German director Florian Fischer, 40, discovered diving at the age of 18, while on a trip in Egypt. Today, he describes diving as his favorite creative playground. « For me, diving is linked to creativity. I like diving but I’m not the typical diver who enjoys just to be there. I need my camera because I always have some visual ideas. » Florian evolved from being a graphic design working in the advertising world to a documentary filmmaker documenting the civil war in Burma to an independent filmmaker. Guided by his creative instincts, Florian co-founded Behind the Mask six years ago in order to shine a light on the beauty of nature and the ocean. « Dealing with conservation with a clear conservation message is important, but we figured out how we could raise awareness differently, » he explains. « Today, we document the beauty of the ocean to bring people want to save it. »

Behind the Mask’s films and stories are loaded with authenticity. Drawing from his experience as a creative mind in a narrow world that didn’t suit him, Florian believes that nothing beats telling true stories with guts. « It’s not about me, it’s not about a production company, it’s more about a community. At the end of the day, we portray authentic feelings. And there is no other way to do it than actually feel these emotions. » Similar to French freediver Guillaume Néry and underwater & wildlife photographer Greg Lecoeur, Florian is surrounded by a global network of creative nature enthusiasts. This community being the masterpiece of his work.

Avoiding compromises, looking for beauty, the collective constantly dives deep in the seven seas. From Azores to California, from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia, across the fjords of Norway or on a recent trip to Antarctica in -1°C water, Behind the Mask managed to combine what all creatives dream of: the perfect balance between a certain kind of creative freedom, a bunch of transparency, lots of passion and a needed touch of insanity.

Tell us more about you and your background..

I’ve always been working as a freelancer in the creative industry, mostly doing websites and graphic design. I studied filmmaking and worked a lot in the advertising industry. At the same time, I was also working for a big advertising agency in the south of Germany as a documentary filmmaker. I worked a lot in Russia (Siberia) and in Central African Republic. Then I spent most of my time working on the issue of the civil war in Burma (Myanmar). I’ve always seen myself more as a documentary filmmaker rather than a scenic filmmaker where you need a lot of people and need to wait a lot of time until something happens. While documenting the horrible genocide in Burma, I realized how difficult it was to raise awareness on something because it’s hard to find the right way to address people, especially when it comes to human rights or conservation. Everyday, people feel already guilty about a lot of things. So it’s difficult to make a difference. After my studies, I worked as a creative director for a company for a year. And I hated it. Then, I had a company with 18 employees for 4 years. It was an online agency where we developed websites. I was in charge of the design and creative part. After that, I did a lot of filmmaking for advertising companies and fashion brands. And I also hated that. The fashion industry is a very bad place for creative people. I decided to use my passion and do it for my own fun.

That’s when you decided to created Behind The Mask?

Yes, it was 6 years ago. I started Behind the Mask with two friends. Nothing serious at the time. We all had our job but thought maybe we could make a few films about diving, and maybe we could go on diving trips for free! That was the whole idea at first. We were 3 guys at the time, a photographer, the other one was a diver, and me as the filmmaker. We first worked with travel agencies and brands. I live in Germany and I know there’s a lot of people living close to the sea and have way more opportunities than we have. So at the beginning I thought it was not something very promising, just something to do on the side. But eventually, 3 years ago, I quitted my job and sold my shares in the company. I didn’t like working as a CEO for the company and preferred to be fair to my partners. So here I am today, working full time for Behind The Mask.

How did you get introduced to the sea, the ocean or the global water element?

Diving is very much connected with the filmmaking. I’ve not been diving without a camera for many years. I like diving but I’m not the typical diver who enjoys just to be there. I need my camera because I always have some visual ideas and I hate when I feel like I miss something I can’t capture. When I don’t have my camera, most of the time I don’t go in the water. For me, diving is linked to creativity. I started diving at the age of 18, more than 20 years ago, on a trip to Egypt with my girlfriend. We had a camera with plastic bags around, this kind of homemade housing. We had to fix it several times because there was water coming in. Slowly, it became a thing! Today, if you look at the diving community, I don’t relate much to it. I have a very specific opinion regarding the diving industry especially in Germany. When I started diving, I thought it was fun. It meant adventure, excitement, being close nature, it was about discovering new things and, at the same time, diving is something you can share with other people. My vision of diving never included any notion of competition. I’ve always enjoyed diving as a creative playground. I see it as a feeling, as a chemistry. Diving is an easy place to collect all the emotions and feelings, it’s also an abundance of stories, people, species, animal and locations. There’s a million things. Diving is the coolest thing on earth. The diving industry in Germany is far behind this vision. So I thought there was a great opportunity to combine all the things unique about diving.

3 years ago when you sold your shares to the company, what was your precise vision of Behind The Mask?

I have been quite lucky since the very beginning. I could have made decisions not based on business only. I don’t have a lot of money on the bank but thanks to my work, I achieved some creative freedom. I can be both creative on one side and be paid on the other. I don’t have to make compromises. Every creative person dreams about doing what they like to do, grow their creativity, and be valued and respected for it. For me, it was clear. I wanted to invest in something bigger. It’s not about me, it’s not about a production company, it’s more about a community. Most of our collective decisions are taken with a strong eye on community, on bringing people together. For example, for most of the projects, we spend 80% of the global budget on the logistics and on paying people. Most of the time, we bring more people than we need on set and during trips, just because we want to have a good time together, and we want to achieve this together. At the end of the day, we portray authentic emotions and feelings. And there is no other way to do it than actually feel these emotions. So it’s been a journey to find people I enjoy working with, who are also flexible and who want to serve that community. We like to make tutorials in order to share experience and knowledge. In the first place, the idea of Behind the Mask was to be very transparent with everything. I always hated it when I saw a picture about a place where somebody obviously tried to make it even more than it actually is, by not telling where it is, or not telling when it is. So I thought it would be pretty cool to give these infos to the viewer. Transparency means we always disclose everything. What we do, how we do and what equipment we use… We show and share everything as we’re not trying to make ourselves super cool or super special. All of that is only possible because of this sense of community. We have enough clients and projects to allow us to do that today.

Tell us more about this community gathered around Behind the mask…

There’s a lot of people who are considered to be a member. There are 4 to 5 core members involved with mostly everything. Hamdan Chowdhuri is from Bengladesh, Canada and Singapore and he is our Good Vibration Manager. He also shoots a little bit underwater. He’s an amazing person, everybody loves him. Timo Dersch is the project manager, doing the office stuff, planning things, posting things and writing comments. He’s from Germany and comes from the diving industry. He’s been an editor for a magazine and also shoots photos. We also have Maika Grützediek , she worked as the editor-in-chief of a magazine and resigned a couple of years ago. She’s more experienced in life than the rest of us. She communicates with potential partners and sponsors, and knows all the advertising clients. She has a very good standing in the watch industry for example. Dada Li comes from China, she is a freediver and Padi ambassador. She’s also a very successful blogger in China, she helps us in the Chinese market and is also part of our production works. She is definitely a smart brain. We have Marta from Spain, the newest member of our team. Marta won a competition on Facebook to join us on the project. She is now part of the team. Vanessa comes from Germany and is doing all the tutorial videos about underwater images, she does motion graphic. Peter is also a new member and works as a filmmaker. These are people I communicate regularly the most. Everybody is doing his or her own stuff so that it’s a loose network, but when you look at how much we spent time together last year, it’s maybe more than with our own family. Mario Medarevic is in charge of Dive World Canada, he’s been on a project in the Bahamas with us recently. Whenever we have technical issues, we can relate to him. Then, there are a lot of freelance friends, ready to go on a trip whenever it’s possible but they’re not involved in decision making. Greg Lecoeur is one of the photographers we regularly work with. We’ve been to Antarctica in February and March along with Guillaume Néry…

Tell us more about this recent trip to Antarctica with french photographer Greg Lecoeur and freediving champion Guillaume Néry…

It was a project of 3 different personalities. Guillaume Néry is a freediver and more of a creative mind. He’s also a writer and a multitool creative. Greg Lecoeur is an outstanding National Geographic photographer, and I’m a filmmaker. We thought that doing a project together, we could, from different angles, raise interest of the same place. It was also an experiment to do something together and see how we relate to this special place of Antarctica. None of us has ever been there. Guillaume is wiring about it, I’m doing a film about it and Greg made pictures. We’re thinking of doing an exhibition, a book and a multi series-documentary. The trip was more challenging than expected because of the weather and because we didn’t have enough time. So we’re thinking of going back there and doing it again. It was an interesting experience because it worked well with the 3 of us. We became even closer friends. Now, we’re currently releasing a few videos about this trip.

There was an ecological aspect as well, wasn’t it?

We partnered with Parley and took water samples to see whether scientists can find micro plastics in Antarctica, which is an inhabited continent. It would be interesting to see the human influence on such a continent regarding plastic pollution, but we don’t have any result yet. We took 75 different water samples on different locations that scientists will have a closer look on. The samples are still in Ushuaia, Argentina, as we need to figure out how to send the samples to the US-based scientists. Antarctica is an interesting place with a challenging environment. Swimming in -1°C water in a wetsuit was a thing! We learned a lot about ourselves.

Most of Behind the Mask’s projects seem very challenging indeed. What was the idea behind your « Life is an Ocean » project made in collaboration with Boot?

Behind the Mask is the official ambassador of the Boot show, so we work together with the show as an umbrella company to support what we do. We promote the show because we think they’re doing great. Boot is one of our partners. Life is an Ocean is basically a summary of our four last years. It shows the viewer how we feel about what we do. Life is an Ocean relates to all the emotions that you have, you can mirror those emotions in the ocean. It’s a bit of a philosophical narration. We want to inspire people and get them interested in this world they might not know much about. At the same time, we also want to inspire people who are already divers or content creators. At the end of every year, we create a video that sums up our year’s projects and this video campaign is a common platform your can relate to.

In one of these summary videos, you said « We believe that more people should feel the ocean magic so that we can save it. » Is Behind The Mask a way for your to raise awareness of the ocean?

Well, we’re not there yet as we didn’t find the tool we can use to really promote conservation ever more aggressively. For now, the goal is not to point at negative things. We try not to push people to change their life while providing content that people can make this conclusion by themselves. In the beginning, I thought the idea was a bit weak, NGOs would do differently, but I don’t feel confortable doing that. We’re not scientists and we don’t want to end up in the same box as everybody else. Dealing with conservation with a clear conservation message is important, but we figured out how we could raise awareness differently. Today, we document the beauty of the ocean to bring people want to save it. Everybody relates to the beauty of the ocean and we need to protect it. It gives us more satisfaction and confidence and it acts better than we thought.

What do you like the most in your job today?

I have the freedom and capability of bringing together people, and involving different kinds of people. I like to collaborate with creative minds and like to support and assist people in what they want to do. I also try to include this under Behind The Mask. The biggest challenge is to deal with teams and people, and to give people enough room to grow and do their own things. How I envision Behind The mask in the future? I see it as a lot of different things. We’d like to release masterclass tutorials for underwater imaging for free, so people can learn how to technically do it. We’d like to create a community, giving them the possibility to be part of something. Now that we have a lot of dedicated people united under the same philosophy, I personally need to give some things away. The freedom of creating projects not based on how much money it makes is probably what I enjoy most, as well as the trust from collaborators and clients. For example, we never make storyboards. The way we work is very creative and free. We always keep for ourselves the option to change things. When we go somewhere and realize the conditions are bad, we change our plans. We have a deal with our clients: They don’t have to pay anything if they dont like it, and won’t be able to use it. 

Do you have funny stories to tell about projects that didn’t work out well?

We had a few funny catastrophes where things didn’t work out! We had a project for Mercedes, a story about a small girl and sharks in Scotland. We drove there with two cars, it took us 2 days. We had 12 people around. Greg Lecoeur was there, there was all the logistics planned for 2 weeks of shooting on an island. But the weather was so bad that we couldn’t do anything so we needed to rearrange and move everything to the other side of the UK. We reshot the video about the girl with great seals, which, in the end, the client loved very much. But it’s the perfect example of what challenge means! In the end of the day, this is what make the best memories. I enjoy to collaborate with interesting people like Fred Buyle, amazing freediver and underwater photographer. We stayed in his house in Azores for two weeks and became friends. Stuff like that is the coolest. I love to plan new projects and involve creative people.

What are the new projects coming up for Behind the Mask and its team of creatives?

There’re so many different things going on. Next week, we’re going to Italy, we do an interesting collaboration with a glass artist who is shaping glass, statues and objects out of glass and water. Then, we stay a week in Egypt with our community, a group of 24 people, diving all together. We fly to Philippines a week later for a Chinese customer. After that, we stay in Indonesia for 3 weeks. Then we’re heading to cover the Sardines Run, making a film about this great adventure. Then back to Indonesia, Komodo National Park, as part of our community trip. Then, we work with the Tourism Agency of Papua New Guinea. We have a 7 weeks project there. Then, heading to French Polynesia with Guillaume Néry, one in October then in December. We might be in Norway for the orcas. Then, it will be Christmas and we have to prepare the Boat Show. This year, we gonna have a live studio over 9 days, interview people from the image community and broadcast it live on the internet. Then, April 2020, we have a nice project with a group of handicapped divers in the Bahamas. Our schedule is pretty much busy until June 2020!

Learn more about Behind the Mask on their website.

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Marine biologist, conservationist, freediver and entrepreneur Ocean Ramsey.

What it’s like to lock eyes with a great white as it slowly and directly approaches me is a feeling I’ve been fortunate to experience many times before but how’s the rough toothed dolphin escort too. I can’t say enough about the importance of sharks for healthy marine ecosystems, for the ocean, we need sharks and yet, perhaps because of the negative and inaccurate way they are portrayed in mass media many people do not care that they are being killed at a rate of 70,000,000-100,000,000 every year. What’s worse, they are killed mostly just for shark fin soup or for shark fishing as shark sport fishing. I would encourage you to see the cruelty and waste and compare it to this reality of peaceful and respectful coexistence. I do not encourage people to do this. I’ve been working with sharks for over 15 years, over 30 species including white sharks all around the world. They are apex predators not monsters nor puppies, but this was the gentlest grandma great white shark I’ve ever met. Deepest gratitude for my team and the incredible shot I will cherish forever 

We really need to all be working together. Put the egos aside and let’s work together to help save sharks for the next generation if not for ourselves.

Professional conservation photographer and shark photographer Juan Oliphant.

The first great white shark I ever swam with was in 2005 off my home Haleiwa with a similarly large great white shark who also rocked the boat I was on at the time working with sharks. I guess I am lucky that history repeats and not much has changed. What has changed though is shark populations are severely declining but for the first time ever I’ve seen this huge shift in perception in the last 5 years mostly due to imagery and the work that Ocean Ramsey and the team at One ocean diving and @oneoceandivingprogram and conservation and research division does.

In this shot, Ocean Ramsey is in the right place at the right time. The reality is that this moment took years or even decades to play out this way and I’m going to say it is due karma for Ocean. I spent the last decade trying to keep up her. Ocean is always working late into the night and getting up super early for work, writing papers for permits, shark research, conservation, leading dives, training safety divers, creating non profits, writing to senators and CEOs, doing educational out reach, organizing reef and beach clean ups, creating shark conservation designs and a clothing line all for shark conservation.

Ocean has dedicated her life to sharks and that is the biggest part of why I love her so much. She doesn’t do it for ego or fame, purely for love and hope that people can see that. She actually is a shy person that would rather keep to herself but the only reason she speaks up and gets in front of a camera is for them, the sharks. She learned early on after finishing her marine bio degree that there will be nothing left to study if we don’t speak up for these animals.

I hope my conservation images like this help people to question their perceptions and realize the beauty, and importance of sharks. I also hope that they inspire the kind of compassion and connection we need to have with nature and sharks, to help protect them and coexist along side them. You don’t have to love them but they do need to exist, they are absolutely critical for the health of marine ecosystems which all life relies on. Everyone has a part to play in shark and ocean conservation.

Education is the key. The only sad thing in all of this is to see other conservationist and scientists waste their valuable time attacking other scientists and conservationist. We really need to all be working together. Put the egos aside and let’s work together to help save sharks for the next generation if not for ourselves. Focus on the sharks and save them is what Ocean is about and I wish more people were like her. This amazing photo is not mine. The photo has been taken by @camgrantphotography, also in in the right place at the right time.

Photo: Cam Grant.

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»Swimming with these gentle giants« by photographer Travis Burke.

I held my breath and dove down toward the darkness. Deep below me I could see whale sharks emerging as they made their way near the surface feeding on plankton. As I turned around, I saw this scene with beautiful rays of light casting down through the water from the early morning sun. Peering through the lens, I snapped a couple photos before starting my ascent back to the surface. 

Dive Master and Marine Biologist Brinkley Davies shared her knowledge and passion for these sharks with me during our 15 hours day on the boat. These whale sharks lack natural predators, but in recent years they have been listed as an endangered species due to shark finning, and other anthropogenic pressures such as fishing operations and plastic pollution.

There is so much we still don’t know about these majestic creatures and it would be a shame to lose them forever. Little things like limiting our use of single use plastics, supporting sustainable tourism and saying no to shark fin soup will go a long way in protecting these and so many other animals that have been around for millions of years!

In a place where many people would easily resort to accepting more money to catch, kill and sell these animals fins, these fisherman have chosen to live in harmony with these animals.

 

»In the middle of the ocean far from anywhere« with Marine biologist, freediver and surfer Brinkley Davies

I have worked with whale sharks for the past few years at home in Australia, in both tourism, and research/conservation, on the Ningaloo Reef, a place that leads the way in whale shark tourism. Teaching people about their importance in our ecosystems and their struggle against extinction due to anthropogenic pressures such as overfishing, being targeted for their fins, and falling victim to plastic pollution. Before this trip I hadn’t seen a whale shark anywhere else, and have been intrigued to see how things were run elsewhere.

After steaming for 4 hours, we arrived at a small boat with winged platforms in the middle of the ocean far from anywhere. With very fine nets dropped into the water periodically around the full moon, a fisherman would live out here for a month, in a tiny wooden hut on the boat the size of a normal household toilet, and fish for the month. 

The whale sharks were attracted to the organic matter that was ground up and falling off the platform into the water, they swam around under this set up, filter feeding on whatever was around, and then diving. 

The Indonesians told me about how they call them the “ Star Sharks«. In a place where many people would easily resort to accepting more money to catch, kill and sell these animals fins, these fisherman have chosen to live in harmony with these animals, and let the odd few tourists who come by every once in a while, jump in and swim with them. 

There was around 7 whale sharks when we first jumped in, and we spent about 2 hours in the water with them. I was thrilled to see not one piece of plastic floating by during this time.

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As a true pioneer in his country, Sumer Verma tends to raise awareness of the ocean by showing the beauty of biodiversity. Considered the first underwater photographer and cinematographer in India, Sumer also works as the managing partner at Lacadives India, the country’s first dive centre.

After two decades spent under the surface of our oceans, the 42-years-old photographer dedicates his work to spreading a message to the world and the young generation about the state of our oceans. »Even after almost 20 years of diving and 10,000 dives into the ocean, I’m still totally blown away by the abundance of marine life,« he says before mentioning the dying reefs and the loss of fish diversity. »But the ocean has dramatically changed. The amount of problems is catastrophic now and causes coral damages. Overconsumption, cruelty to animals, shark finning, overfishing for consumption, plastic pollution, pollution based on dumping, global warming… Everything is damaging the ocean. We reached the critical point.«

Lately, Panthalassa had a great talk with India’s best-known underwater and marine life photographer Sumer Verma, evoking a few solutions to global warming as education and making marine life documentaries to sensibilize people to the beauty of the planet.

Hi Sumer, do you remember your very first scuba diving experience?

I was born in Mumbai and after college, back in 1997, I dived for the very first time near Lakshadweep Islands. Before that, I’ve only been swimming. I’ve never done any snorkeling or diving before. Then, on a vacation, I got my scuba diving certification. At age 21, that’s when it all started.

Would you say this transformative trip was the beginning of your passion for the ocean?

I used to live in the city so, until then, I wasn’t exposed to any pristine ocean. Mumbai is situated by the coast and we’ve always loved the ocean, we would even go to Goa on beach vacation, however I never really experienced the sea or nature in its pristine form. In 1997, it was the first time I looked into the sea though an eye mask. When I made the trip to Lakshadweep, I’ve been blown away by its white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, the turquoise lagoons and pines trees all around. I was not expecting that, I’d never seen something like that before, I was not aware that something like that even existed. At least in India! It was a complete positive chock to see how beautiful this area was. The water looked like glass, you could see 20-30m below when underwater. It was amazing to see how clear and clean the ocean could be.

That’s how you got naturally introduced to cinematography?

From that precise moment, the only thing I had in mind was « I need to live here, I need to do more diving and need to be surrounded by a place like this rather than spend time in the city. » So I took a lot of diving courses. After 50 or 60 dives, I decided to capture my passion through video. At the time, there was no information about underwater photography so it took me a long time to turn myself to photography. I first started video just to capture moving pictures of the ocean, sunsets, turtles and the light.

Photography came after then?

Yes, I slowly realized that being a cinematographer was very difficult, especially with the heavy material. You definitely need a lot of hard discs for example (laughs). And frankly, most of the time, the videos you create are dedicated to Instagram or internet only. So I was collecting a lot of footages but felt there was no way to really use them, or possibly think of a story. I felt it was a very restrictive use. Photography helped me to focus on my work. So, after a few years, I shifted to still cameras and housing. Ten years ago, there wasn’t any underwater photographer in India. Today, I’m glad to see the diving community in India growing a lot. I would say there’re currently 10 digital photographers and housing users in India. There are maybe 100 point-and-shoot camera users doing underwater photography. But at the time, there was nobody doing underwater photography.

Today, you’re considered the first underwater photographer and cinematographer in India. How does it feel?

To be honest, I’m very happy to be able to travel and jump from an assignment to another. Whether it be for music videos or feature films, all my videos are water-related. I have a catalogue of different commercial clients, going from Vogue to surfing publications. Being able to do all theses things is definitely a great feeling because it’s always been a dream to run an independent career.

What do you like the most in your job today?

Being able to work with passion is what I love the most! Although the last ten years have been pretty intense, when I’m underwater with my camera, I really don’t feel like working. It’s pure pleasure, passion and love. Turning the passion into profession and get paid to do what I love is a great feeling for sure!

In a recent interview, you said »What you see on the surface of the ocean is nothing like what’s underneath. It makes you realize just how vast and beautiful it is.« How would you describe the underwater world?

The underwater world is pure magic. Even after almost 20 years of diving and 10,000 dives into the ocean, I’m still totally blown away by the abundance of marine life. There’s so much life down there! The colors of all the fish, the movement of some larger fish like manta rays or sharks are pure magic. You can’t believe it’s real, it’s so beautiful.

You spend most of your time underwater all over the world. Over the years, did you notice a change due to climate change?

To be honest, in 10 years, the ocean has dramatically changed. The ocean is getting totally destroyed. In 1996-1997, there was an important coral bleaching, in 1998, El Nino had a huge impact on coral reef. IN 2010, there was another bleaching and another one in 2015. Global warming is the very first factor. Today, despite the apparent pristine clear water on the islands, 90% of the coral reef is bleached. That’s why the fish population is also going down. The amount of problems is catastrophic now and causes coral damages. Overconsumption, cruelty to animals, shark finning, overfishing for consumption, plastic pollution, pollution based on dumping, global warming… Everything is damaging the ocean. We reached the critical point.

That’s why you an active member of ReefWatch Marine Conservation, an NGO dedicated to protecting damaged coral reefs. Tell us more about your actions.

ReefWatch Marine Conservation is very engaged to educate the youngsters. We try to raise awareness here in India. We’re currently working on a project aimed at pushing consumers to use biodegradable packages. For example, we recently worked closely with restaurants to convince them to use bamboo straws. The movement is on, however you can’t help yourself feeling powerless sometimes because whatever you’re doing, despite your small efforts, the global issue remains huge.

 According to you, what would be the solutions?

We need to raise awareness about the ocean. We’re currently working on a project done through ReefWatch Marine Conservation, in which we encourage more and more sustainable practices in urban areas. Big cities gather millions of people, the problem is real there. We organize beach clean-ups and work on consumption habits with people. We need to make people feel part of it, close to it, and they need to be told what to do. It’s constantly about getting people involved. We work with schools because who can help the world except the next generation? Kids are very positive, open and concerned towards ocean awareness. We keep passing on a message of living in some kind of balance with nature. Individual become very conscious of consumption. We can’t blame other people or blame the government, we need to change our own actions. Recycling and garbage management are an everyday question we need to ask ourselves. We’re part of the problem. So it’s all about educating and inspiring people in a gentle positive way.

Today, you’re one of the most renowned marine life and wildlife photographer with more than 20 years of experience. What are you the most proud of so far?

I started a film project between 98 to 2003. I got a lot of footage in my library and decided to make a film out of it, a project about what’s happening in the area I was based. So we made a film called « Trouble waters » about global warming and its effects in an area so isolated yet so devastated. It reflects what’s going on elsewhere. I won a national award, the best cinematographer and best of the show. It is still a very beautiful moment because the film has been screened in a thousand schools across India, it’s been translated in many languages, and continues to be screened during festivals. Today, there’s not many similar films in India anymore, so still 10 years later, it gives me a lot pride. To me, more than photography, more than articles, films are the most powerful tool that we got to tell stories about the ocean, and show the stack degradation of the ocean.

You’re a managing partner at Lacadives India, the country first dive centre. You’re also currently opening a diving school in The Andaman Islands between India, to the west, and Myanmar. Tell us more about this coming amazing project!

Indeed, I’m proud to be a partner at Lacadives India, the centre where I first got introduced to diving 22 years ago. The season is going to start next week so I’ll spend some time with my instructors there. A number of our clients involve schools programmes who come for snorkeling and scuba dives, walks and talks with marine biologists. We also host a number of internships who come to do photography internships for example. We don’t deal with mass tourists but rather with niche clients as we’re situated in a very isolated spot. So we’re lucky to work with very like minded people. We trained more than 10,000 people so far. Scuba diving is set to become one of the mainstream adventure sports in India.

What are your next projects?

I have more film projects with Bollywood in November and December. The wildlife is very passion-based. For the moment, the opportunities are very small but through the NGO, we’re getting a lot of good feedbacks concerning the ocean. Keep going, keep going!

Follow Sumer Verma’s work on his instagram.

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Diving on reefs no one may have dived on before is incredible. In saying that, human impact can be seen in the most remote of places. Sometimes, it’s the most remote locations that are the most vulnerable!

Todd Thimios describes himself as an Australian underwater photographer with a few strange qualifications. Involved in expeditions with photography today, Todd teaches and guides diving and underwater photography for small private groups. He is also a certified submersible pilot and a fisherman, a couple of extra statuses that makes him stranger than we thought. 

Over the years, he’s been working along some of the world’s most renowned underwater cinematographers, taken under the wing by a few mentors. Today, Todd spends his year following the migrations of marine mammals to be at the right place at the right time. « I really love encounters with big marine life. Holding my ground watching, waiting and trying to get close with trust. The encounters are so powerful. I’m the happiest when in the water I find salt water fixes everything. » We spoke to him about great white sharks and whales, his vision about commercial fishing, freediving as a form of meditation, as well as the human impact on natural environments.

When have you been introduced to photography?  

I think it was my grandfather that gave me my first camera. It was an old SLR that was super confusing to use initially but forced me to learn the foundations of photography pretty quick. I always shot with film in my teenage years and actually studied darkroom processing for a year or so once out of school. I guess it was always about trying to capture memories back then. I’m still finding undeveloped film rolls of mine when I visit family back in Australia. Developing 35mm film rolls 20 years later can certainly bring back some nostalgia. 

Where does this passion for underwater photography come from? 

Before everything, I’ve always been an avid fisherman and diver. This was installed in me by my father and uncle who lived and breathed fishing all their life growing up on the Great Barrier Reef. Some of my earliest memories are learning to snorkel on the reef. I think underwater photography was always going to be a natural merge of hobbies. 

Then, you became dive instructor. What did your life look like at the time?

It looked good (laughs), real good! I lived on a small island between Australia and New Zealand for around 6 or 7 years. The population was small, only about 500 people on average but the island was, and still is, incredibly beautiful and I was spending hours and hours underwater everyday.

Never far from water, right? 

Yeah! I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled a lot over the years, and still get really excited by the idea of going to new locations. I think after a while marine life really started to orientate my traveling. Knowing a location was popular for a certain natural event. Maybe migrations of marine mammals frequent an exact location each year or certain species of sharks arrive to one spot as temperatures cool. Now, it’s all about researching where and why it’s going to happen and trying to be there for when it does.

For the last decade, you’ve been sailing and diving around the world, through the Maldives, Costa Rica and Patagonia. How was it like to dive some of the world’s best and most remote locations? 

I’m always doing my best on trips to get remote. I find peace so much quicker in isolated places. Diving on reefs you think no one may have dived on before is incredible. In saying that, the human impact can be seen in the most remote of places. Sometimes it’s the most remote locations that are the most vulnerable! Nowadays massive commercial fishing boats can spend months at sea without returning to port. They catch – using illegal, unsustainable techniques – process, pack and freeze all while at sea, meaning they can continue this for months before having to go back to shore. Imagine locations so remote in the middle of the Pacific that, even though they may be protected by laws against commercial fishing, they’re just too far from anything to be policed.

You have some records under your belt like a hundred of dives to depth as deep as 380 meters. Is performance a part of your passion for diving? 

These depths are done in a submersible. I gained certification a few years back as submersible pilot. These are small Submarines that can take normally 2 or 3 passengers to depths up to 1000 meters. It’s another world! 

The unique silence, this colorful life… The underwater world is very special. How would you describe the life out there?

Freediving, with or without a camera, certainly is a form of meditation. I tend to think about nothing but only what I’m doing in that moment whilst diving. I can’t find that clarity anywhere else. Then there’s the relationship and awareness with marine life. I really love encounters with big marine life. Holding my ground watching, waiting and trying to get close with trust. The encounters can be so powerful. I’m happiest when in the water I find salt water fixes everything. 

Over the years, you’ve been in the forefront of the rich diversity of marine life. What would be your message to the future generations?

Probably to just try to gain an interest and fascination in your subject. I find the more I learn about something or a place I’m about to see, the more excited and fascinated I become. Learning about the biology of sharks has helped me understand their behavior, learning migration patterns of whales, for example, has left me in awe of the journey that they must have completed and the state they must be in. Also, if a camera is anything – it’s a great tool to get you outside and traveling – it may put you in places or situations you never would have dreamt of.

Today, you dedicate some of your projects to the conservation of our oceans. Tell us more about these projects.

I’ve been based in Spain for a while now and I’ve been helping contribute to a few organizations that are aiming to bring awareness about single use plastic. It’s interesting to see that some countries are fully aware of the issues of single use plastic and others – sometimes strong modern and advanced economies – just have no idea. Another thing that I touched on earlier is commercial fishing. I’m finding more and more the reality of the situation is just not seen or known by the public.

What’s next for you Todd? 

I have a few trips this year lined up hopefully. One that I am really excited about is a return to the Arctic in the north of Norway, a place that I absolutely love. I’m showing my photography at a gallery for the first time later in the year, which is new and exciting. Also, I’ve started a new degree in Marine Science and Management. So, overall, things are pretty exciting.

Discover more of Todd Thimios’ work on his website.

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Known as a scientist, an expert in acoustics and a nature lover, Jorg Rychen managed to combine his passion for science and for nature. Working as a researcher and a lifeguard, Jorg is definitely not your typical scientist. He focused his work on neurophysiology research on freely behaving animals and managed to spend his spare time in wilderness, both as a freediver, a ballooner and farmer.

In last December, he joined our Panthalassa crew members on our latest expedition up to Tromsø, Norway. The expedition was above all about the journey of a group of adventurers meant to record and understand the secret language of the Orca Killer Whales, described as the most intelligent creatures on earth. We spent a few days with Jorg on a small size boat under below-freezing temperatures, sharing one of the most spectacular visions which is witnessing orcas in their natural environment. 

Hi Jorg, can you tell us a bit about your background?

I studied experimental physics, I obtained my PhD at the ETH Zurich for studies of quantum phenomena in semiconductors. Then, I founded a company that provides scanning probe microscopes all around the world. I sold the company in 2008 because, even though it’s very interesting, everybody in physics is a little bit of a nerd and it remains an all-male environment. To be honest, it’s socially boring. Today, I split my time between my lab and the shore of a lake since I’m also a lifeguard during summer in Zurich. As a lifeguard, you’re in the sun, you feel the wind, you see the clouds, you have a lot of friends and people around you. This job is basically at the very opposite of being a lab technician. I’m also employed at the Institute of Neuroinformatics where I work as as Prof. Hahnloser research group. My interest is to solve automation, measurement, and instrumentation problems arising both in neurophysiology research on freely behaving animals and in anatomy work using high-throughout electron microscopy. I work with a lot of mathematicians, physicians, and biologists used to do a lot of experiments with song birds. Working with them, I would record all the songbirds. Songbirds are a model for basic research and provide ideal signals for study and experiments. Birds are a model animal in neuroresearchs, as process happen in the brain. Only birds, bats and dolphins can do that That’s why it would be interesting to learn more about orcas.

Where does your fascination for the orcas and, more widely, for freediving come from?

I’d probably need to tell you the full story. My father was a mountain guide in Switzerland. When I was a kid, we did a lot of adventures in the mountains. And I remember that, even as a child, I could hold my breathe longer than anyone else. I guess it’s just something that’s given to you somehow. So, since a young age, I’ve been very good at freediving. I remember being on holidays and seeing Russian girls with wetsuits diving down deep in the water. They told me « this is freediving, it’s an old sport . » It was around 1999, and I was hooked. However, freediving is all about numbers. It’s all about how deep you can go, how far you can swim, and how long you can hold your breathe. I’ve never been very interested in this competitive side of freediving. For me, freediving is more about freedom. I like the fact that you don’t need a lot of equipment; just your mouth, the mask, and fins. It’s the same with climbing. I prefer bouldering these days because what you need is just a pair of shoes. This is everything I love. Going back to freediving, when you dive down, you’re overwhelmed by this really strong silence. I think it also has to do with the ears, it makes this feeling of complete silence. You can also hear the orcas from far away. It’s just a beautiful sound. I first met Jacques (De Vos) a few years ago, he was my freediving instructor. I remember the first time I saw an orca. I was standing on a stand up paddle and the orca just went close to me. The dorsal fin was about 2 meters high, so taller than me. The orca itself was 3-4 times bigger than its fin. Orcas are really big, especially when they come close to you. It was very impressive so, at that time, what I had in mind was to study the orcas the same way I study songbirds. One experimental method to decode the ‘neural algorithms’ underlying song learning is to record the song of a bird with a microphone and interact with the bird via a loudspeaker.

The December expedition aimed at decoding the secret orcas communication. From your scientific point of you, why is it so interesting and so important?

There are several aspects. One aspect is the scientific side of the expedition which is basically the information approach. Obviously, orcas are able to exchange some information and perform conversations. For example, when orcas hunt, they agree on a hunting strategy beforehand. During the hunt, orcas remain silent. It means every individual agreed and organized their hunt before. They are somehow able to discuss what to do together. I wouldn’t call it a language yet – in the terms of a subject, verb, and complement – but it’s interesting to see how orcas are sharing information. Orcas’ ears are their primary sense, while for human, it’s the eye. Orcas rely on sound production and also see with the ear, using their sonar. They use the vocalization to see, but they also use the vocalization to communicate. For us, the two are separate, we have the eye and the ear. Orcas navigate by echolocation, and the clicks and whistles are part of the orca’ sonar. I think it’s an interesting thing to study.

How did you proceed to try to start decoding orcas language?

It’s always a bit of a problem because we’re used to make just small announcement. We put the hydrophones underwater and recorded the orcas. The most challenging part was to separate individual vocalizations from the background noise and from the other orcas. This is a difficult part because, at the end, we want to come up with one single track of a single orca. Orcas are known to have three kind of vocalizations: clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls. So the idea is to analyze the single track and see which orcas is responding to which one. The collected data creates statistics. Analysing data, we’ll be able to understand who is talking to who. The objective is to study whistles in order to make a catalog of whistles and analyze how often they are repeated. Doing so, we’ll be able to make a vocabulary, a kind of protocole, and learn how they discuss. For example, science have studied bats for a long time. Because of their near blindness, bats use vocal signals – echolocation – to communicate, they are easier to study. As sound goes everywhere, they somehow steal the echo of another bat and use sound wave for communication. They echolocate within specific frequency ranges, and I think it’s the same for the orcas. The questions is « what kind of frequency do orcas have? » Last year, I made some recordings and it was interesting to see that they recently found a frequency. Orcas can basically tickle another orcas remotely. It means there’s maybe a physical interaction over a long distance.

What do you expect from the data collected during The Sound of Intelligence expedition? 

We’ll gonna analyze it in order to create a vocabulary and statistics. We’ll start classifying the produced sound and test in playback experiments. It’s a good idea to try to create interactions with them. For example, we’ll maybe find out that orcas have a signature call, like a name! If we have a collection of signature whistles, we can maybe compose another new signature whistle, then restart playing back and then the orca can recognize the sound. That would be awesome!  

The December expedition took place in a remote fjord north Norway, above the arctic circle. What was the most challenging part of it all?

What I found out is that the most challenging part is always to handle the materials, for many reasons. It is very cold, you are in a wetsuit, everything is wet, cold and dark, and you wear gloves. So everything is tough and you need to be sure it works. I tried the same experiment last year so I gained a lot of insights regarding the handling of products. For this expedition, I built up a container to put the records, and did a test in the lake of Zurich.

When you’re not in your labo, what do you do exactly? 

I’m also a balloon pilot. Since I’m a child, I have this passion for airships. I’ve always wanted to build an airship but to do so, you first have to have a licence for ballooning. So I started ballooning a few years ago. My goal is still to own a human-power airship, that looks exactly like an orca by the way! I’m a member of a ballooning club and we co-own two balloons. I also have a small farm in the mountain in Switzerland where I grow herbs and spices. You have to climb up there, it’s a very steep region but I like that. I like to have a cool project in mind, something that gives me a focus.

Portraits : Pierre David 

Orcas photos : Jacques De Vos 

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Four-time world record-holder, Guillaume Néry is a French free-diving champion who specializes in deep diving. Over the years, he has perfected this discipline to an art form combining aesthetics, performance and exploration. His latest short film entitled »Haven« recounts the exploration of the largest wreck in Mediterranean Sea residing at a depth of 40 to 50 meters. Here we discuss the discovery of this sunken giant with the multiple world record holder, and his devotion to free-diving.

Free-diving is diving underwater as deep as possible with only one breath. What is your definition of free-diving? 

To me, free-diving is both a lifestyle and a passion. So when I stopped competing last September, it didn’t change anything in my life. Apnea is still an integral part of my everyday life and has infiltrated every part of it.  Professionally, everything I do has a close link to free-diving. I hold conferences for societies in order to share this universe with passionate people during diving lessons, or with people who don’t know anything about this practice but for whom it can be a way to be used in their life or at work. Free-diving is a way to transmit values. 

You spend most of your time in the water and get often close to abysses. How do you define your relationship with the ocean?

I maintain an almost carnal link with the ocean. And I talk about »the sea« rather than the ocean because I come from the Mediterranean Sea and at home, we say »we go to the sea«. To me, the sea gives the impression of reconnecting to the matrix of what is the deep nature of Planet Earth. The Earth is the ocean planet – when we look at it from the space, we only see a blue point. When I dive into the sea, I really have this feeling of belonging to this planet. The ocean, the sea are its true identity. I’m also a mountain lover, a lover of wide open spaces. After a while, I need to reconnect with the sea.  I just need to immerse myself and be totally enveloped by the sea. It’s something I do anytime of the year, during summer or winter when the water is cold. I need to be in contact with water to remind me this idea of origins, this strong idea of belonging that I can only feel towards these natural elements. I think that every human being has this strong connection to the sea, to fascinate or frighten. It is the way of connecting people, it is also a way to travel. The sea is a part of man’s history. I really feel that when I go for a swim. Every time, it brings me a kind of rebirth. 

It’s funny how you talk about swimming rather than diving?

Yes, I use the word ‘swimming’ on purpose because it’s not always in deep dives that I feel this connection to nature. It can be during anecdotal and innocent swims, in the middle of a week, or when there’s nobody in the water, that I find a true connection to nature. I can spend just 15 minutes in the water, only few metres-deep and I have the feeling of reconnecting to something. I usually have a crazy lifestyle, between phone calls, flights, trips, etc. So I need these precious moments in the water where I can reset the counters. 

Throughout your films today, you create a bridge between people and free-diving. You give access to a world not everyone has the chance to discover. Is it an important role for you?

It is one of our ambitions indeed. I want to make short films that are easy to watch and free online. I want to make films that stage the underwater world in an original and off-beat way. But we also want to make films that speak to everybody. I try to behave underwater not like a fish or a dolphin, but as an earthling. I walk, I run, I jump in the water. It’s a good way to attract people’s attention. The most beautiful testimony will always be to hear people say, »we saw your movies and we wanted to do the same, and swim in the water«. It’s awesome because it’s exactly what we’re trying to do: Make this universe reachable, and make people want to go out there even if they’re sometimes afraid of it. I try to show them that anybody can do it.

Throughout your films, your devotion to free-diving seems to go beyond the sport itself. Can we talk about an artistic approach?

We can! I have to pay attention to my words as it can easily turn boring – I don’t claim to be an artist! Having spent so much time in the water, I have developed a sixth sense. It’s also had an impact on the way I move underwater, and the way I tackle this environment, which is more developed than the average person. So I just have fun underwater! For me, under the surface is a playground. It’s a way to make my fantasies come true, those fantasies impossible to achieve on earth. Fly, walk as if I were on the moon, challenge all the laws of gravity, these are all things I can only do underwater. The universe allows me not only to dive or swim but it gives me so much more. In my films, when I walk underwater, I try to position myself as a human. For me, it is a way to show people that everybody can do it. It is a way for people to identify more easily. As humans, we keep a lot of adaptations from our aquatic origins, yet they are all within us.

When we watch your latest film »Haven« by Jérôme Espla, your quest goes far beyond the performance. Do you feel you’re more than an athlete today?

Absolutely! A few years ago, my friend and filmmaker Jérôme Espla had already filmed a documentary on The Haven, with a scientific approach. When I first discovered his images, I immediately had the fantasy to stage free-divers taking on the assault of this huge submarine architecture. What interested me with The Haven was its size, it’s huge size. I saw The Haven like a sunken city. The original idea was to use the wreck as a decor which sends us back to this myth of the lost city of Atlantis.

Huge indeed: 280 metres-long by 50 metres-wide. The ‘Haven’ represents 15,000m2 of wreck and sleeps between 40 – 60 metres deep underwater.

Yes, that’s why in the movie we tried to make the wreck look like something that we could find on earth. We tried to make the viewer forget it was actually a boat. We staged stairs and a terrace where I jump onto. On large plans, we see this mass where nothing is recognizable. We could have created images of the propeller, for example, but we preferred to avoid that. Before going down there, we already had a script to avoid wasting time because on The Haven, it is actually very difficult to film. It’s deep, it’s an exposed zone with very poor visibility, and has currents that make the dive dangerous.

How long did the filming last?

We were lucky to have a 3-day good range, actually 6 half-days, where the conditions were good enough to film. For every dive we had a precise goal. We made 6 dives, and each time we had a gesture to respect. In every dive, we needed to create a consistency, to have logical connections between the dives. It was our biggest challenge. We couldn’t afford any mistakes. A bad dive meant the whole film was compromised. Each half-day, we could dive 3 or 4 times. It was either collective dives or individual free-falls. Our time was limited as Jérôme Espla only allowed us a certain time underwater. In apnea, beyond 40m, there’s a certain amount of dives to respect. We have security intervals and rest periods on the surface to respect. So the challenge was to get a result with a maximum of 4 dives. Without this problem of decompression, we could have had 3 hours-sessions. But in reality we couldn’t!

Do you remember your very first feelings and impressions once down there?

It’s very impressive to swim across a wreck. You feel that you are face to face with a photograph, and this precise moment when the boat leaves the surface, when it becomes static underwater it’s the start of a new story. Once down there, we imagine many scenarios of life on-board.  It’s a strange feeling because, once you’re down there, you realize the power of nature which colonized the wreck with shells, and fish. It’s a setback of mans vanity to think we can build machines more powerful than the ocean. One day, the ocean swallows them up and another cycle of life begins. We have a feeling of humility when we’re down there. With time, the sea will digest it and nothing will remain. That puts us back in our place!

A depth mistake nearly killed you last year during a competition. Does being a professional free-diver mean thinking always about possible dangers and accidents?

Yes, I had this big scare last year  when I dived much deeper than expected. I lost consciousness. As professionals we are constantly aware of the dangers, but most of these dangers are manageable. We only need few things to limit the risks. Rule No 1: Never dive alone. When you respect this very first rule, you are protected from 99% of dangers. The other big rule is, above all, to listen to yourself and do not let your ego get the upper hand. Dive with attention, improve very slowly and never dive to beat records. You must have humility and respect, like when going to the mountains. It allows you to protect yourself even if there’s always a risk. Anything can happen but if you are ready, and have considered all the possible scenarios then you protect yourself.

Did free-diving teach you a better knowledge of your body, and more globally, of yourself?

It did! When I say apnea is a lifestyle, it also means you learn to listen to your body better. Apnea brought me this special and very strong connection with my body. Apnea is a form of meditation, a form of one-on-one with yourself. In everyday life, we’re rarely one-on-one with ourselves. Nowadays, we’re more and more immersed with all these technologies. We are completely disconnected. I’m starting my second book right now and that’s a bit of the subject of the book. I talk about this connection, disconnection and re-connection. I had the chance to reconnect thanks to apnea and free-diving, but it’s possible to reconnect to nature thanks to many things. We often say we live in a very connected world, but our world creates disconnected societies. Virtually, we have never been so connected but in reality, people are completely disconnected from one another. Urban modern man is totally disconnected from nature. We have the feeling that people want to reconnect with nature and free-diving is one of the ways we can do this. 

As a multiple world record-holder, you also became individual world champion. Do you still have goals and dreams?

There’s this book I’m working on. Then, I have the project of making a bigger film, trying to bring together this identity we’ve managed to create along the years throughout short format films. I’ve been working on it now for quite a while, and I think I just started to find a good angle. It requires a lot of writing so I co-write it with a friend of mine who works as a director. The film will be out in 2 or 3 years! Then, I want to keep on communicating what I’ve learnt so far, through courses and conferences.

Free divers: Guillaume Néry, Morgan Bourc’His and Rémy Dubern. 

Realized by Jérôme Espla

Produced by Les Films Engloutis

Last photo: AFP PHOTO / BORIS HORVAT

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