It has been a while since I have posted a piece in my blog, not from having nothing to write about, but for finding the time and the headspace to do it in a way which is fitting for my readers.
Ove the last while I have spent at least one day a weekend underwater, washing away the cares of the world. I have spent countless moments trying to find the right direction for the next major film exploit, and at the same time have watched on, inspired by some very eye opening efforts. I am coming to realise more that my journey from taking just photographs of the marine life I see, to capturing them as a moving image is not only critical to my audience gaining a better understanding, but it is also a very difficult exercise. A photograph, a great photograph can tell a story of many words, however a great video can speak so many more. Like a photograph it still needs to be special, to be something that few may have seen or which is charged with emotion and awaits that collective wow as it wraps the audience up in its cinematic embrace. I enjoy every moment underwater, whether it be the chill of winter where 8 degree Celsius water fills my wetsuit and gives me brain freeze as my body fights to warm the parts of me critical to my own survival, or the depths of summer where the heat has your body fighting off dehydration as it produces enough sweat to cool you down before you are able to immerse yourself in the cool water. Regardless of those conditions, I can only reassure you that the marvel of life I see is wonderful to say the least and for certain worth every bit of time spent.So, as I strive to find those short moments that will tug at your heart and mind, as they have already done so of mine, I shall continue to glide almost effortlessly, hovering as if in space, almost a different being to what I was moments before as the wind brushed gently on my face. Your world and my world are different, but the same. Each one important to the survival of the other. Each one containing life which can maintain it, but only one with life which can lead to the destruction of both. Nature is a fickle thing. It has its own way of ensuring species survive or perish, but it is not greedy. It ensures that only the strongest individuals of a species survives so that the harshest conditions are met, but it is not selfish. Nature knows that for life to survive there must be a balance, there must be a coming together of all living things in what is sometimes an uneasy acceptance of life and death intertwined delicately.
For now, the images I share represent my experiences in short bursts, with moments that will take your breath away, and those which allow you to sit and admire the grace and beauty of a place, an environment into which you may never venture. The Ocean, that world I visit and respect immensely is shared with me by all the creatures that live there. It is not my ocean or your ocean, it is simply ‘The Ocean’, and it is the blood which courses through the veins of this big blue world we call ‘Earth’. I ask that you respect it, admire it and guard it and its inhabitants with all the power we as humanity can muster, because when it is gone, when it is dead, then so our world and all living things will pass.
For now I leave you with a short piece taken recently which shows the life that inhabits this place, and as you stare into the enquiring eyes of the tiniest seahorse, not much longer than a joint on your finger, just wonder. I think it asks, “who are you, who am I, who are we and where does life take us as our paths cross?”
PS – I was fortunate to see the same two seahorses from this video the next day as well, and a part of me, the child in me saw a smile as the small one whispered, “hello again my friend.”
Tagged: amazing, animals, Blairgowrie, change, death, destruction, earth, education, fish, future, humans, life, mark jones, nudibranch, ocean, octopus, one world, photography, Pier, respect, scuba, scuba diving, seahorse, Solution, thoughts, victoria, video, Water, world
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