Have you ever dived the Pacific coast of the Americas?
As in Baja, Cocos, Malpelo, Galapagos, even the Marquesas?
If so, you may agree that diving there has a very special "feel" to its own.
The water is often black, the landscape is monumental but barren, there are ferocious currents and totally weird, and equally frigid multiple thermoclines, the weather is often challenging, the visibility often dismal. One would be tempted to argue that it's the very last place one would ever want to get back to, and yet I find myself going back time after time again.
But despite squillions of dives and despite the fact that I've been an underwater photographer for decades before switching over to video, I've never quite been able to capture the eerie essence of those places. Yes, I have great silhouettes of schooling hammerheads and closeups of cleaning stations - but the reality is that most schooling hammerheads I've seen were not silhouetted, they were wandering along somewhere below in an spooky procession of tan bodies against a misty background, all much too difficult to be adequately captured I thought.
So far, that is - until I discovered this absolutely fabulous website.
Record free diver Frederic Buyle takes his images on a single breath of surface air, on available light and down to a depth of up to a whopping 55 meters.
Take for instance this picture of the Smalltooth Raggie from Malpelo: if you're very very lucky, you may see them at 200ft on the Bajo del Monstruo, a huge challenge for any diver - and yet Fred did obviously succeed in doing so whilst free diving!
Whow!
I'm quite frankly blown away.
I've taken the liberty of copy/pasting a few of my favorite images which you can click in order to see them in better magnification. Hopefully, they will result in some incremental business for Frederic.
Enjoy!
As in Baja, Cocos, Malpelo, Galapagos, even the Marquesas?
If so, you may agree that diving there has a very special "feel" to its own.The water is often black, the landscape is monumental but barren, there are ferocious currents and totally weird, and equally frigid multiple thermoclines, the weather is often challenging, the visibility often dismal. One would be tempted to argue that it's the very last place one would ever want to get back to, and yet I find myself going back time after time again.
Not only because of its absolutely fabulous wildlife comprising some of the most iconic animals like Sharks, big Rays, Sea Turtles and Billfish - but very much also because of the unique challenges it poses.
But despite squillions of dives and despite the fact that I've been an underwater photographer for decades before switching over to video, I've never quite been able to capture the eerie essence of those places. Yes, I have great silhouettes of schooling hammerheads and closeups of cleaning stations - but the reality is that most schooling hammerheads I've seen were not silhouetted, they were wandering along somewhere below in an spooky procession of tan bodies against a misty background, all much too difficult to be adequately captured I thought.So far, that is - until I discovered this absolutely fabulous website.
Record free diver Frederic Buyle takes his images on a single breath of surface air, on available light and down to a depth of up to a whopping 55 meters.
Take for instance this picture of the Smalltooth Raggie from Malpelo: if you're very very lucky, you may see them at 200ft on the Bajo del Monstruo, a huge challenge for any diver - and yet Fred did obviously succeed in doing so whilst free diving!Whow!
I'm quite frankly blown away.
I've taken the liberty of copy/pasting a few of my favorite images which you can click in order to see them in better magnification. Hopefully, they will result in some incremental business for Frederic.
Enjoy!
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