diving experience under his belt, Taylor is also an award winning underwater photographer, famous for his dramatic images, which capture the metamorphosing effects of the ocean on his evolving sculptures.

In 2006, Taylor founded and created the world’s first underwater sculpture park. Situated off the coast of Grenada in the West Indies it is now listed as one of the Top 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic. His latest creation is MUSA (Museo Subacuatico de Arte), a monumental museum with a collection of over 486 of his sculptural works, submerged off the coast of Cancun, Mexico; described by Forbes as one of the world’s most unique travel destinations. Both these ambitious, permanent public works have a practical, functional aspect, facilitating positive interactions between people and fragile underwater habitats while at the same time relieving pressure on natural resources.

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Underwater Sculptor | Jason deCaires Taylor

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2013 | Volume 2  89

Underwater Sculptor | Jason deCaires Taylor

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Symbiosis of Man and Nature I create underwater living sculptures, offering viewers mysterious, ephemeral encounters and fleeting glimmers of another world where art develops from the effects of nature on the efforts of man. My site-specific, permanent installations are designed to act as artificial reefs, attracting corals, increasing marine biomass and aggregating fish species, while crucially diverting tourists away from fragile natural reefs and thus providing space for natural rejuvenation. Subject to the abstract metamorphosis of the underwater environment, I believe my work symbolizes a striking symbiosis between man and nature, balancing messages of hope and loss.

My sculptures change over time with the effects of their environment. These factors create a living aspect to the works, which would be impossible to reproduce artificially. As time passes and the works develop biological growth, they redefine the underwater landscape, evolving within the narrative of nature.

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Subject to the abstract metamorphosis of the underwater environment, I believe my work symbolizes a striking symbiosis between man and nature, balancing messages of hope and loss.

Although constituting only 8% of our oceans, shallow seas contain most of the marine life on planet earth. By situating my sculptures in clear, shallow, barren areas, I not only replicate the conditions necessary to stimulate coral growth but I ensure divers, snorkelers and those aboard glass bottom boats the opportunity to view the work. Underwater, everything is magnified by 25%, light refracts, colors are changed and—as the only light source comes from the surface—kaleidoscopic effects are produced, governed by currents and turbulence. Taking art off of the white walls of a gallery offers the viewer a sense of discovery and participation. Underwater, one has a truly multi-dimensional and multi- sensual experience, free from the confines of gravity and offering a viewing perspective that is both intimate and personal.

For more information about Jason deCaires Taylor’s Sculpture visit www.UnderSculpture.com © All images courtesy of Jason deCaires Taylor www.JasondeCairesTaylor.com

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Underwater Sculptor | Jason deCaires Taylor

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Water and Paint | Sarah Harvey

Sarah Harvey

Water and Paint

Sarah Harvey was born in London in 1981. She studied fine art & history at Newcastle University after a foundation course at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Harvey’s undergraduate dissertation focused on the use of photography in painting from when cameras were first introduced into the mainstream in the 19th Century. This interest in how one medium influences another formed the bedrock of her art exploration from thereon in; and after she won a scholarship which took her to Italy in 2003 Harvey was inspired to paint from underwater photographic images; an art form which she is internationally recognized for today.

The Paul Gullotti gallery in Perth, Australia was the first to give Harvey a solo exhibition in 2006 and since then she has had solo exhibitions at the Osian Gallery in Dublin (2007), the James Freeman Gallery in London (2010), and the Collector’s Contemporary Gallery in Singpore (2011) among others.

A consummate award winner, Harvey came runner up in the Royal Academy of the Arts’ Insight Investment Newcomers Award in 2007 and was then shortlisted for Saatchi’s Best of British in 2009: This is in addition to featuring in numerous publications and being profiled in magazines across the world from Istanbul to Germany to New York.

Harvey works only in oil from images that she herself has taken and then enhanced using computer graphics. Her distinctive style forces the viewer to think – not only about the person depicted – but about their place in the world and how we are not just who we are but what we hide behind and how other people perceive us. This 2014 exhibition at the Collectors Contemporary in Singapore is Sarah’s 7th solo show and reflects her international career spanning a decade.

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Water and Paint | Sarah Harvey

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Water and Paint | Sarah Harvey

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Water and Paint | Sarah Harvey

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A Paradox of Feelings My paintings, predominantly of girls under water, and mostly self-portraits, aim to arouse not just a sense of wellbeing and pleasure, but suggesting notions of insecurity, fantasy and sexuality.Many of my paintings examine the figures abstracted, mutated, refracted and reflected within these lush liquid environments that I surround them by, which lend themselves to a paradox of feelings when being viewed.

The paintings are without a horizon line, so as not to have a reference of anything solid to draw perspectives upon –

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Many of my paintings examine the figures abstracted, mutated, refracted and reflected within these lush liquid environments. allowing the viewer to feel like they are under the water with the girl or acting as a voyeur from above. With each painting narrative based, together they add to an autobiography that is gradually being written in paint. My influences coming from artists such as Francis Bacon with his Carcus and Crucifixion paintings, Egon Schieles drawings, and also Jenny Saville, my paintings are steadily exploring many more issues that I as an artist am dealing with.

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The paintings are without a horizon line, so as not to have a reference of anything solid to draw perspectives upon. © All images courtesy of Sarah Harvey www.SarahHarvey.co.uk 2013 | Volume 2 101

A World of Wonders | Orda Cave

Orda Cave is located near Orda village, Southern Urals, Russia. It is the most extended underwater cave in Russia, the second largest in Eurasia, and the world’s greatest underwater gypsum cave. It has the status of All-Russia natural monument. It is the first and only underwater gypsum excursion-cave in the world, and a member of I.S.C.A (Association of Excursion Caves of the World). In 2008, Orda Cave was applied to be included in the List of UNESCO World Natural Heritage. The unique beauty of Orda cave was marked by the world-famous British cave-diver, cave-diving instructor of the Royal court of Great Britain and Martyn Farr.

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Orda cave is one of the largest in terms of underwater galleries in the world.”

The dry part of the cave is small, it is about 300 m in size, and the total length of its underwater passages is about 5 km, the deepest point is 23 m, with an average depth of 8 m. Water temperature is about 5-60C. The climate of Southern Urals is strongly continental; air temperature varies from more than +30oC in the summer to -40oC in the winter. The temperature in the dry part of the cave ranges from 00C to -250C in the winter.

ORDA CAVE AWARENESS PROJECT A WORLD OF WONDERS IN AN UNDERWATER CAVE

Orda Cave Awareness Project Orda cave is unique, but only a few people have seen this exceptional wonder of nature. That was the main motivation behind the book and the exhibitions: to show more people this unique wonder of nature. The work took half a year, and the team made more than 150 dives. All 5 kilometers of its underwater galleries were photographed.

A unique photo-collection resulted from numerous expeditions to Orda cave.

The project includes the publication of the book, which contains interesting articles: Orda Cave Origin and History, Discovery of the Cave, and more. The techniques of cave diving and tech-diving education are also discussed. Famous Orda Cave-divers like Lamar Hires, Pascal Bernabe, and Reggie Ross share their personal experience. The reader can make an exciting dive with the authors of the book and see the most remote and beautiful parts of the cave.

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The work took half a year, and the team made more than 150 dives. All 5 kilometers of its underwater galleries were photographed.

But Orda Cave Awareness Project is not only about capturing its beauty in photographs; it is also about creating ecological awareness, and promoting interaction with scientists to explore the cave. The project gained international media attention as well as the attention of cave divers around the world.

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A World of Wonders | Orda Cave

A World of Wonders | Orda Cave

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VIKTOR LYAGUSHKIN On His Experience Diving Orda Cave My team and I lived in the cave for six months and did about 150 dives; we got shots of all 5km of its underwater passages.

Duringh this time teams of cave divers from different Russian cities succeeded one another, posing as models and helping with strobes.

The core team, however, ran continuously. It consisted of me, and Bogdana Vashchenko, journalist and photo assistant, together we were PHOTOTEAM PRO. I am an official Nikon photographer, and my favorite cameras are Nikon D3S and D3x. When we started Orda Project, I was working with a Nikon D200 and a Fuji S5Pro. The entire project had been shot on these two cameras. Underwater, we have to use shorter focus lenses than on land; that is why I used Nikkor 10.5/2.8 for my underwater landscapes. Now my main underwater lens is Nikkor 16/2.8 fisheye. I use Subal housing for my cameras, it is a waterproof box with flash connectors and controls, which allow access to all functions, for convenient and comfortable handling of the camera functions.

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There is complete darkness in a cave; no sunbeam comes through the rocks over your head, so you need a lot of light.

And light! There is complete darkness in a cave; no sunbeam comes through the rocks over your head, so you need a lot of light. I use underwater strobes, specially designed for UW-photographers Ikelite DS160. I used up to 8 strobes simultaneously while shooting Orda Cave, which could not be placed on tripods because of the silt on the floor, so they had to be hand held!

Through the Orda Cave Project I aimed to show people the fragile world of the underwater caves, and how we, cave divers, see it. This world could die easily and the damage would be incalculable. Caves are a source of fresh water, a home for rare animals, a repository of the past and many other things.

When I first went to Orda cave in 2005, I immediately fell in love with it. It was an incomparable delight - floating in zero gravity in giant rooms in absolutely clear water. Orda cave is one of the largest in terms of underwater galleries in the world. There are narrow passages too, but the greatest pleasure I have there is swimming in the large rooms, the largest room there is 80x40 meters and 15 meters high.

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Through the Orda Cave Project I aimed to show people the fragile world of the underwater caves, and how we, cave divers, see it.

Orda cave is very diverse and each passage is different, so each dive there is very different. Moreover, it is not completely researched so you always find a place where nobody had been before. This inspires me to continue to dive there.

As a team we trained hard and prepared ourselves for any difficult situation that may arise. It was physically demanding and the temperature was about 6 degrees, while in the cave it reached even 20 degrees below zero. We would climb 50 meters down and up with all the equipment for every dive. It was hard, but we wanted to show people this beautiful cave so that they could share our admiration for it.

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A World of Wonders | Orda Cave

About Viktor Lyagushkin Russian potographer Viktor Lyagushkin is a National Geographic photographer, an Official Nikon Photographer, and a Subal TeamPro photographer. He is the winner of many international photo contests, and exhibitions of his work were held world-wide. He has more than 1000 publications and reportages in the most prominent and respected magazines and newspapers of the world. Forty-two year-old Lyagushkin is a graduate of the Theatrical Academy in St-Petersburg, Russia, with a major in set design.

Lyagushkin became a professional photographer in 1998, and has worked in magazines as designer, journalist and photographer for 20 years. He began diving in 2000 and started to take photos under water in 2003.

For more information about Orda Cave Awareness Project visit www.OrdaCave.ru Š All images courtesy of PHOTOTEAM www.PHOTOTEAM.pro

2013 | Volume 2  109

Underwater Shooting 101 | Creating Underwater Photos

Underwater Shooting 101 Your Quick & Easy Reference to Creating Underwater Photos Words by Vivek Kunwar

I find underwater photographs compelling because they are unusual. How often do you come across a possibility of composing a photograph in a manner such that your subject is suspended right in the centre of the frame, with no distractions whatsoever? How do you create a photograph which is surreal in every sense of the word? Going underwater opens all such possibilities and more! I will try my best here to share as much as I can to make your first underwater photography experience hassle free, and if you already have experienced the beautiful world underwater, there still might be a takeaway or two.

Gear. The first thing that you’d want to know as you go about planning an underwater shoot would be what equipment to use. Underwater photography equipment is expensive and can cost you anywhere between 3,000 to 10,000 USD. Here are the first few things that you’ll need: 1. Underwater Housing: The first thing that you need to buy is an underwater housing. An underwater housing essentially is a watertight case that holds your regular DSLR or point and shoot camera and allows you to take it underwater, a good underwater housing also allows you access to all camera functions even while the camera is submerged. In its simplest form an underwater housing can be a plastic bag. I personally use Ikelite housings for most of my shoots.

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2. Camera and Lenses: While there are a ton of point and shoot cameras which are submersible, the results are often mediocre at best. I would highly recommend that you use a DSLR as it allows you to be in complete control of the image making process. Also, most underwater point and shoot cameras don’t allow you to capture RAW, this is one drawback that I just cannot live with. With the amount of color tone and light you lose while shooting underwater, it is imperative to shoot RAW, as you will need all the latitude in post production to recover your photographs. Wide angle lenses are a must for any underwater photographer. It helps to get as close to the subject as possible. Using zoom lenses and shooting from a distance can ruin your photograph as the water between you and your subject makes the photographs softer and there’s significant loss in clarity and color information.

3. Strobes: While lighting your subject is not always necessary, I personally believe that the right lighting pushes the production value of the output. It can be helpful to have off camera strobes if you plan to shoot deep down.

Having TTL flashes always helps as they allow you to focus on composition while taking care of exposure settings themselves. For fashion shoots, I have also used my regular studio strobes fired from over the suface of the water and have gotten incredible results.

The shoot · Keep your camera on a moderately low ISO and on aperture priority mode: Again, this allows you to concentrate on the most important aspect of the image making process: getting the composition right. · Shoot at wider angles: Start shooting at the lowest focal length that you have and push it further in only if you really need to. Wide shots will be clearer and sharper, plus it will minimize the effect that water has on the color temperature of your photographs. · Wait for shots to happen: It is very easy to lose patience and settle down with mediocre shots. It is important to compose the image in your head and work to make the shot happen. If you are patient enough, even the most unpredictable and restless sea creatures (or your fashion models) will give you the shots that you came for. · Don’t block the sunlight: This is more applicable when you are set out to shoot underwater flora and fauna. While this is a rule meant to be broken based on your judgement, it is always advisable to shoot horizontally. You will be surprised to see how many great underwater shots get spoilt by a photographer trying to shoot vertically down and blocking the sunlight himself.

The last thing that I have realised is that there’s a lot of chaos involved in shooting underwater. As a fashion and commercial photographer, I have always believed in being in complete control of the situation at all times; I plan my shoots to the most minute details. Ever since I started shooting underwater, I have developed a better sense of working in a controlled yet chaotic setup.

I still plan my shoots and try to envision the output, make sketches, gather reference images and I make sure that everyone on the team knows exactly what I am after. However, I am now more open to trying out shots that just happen by themselves. Appreciate the fact that you are not in complete control of your surroundings and you will end up doing better. So just get an underwater housing and dive in!

About Vivek Kunwar Vivek Kunwar fashion and commercial photographer based out of New Delhi, India. He has also creates documentaries, motion-pictures and animated films. His key clients include Lotto, Nestle, Glaxo Smithkline, Nissan and Marico to name a few. He has created images and motion pictures in over a dozen countries across the globe. He is also the founder of “Indian Digital Artists” (www.indiandigitalartists. com), a platform for digital artists to share their incredible work and inspire fellow artists. © All images courtesy of Vivek Kunwar www.VivekKunwar.com www.IndianDigitalArtists.com

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