Protecting the Beauty Under the Surface
We need to understand the importance of a strong and clean ocean and how we need to respect and protect her. - Christopher P. Leidy
About the Cover: Our cover photo, titled “Batfish” is a photograph of a school of batfish in the out islands of Papua, New Guinea.
I grew up in the ocean. If I wasn’t under it, either free diving or scuba diving, I was on top of it, surfing, fishing, or boating. Getting lost in the uninhabited southern chain of the Bahamas, I experienced firsthand the magic of what lies beneath the waves from very early on in life. I met the fragility of the sea and heard the respect that Mother Ocean demanded. I grew up amongst ocean lovers and explorers, and I was taught from the beginning that I had to respect the ocean and her raw power. I knew that I was in her control the second I dipped under the surface.
As a contemporary and abstract underwater photographer attempting to capture this raw power, I tend to see ocean life through a distorted lens. I use a Canon 5 DSR, in a Nauticam housing with an assortment of lenses and strobes that allow me to achieve the hues and saturation to reach exactly what I need in creating my abstract art. My goal is to see something and capture it in a way that bends the mind’s eye when viewing one of my large-scale pieces. I often photograph the small intricate delicacies of corals and sea fans, enlarging it so it is quite impactful for the wall. I love taking observers of my art on a visual dive through the magic fantasy world of the underwater ocean. To me, the underwater world is my photo set. It’s uncontrolled and without boundaries. There is no time to stop to reshoot and no time to reorganize yourself.
When I am blessed enough to witness an opportunity which very few people have been able to see, I really have to be on my game, always ready for anything and ready to start shooting. Setting up my “scene” on a minute-by-minute basis calls for sharp creativity and a willingness to change the vibe and style in an instant. Capturing the beauties of the underwater life and sharing it with the world is where I find the most pleasure.
Most of the time, I spend my days floating through the Coral Sea, Indonesia, as well as Papua, New Guinea. My first dive in the Coral Triangle was in Papua about 11 years ago. It felt so surreal. It was like stepping into another world. A beautiful underwater world filled with an abundance of life and vibrant color. Encounters with bigger fish in what seemed like a much larger ocean. I find myself exploring destinations where life becomes raw and uncharted. Those destinations allow for my greatest creativity to run amuck and wild. Being born into a family of travelers and explorers, staying local would just be too weird and unnatural. When I swim through these far away oceans with my blinders off, I welcome all that the ocean blesses me with. Everything special happens to find its way in front of my camera lens, in between the underwater destinations that I am swimming to and from. The tiny little living creatures and corals hold a big impact to my viewers.
My latest work is my new book, The Coral Triangle, a collection of 110 images of my best underwater images taken in one of the world’s oldest reef systems in the waters off of Papua, New Guinea. This biodiverse underwater wonderland supports 30 percent of all the world’s coral.
I am keenly aware of how precious and fragile life is in the ocean. Seeing firsthand, through my travels I see the effects of how the human race has dropped the ball on taking proper care of Mother Ocean. Capturing the beauty within the deep blue sea is just one way I can help to promote a clean and healthy sea. We all need to be better stewards of our environment. Getting people to fall in love with the ocean, hopefully, means they will care for her, nurture her, and protect her. We need to understand the importance of a strong and clean ocean and how we need to respect and protect her. Throughout my lifetime, I have learned that life should never be taken for granted… by land or by sea.
Recently, I travelled to Papua, New Guinea for the 4th time in my life and was still amazed by the quality of life under the waves. There is so much color and creatures of all sizes, that it still boggles my creative mind every time I visit there. Again, I lived aboard a floating vessel for my adventure. Because Papua is so remote, the number of human interactions is slim. It took me three days to get there with a lot of trouble in between catching and missing puddle hopper flights between islands. We were exploring Kimbe Bay and the Witu Islands by boat for a month. I was diving six times a day and doing some fishing for fresh dinners and lunches in between. It was hard going sometimes because of El Niño, which brings warmer water and decreases water visibility, so we had to hunt for clean, clear water to make the best dives possible during our short time in Papua. When we did get clear ocean to swim in, it was otherworldly. The diversity is insane! There were schools upon schools of jacks and snapper, so thick you could lose sight of your fellow diver, and would even block out the sun from the surface.
We would be frequently visited by sharks and dolphins. The sea was never silent a minute because of the constant whistling, clicking, and “talking” of the pods of dolphins, so close yet so far away… always weary of humans; therefore, keeping their distance off into the deep blue.
There were schools of batfish which is the cover photo in this issue. The corals were what you would find in an aquarium. Pristine and filled with so much color and life. I am an abstract kind of guy so I could literally spend the entire dive hovering above massive plate corals and table corals trying to compose the perfect framed shot with all four corners perfectly filled with interesting information for the eye. It is a really cool experience to be able to get so lost in shapes of definition that you literally forget about everything and anything going on topside. There are endless sea fans hosting every shade of red, orange, and yellow. Here, the underwater world is teaming with micro-life and damsel fish. Red whip corals with golden damsels are everywhere. The soft coral is so beautiful that you forget to breathe and it will make your regulator fall out of your mouth. I guess that’s the equivalent of making your jaw hit the floor as a diver—ha!
We spent some time exploring on land as well. Getting immersed in the local traditions and culture is a must for me on my travels. I need to feel the vibe and see locals in their day-to-day lives to really understand how life works over there. It’s a slow and mellow existence. Living 100% off the land and sea. There are no modern-day technologies. Just presence of mind, body, love, and gratitude. They are always so happy to see you, always smiling from ear to ear. No arms outstretched looking for handouts, just hugs.
I was diving and experiencing life and their culture on my own through Papua as I always do. I prefer traveling solo because it gives me the availability to tune in to what is happening around me. It gives me the quiet and clarity I need to focus on how people with so much less than me are that much happier. Unlike us, they are never always plugged into some kind of mobile device or technological thingamabob. Their peaceful naivety makes appealing sense to me. How many beautiful experiences, smiles, and soul food opportunities do we miss because we are lured by our screens? How many times have we zoned out when zoning in would be so extremely beneficial to us? “A lot and always” is the answer to those questions.
So, here I was floating my way through the waters around Papua when I was told about a tree that explodes on chorus with millions of lights when all is quiet in the dead of night. Of course, once I hear of this and night is looming, I try and organize a ride to this mysterious lightning tree. I was told, the later in the darkness, the better. I fumble with my words and hand gestures to a kind local man and convince him to take me to this mysterious phenomenon. We pack up the truck with my cameras, lenses, flashlights and rain gear, and set off into the dark rainforest of Papua. Here we were, putting one foot in front of the other as we stumble into the ink black jungle. We get to a small hill, about 20 feet tall at its tippy top. Up at the hill’s crest, I can just make out a silhouette of a big round tree in the darkness. There it was, in all its black-on-black glory. It was about the size of a big Florida orange tree, or a nice healthy mango tree. It was about 30 feet across and stood a good 50 feet high from root to tip. It was close to midnight and only myself and my local friend were in the area.
As we sat, staring at this black fruit tree, one by one, random and in no order at all, fireflies began to light up the tree. 1, 2, 10, 40, 50 and in no particular order whatsoever. I sat there a little disappointed but grateful for the experience. Then, like a switch was flipped and the conductor began to wave his baton, all the lights began to fall in synch with each other. First, 100, 200, 1000, and then 5000+ fireflies began to hit their headlights at the same time! The tree was beating in the night like a neon tree-shaped heart! It seemed like a million tiny choreographed bugs kept growing in brightness and quantity, all turning their lights on in unison! The tree began to breathe in and out a fluorescent green light, that eventually made the entire tree visible. It was pure magic. Nature’s fine art showing its true colors. The tree was alive and showing off to us in the pitch-black jungle in the Highlands of Papua. I began to think how amazing it was for nature to have a rhyme and reason like this. It was showing me that when you come together as a collective unit you can achieve great beauty. It was extremely powerful to witness this execution by such tiny winged insects that it was making me feel extremely small. Standing there, completely amazed to be a part of such a spectacle. Nature is a mad scientist and that night in the jungle made me realize that when we operate alone, unorganized, and random, we don’t accomplish much. We light up here and light up a little there, but there is a bigger picture that can’t be reached by operating as one. Once we start to hit the high notes together as one, the possibilities are endless. We begin to act as one big persuasive movement with a cause. We begin to act like one morphing creature going after the greater good. It was a message that I believe came from my God in order to show me that I need to have faith. Faith in him that when we hold hands tightly and together, we will see the light.
The abyss is a dark black-blue when you look down into the eyes of the depths as you are floating in the ocean with no sea floor. It’s an amazingly haunting and thought-provoking feeling. You begin to think about who or what is down there on the bottom in their final resting place. Why and how did this thing get there? What was its thoughts as they drifted ever so freely down… down… down? What massive ocean creature has its eyes on you as you unknowingly swim in search of the “perfect shot?” I have photographs of everything from old WW2 carnage to gargantuan humpback whales and the feeling is always the same, who is looking at me? Because I feel the sense of being watched. The open ocean is an unforgiving place. A place when treated right, can offer you the most soul shaking and nourishing experience or when treated with hesitation and disregard, your life can be taken in a blink of an eye. It is power that you feel when swimming in the sea, and it’s not your power. It’s a power of what is all around you, hugging you like a warm, blue blanket. The abyss.
Life Captured
Christopher P. Leidy
The Blue Issue: Protecting the Beauty Under the Surface
The underwater world holds beauty and mystery that not everyone gets to experience. However, Chris Leidy, our featured photographer, makes it his life purpose sharing this magical blue world of wonder by creating stunning images of life under the sea. He recently returned from Papua, New Guinea, where he captured all these stunning images and our cover shot!
In this ”Blue Issue,” we hope it is a reminder to you that our planet and oceans are in big danger. By capturing the beauty of underwater life, Chris hopes that more people will fall in love with our ocean, and therefore, protect her—we must! Our oceans make up more than 71 percent of the earth and no matter where we call home, this vast body of water connects us all. So please... respect and protect the ocean. Most importantly, love the ocean and our planet. Let’s all be better stewards of our environment. One person can make a difference!
Although we don’t know what the future holds for any of us or our planet, the decisions we make today can heavily impact our outcome. Stand up for things you believe in and do it in a kind way that captures the magic of your mission, like Chris does with his beautiful photography. Together, we can all be the change.
Chris, his wife, Cayla Jean, and their beautiful little girl, Zephyr Lee Leidy, reside in Bali most of the time, but spend their winter months in Palm Beach, their second home. Explore more of the underwater world by following Chris on IG @chrisleidyphotography and be sure to grab a copy of his beautiful coffee table book, The Coral Triangle, online at Assouline.com or join us at our next launch party on January 18th at American Icon and meet Chris; he’ll be signing book orders and may even bring a few of his prints to sell.
Written and photography by Christopher P. Leidy