Artists Inspired by the Underwater Realm
The Underwater World is such fascinating environment. It can be inspiring, relaxing, fascinating and adrenalin pumping -all in one dive. I was always amazed by it's mysterious beauty and it's own "citizens.”
When people ask me to describe the feeling of breathing in this alien environment, I often just send them pictures. Since I am a visual person, I imagine others who have never been scuba diving can understand better by looking at the images.
I am working on compiling a list of artists capturing the underwater world whom I find super talented.
By no means this is a complete list, but some of the photographers, painters who had an impact on me.
Any suggestions on who else should we not miss? Send Us an email!
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Amos Nachoum
Amos Nachoum is a photographer and explorer. He has shot just about everything there is to shoot, but what he loves most is wildlife photography. Especially if it’s in the water. And he has become world-famous at it.
So much so, in fact, that he has been asked to lead National Geographic expedition teams with Dr. Eugenie Clark, Dr. Sylvia Earle, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. He has co-produced documentaries with Stan Waterman, and he was the team leader for National Geographic’s Red Sea, Great White Shark, and Killer Whale photo expeditions. |
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Andreas Franke
Austrian photographer and deep sea diving enthusiast Andreas Franke has released a new series titled Stavronikita Project: The Life Above Refined Below being exhibited deep at the bottom of the Caribbean right off the coast of Barbados.
Franke's latest project explores the decadent lifestyle of the wealthy during the Rococo era as it is juxtaposed with the decaying freight ship and swarming marine life as its backdrop. The Viennese artist uses images of his models imitating the period of opulent abundance as a contrasting visual to his deep sea captures of the SS Stavronikita, creating an intriguing image rich with interpretation. |
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She is an underwater photographer based in The Bahamas.
"For her latest shoot, themed on Alice in Wonderland, the artist selected a young female model, dressed up for the part, and equipped with props especially reminiscent of the book and the myriad stories spawned thereafter. Kalis specializes in underwater photography, and the Alice shoot, which was undertaken in what might be the world’s best location—the Bahamas—possibly benefitted from the world’s most skilled photographer in the field at the moment," was featured at http://smashingpicture.com |
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Los Angeles based photographer, Mallory Morrison, has been honing her skills in underwater photography for the past few years and continues to experiment with new processes and concepts. Originally a dance photographer, Mallory blended her photography skills with her twenty-four years of dance experience, bringing about a perfect marriage of her two passions.
Her use of dancers in an underwater environment allows Mallory to challenge the boundaries of people photography - utilizing weightlessness to tell stories, which explore the depths of movement and composition. |
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Alexander is a professional software architect living and working in Tokyo for many years. He is originally from Voronezh, Russia.
His biggest hobby is underwater photography. In last few years he traveled extensively and have photographed marine wildlife in many exotic diving spots around the world. His images won several prestigious international contests, and appeared in many publications worldwide including BBC Wildlife Magazine and National Geographic.
"Every year on the way to Port St. Johns I stop in Umkomaas to dive with oceanic blacktip sharks at the famous Aliwal Shoal. Baited dive allows me to tune up equipment and to adapt to local conditions - and to take some nice images, which I'm never tired of !" |
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Seth Casteel is an award-winning photographer and New York Times Best Selling Author. His series of Underwater Dogs photographs have been seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world and have become one of the most famous series of images in the past decade.
In 2007, Seth began volunteering to photograph homeless pets to help them find loving families. These improved, positive photos showcased unique personalities, resulting in countless adoptions.
He has traveled the world in pursuit of his passion, working with animals on five continents. |
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Annie AKA "OCEAN ANNIE" has become one of America’s leading ocean-environ educators. Founder of www.DiveIntoYourImagination.com, her company changes the way a new generation views the ocean. As an underwater cinematographer and educator, Annie has created a series of award winning books, DVDs, motivational art series and has become a Les Brown Platinum Speaker. Visit the store now to give the gift of the Ocean to a special person in your life! Originally from Chicago, Annie has spent the past two decades living and working around the world. Traveling from Indonesia to Galapagos, Belize to Papua New Guinea, Annie has explored and documented life on our planet! Inspired by the words of her Grandmother when she was 10 years old, "You have to travel when you are young kid because when you get to be my age, you can't climb the mountains!" |
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Daniel Botelho is an award winning photojournalist that specializes in underwater photography. His work can be seen in more than a hundred advertising campaigns. Daniel’ s connection with nature dates back to his childhood, as he grew up in between the sea and the rainforest, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Nowadays Daniel contributes to several publications, in more than twenty countries. Concerned with the devastation of the earth’s oceans, Daniel has become a warrior for whales and sharks which are being massacred through unsustainable practices which if left unstopped will lead to the extinction of these animals.
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Parisian Victor Douieb has been passionate about sharks since his first deep sea dive when he was 18 years old.
Captivated by their power, grace and beauty, Victor began sculpting sharks as a means of expressing his appreciation of this perfectly evolved creature's pure simplicity, but also to help bring attention to the impact that overfishing and the needless slaughter by the shark fin industry is posing to shark populations worldwide.
"Before sculpting my first shark," Victor explains, "I had been a dental ceramist and technician giving me the knowledge and experience which later made sculpting very natural for me. One day while at work, I suddenly got the urge to sculpt a little shark out of silver, not realizing that 20 years later, sculpting would become my profession." |
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Pascal is The Painter of Blue ® Pascal LECOCQ loves telling stories.
The characters evolve in their natural but surrealistic environment in which the spectators dive: this achieves the magic. Be it a diver “bullfighting” a great white shark, a group of divers playing leapfrog, or basketball or even ballroom dancing we are amused but in the same time, we never doubt the dignity of the character portrayed.
Pascal Lecocq, Ph.D, is the painter of the diving world renownest picture: |
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Shawn is a passionate cinematographer, scuba diver, and marine conservationist. An independent filmmaker and founder of Blue Sphere Media, a production company specializing in underwater, adventure and conservation films, he has acquired considerable first-hand knowledge of the oceans most important marine areas.
As an investigative conservation journalist, Shawn has gone undercover to expose stories in some of the most remote or challenging locations and his work has provided a rare view of the people and some of the more disturbing elements of the endangered species trade. His investigative footage and images have been used as centerpieces for documentaries and campaigns reaching hundreds of millions of people.
In his drive to spread the word, Shawn has published numerous conservation articles and given presentations on marine conservation to audiences across the globe.
Key areas of Shawn’s conservation focus include ending the global slaughter of sharks, protecting manta and mobula rays, and establishing marine protected areas. |
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Guy Harvey
Guy Harvey combines his unique artistic talents with his background as a marine biologist, diver, photographer and angler, to create marine wildlife art with an unmatched authenticity and visual appeal.
Self-taught, Guy’s artistic roots can be traced back to his childhood on the Caribbean isle of Jamaica, where he spent many hours fishing and diving with his father along the island’s south coast. Guy’s obsession with the creatures of the sea inspired early drawings of the many different fish he observed.
While attending a boarding school in England at an early age, Guy became entranced by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” — and began developing a series of sketches that years later would prove instrumental in helping launch his career as an artist.
Guy is known best for his dynamic gamefish T-shirt designs. His original paintings have sold for tens of thousands of dollars, and today, reproductions of his art — often seen on magazine and catalog covers — are offered as limited edition prints, and can be found on a wide variety of clothing and gift items. Guy maintains his art studio in Grand Cayman, where he lives with wife Gillian and their two children, Jessica and Alex. |
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"I Paint Bonaire". This is the theme of Janice Huckaby's art and the destiny of her life. Janice Huckaby has painted more than 700 paintings of this small island called Bonaire and finds that she still has many more to do.
"I hope that I can capture and share the beauty of this Caribbean island in a way to help preserve the nature and history of Bonaire that is such an abundantly nature rich place."
Take a look at the small sample of paintings local artist Janice Huckaby has on this website and enjoy a bit of Bonaire through her art. Here you will find some of the most recent original paintings and some of the most popular prints that are available for sale.
While you are in Bonaire, stop by the Jan Art Gallery at Kaya Grandi 14 to see even more of her Caribbean art. She has many Bonaire scenes using mediums including oil, acrylic, and watercolors, also clay sculptures of mermaids and underwater scenes. |
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Stephen Frink is among the world’s most frequently published UW photographers, and is a Canon EXPLORER OF LIGHT, the only marine specialist within this very elite group of photographers.
He is also the publisher of a beautiful new quarterly magazine for the Divers Alert Network, ALERT DIVER. Previously, his editorial work appeared in SCUBA DIVING as Director of Photography, and as a contributing photographer for SKIN DIVER magazine for 17-years.
Frink has authored a coffee table book entitled WONDERS OF THE REEF, and teaches Masters level courses of Stephen Frink School of Underwater Digital Imaging in his home waters of Key Largo, Florida.
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Carlos Hiller was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, 1972. From an early age he demonstrated a special interest in studying painting, music and biology. His hometown, 300 miles distant from the sea, is located in an area of plains rivers and a complex system of islands, which was Carlos´ playground.
But in his restlessness he left his studies and in an act of reaction and searching, he turned towards extreme adventure and the arts. |
List Compiled by Szilvia Gogh, California.