Au Fil de l’Océan Pacifique !

Qui n’a jamais ressenti une appréhension à se jeter à l’eau, de peur de ne pas savoir quelle créature se planque en dessous de la surface.

Cette très jolie série de photos du photographe Matty Smith – intitulée « Over/Under » – nous fait découvrir un point de vue original, révélant sur une même image, le dessus et le dessous de ce qui se cache habituellement dans les miroitements de la surface. Et contrairement à ce qu’on peut observer dans un aquarium, il s’agit là de prises de vue en milieu naturel et sauvage.

Depuis tout petit, Matty Smith est fasciné par la transition entre le monde terrestre et le monde marin ; et l’une des parties les plus excitantes de toute plongée est cet instant où l’eau engloutit son masque et où la tête passe sous la surface de l’eau.

Ces clichés donnent une image merveilleuse du monde marin et de son lien avec les mondes du dessus que sont l’Air, le Ciel et la Terre.

Matty Smith est né au Royaume-uni, mais vit en Australie, l’océan Pacifique est devenu son terrain de jeu favori…

I love to experiment with split level water landscapes, you never really know what you’re going get as seabeds change with tides and aquatic plants and animals come and go. The dynamics of the changing water line across my lens port produces beautiful and unpredictable curves too, which is also an added element of mystery.

I love to experiment with split level water landscapes, you never really know what you’re going get as seabeds change with tides and aquatic plants and animals come and go. The dynamics of the changing water line across my lens port produces beautiful and unpredictable curves too, which is also an added element of mystery. The gentle lapping of the waves on this day had created these underwater desert like dunes. I had to tread carefully to not disturb them and gently kneel to wait for the sunrise. I meter and expose for the above water part of the image and use underwater strobes to illuminate and highlight patterns in the seabed This is a split level over/underwater landscape taken at Hyams Beach Jervis Bay, NSW at sunrise.

It’s taken me several early mornings to develope this lighting technique. Using high powered underwater strobes place beneath the blue bottles I hit them with a burst of light, the crystal clear deep water reflects no light but the bluebottles pop with that amazing electric cyan blue colour! And framed againt the the silhouette backdrop of the bay and the orange glow from the sun I think they look quite amazing wouldn’t you agree? Well done mother nature you did it again!

I had been shooting over/underwater images of these waratah anemones at Port Kembla, NSW for several weeks but couldn’t quite coincide the required low tide with a complimentary sunrise. However, on this particular day there were a lot of silver gulls around and the hazy morning mist created a beautiful sun halo. I quickly fired a few frames before the light changed and as I did I really lucked in as one of the gulls flew right through the suns orb! ….. The decisive moment had arrived! I shot the image with my camera housed in a waterproof case and an 8″ acrylic lens dome. The anemones were lit with underwater strobe guns. What I really love about over/under photographs is that it gives the underwater element a sense of place. For the viewer it marries the underwater environment with our own familiar world. It links the unknown with the known.