His studies are driven by fish predation and community interactions as fundamental facets of biology studies.  Fascinated by sharks, he is working hard at studying their behavior in order to come up with ways to protect this already endangered animal. His research currently focuses on anthropogenic impacts on shark population. In collaboration with the Conservation Program at the University of Miami: “assessing the impacts of catch-and-release fishing on elasmobranch species, the analysis of migration and behavior through satellite tagging of hammerhead, bull and tiger sharks” (Source: http://austingallagher.com/Research.aspx). These projects are centered with an analysis of behavioral and physiological ecology techniques.

His previous projects include the stress physiology of Sharks, positive impacts of southern California marine protected areas (MPA) on harvested reef-dwelling fishes and the effects of predator risks, resource availability and conspecific density on the growth of the Atlantic Dogwhelk. In order to better communicate the need to protect the environment and marine creatures, film production is a very strong medium for this young scholar that tell us: “Communicating science is a great way to make an impact, while inspiring people to make a difference themselves. I am driven to reach more people by producing short and full-length educational documentaries for various research projects” (Source: http://austingallagher.com/DocumentaryandFilm.aspx). For this reason, in 2009, Austin launched his own small production where he has worked for professionals, amateurs and well-known clients such as National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. Created by Austin Gallagher,“Inside the Lines” is a film that immerses you into the immense beauty of the marine wildlife on the coast of California. After three months of studying marine conservation biology, the young man spent many hours and days under water shooting footage of the marine wildlife. Despite his amazement, the sea creatures were not at all afraid of the human presence. After more than hundreds of hours spent under water the film produced is worth having a look at.

Recently Gallagher has been working as a research assistant to Neil Hammerschlag, studying the impact of the BP oil spill on sharks. These powerful animals are at the top of the ocean food chain but nobody has even considered studying the impact the oil is having on the sharks. Gallagher reminds us: “if you see a high levels of oil in a shark, you better believe it is in the whole food chain” (Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/28/oil.spill.sharks/index.html).

Austin Gallagher is a promising new asset for the world of marine biologist and scholars who are working for the protection of the marine environment and of all its species. He has demonstrated to have great passion, ambition and will as he founded his own production company in order to communicate with films his passion for the ocean and to raise awareness for the protection of the sea life.

Born in Milford, Massachusetts in 1962, this young man graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in media and communication from Worcester College. He had a variety of different jobs for years, while cultivating his passion for underwater photography during his free time. Diving for more than 30 years, Brian Skerry managed to transform his passion for the sea life into his full time job. Today he is famous for having managed to capture great shots of right whales as he was standing underwater next to the enormous animal. In an interview for National Geographic he confesses that the pictures he shot of the right whales are probably his favorite since “to see a whale that big in perspective with a human being was cool” (Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/right-whales/skerry-field-notes). Cool?!! Yes, I bet your are just as amazed as I am by his nonchalance when it comes to diving into water with a 45 foot subject. When asked if he has ever felt in danger by being around them he responds by saying: “when the whales are three feet or four feet away from you, one gentle lift on its head, and it would be like being hit by a sidewalk. That never happened. They were just highly curious and wanted to know what I was about” (Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/right-whales/skerry-field-notes/ ). His gorgeous photographs and honest statements make the public develop a brand new appreciation for sea creatures that often are misleadingly portrayed as scary or aggressive towards humans.  The photographer reminds us of the difficulty to shoot a subject of such an imposing proportion, with whales it is practically impossible to use strobees in order to light them. For this reason he had to shoot at a very high speed, ISOs of 800 which impacted on the resolution of the shot. Despite technical and human difficulties, his shots manage to convey a human and kind aspect to a massive whale that is swimming in a vivid light blue ocean.

According to his official website, Skerry has spent more than 10 000 hours underwater over the course of his career; and “while on assignment he has lived on the bottom of the sea, spent months aboard fishing boats and traveled in everything from snowmobiles to canoes to the Goodyear Blimp to get the picture” (Source: http://www.brianskerry.com/). Covering different issues from the decrease in the world’s fishery, to the sharks of the Bahamas, without forgetting the harp seal’s struggle to survive in frozen waters. It is important to remember that is artist is also member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), an non-profit organization that gathers artists from around the world with the scope of promoting environmental and cultural conservation through the medium of ethical photography. Part of their mission is to “replace environmental indifference with a new culture of stewardship and passion for our beautiful planet” (Source: http://www.ilcp.com/?cid=22).  Part of their ethic principles comprises a careful use of images of animals in captivity: those shots should never ever be represented as wild and not pictures should be taken of animals in any sort of entertainment institutions that exploits animals for profits. With great respect and integrity, Skerry stays true to his values and the ones of ILCP, holding a great attention in order to leave intact and unaltered the natural environments where he takes his gorgeous shots.

Brian Skerry understands the urgent need to save the wildlife and the oceans before it is too late. He believes that visual arts and photography can perhaps be a less conventional but yet more efficient way to get the message across. With his incredible shots he manages to captures the ocean’s majestic glory that often hides a veil of fragility.

Martin Waugh was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado in a large family of six members. On his website he reminisces in a light and humorous tone how he would get tools instead of toys for Christmas or for his birthday: “My brothers and I grew up building (and destroying) many things” (Source: http://www.martin-waugh.com/?page_id=2).  As a teenager, he moved to Portland, Oregon to go to college and immediately fell in love with the nature and wildlife. The young man soon discovered that physics had stolen his heart. Right after college, Martin Waugh starting taking whitewater kayaking and he soon discovered he loved water and was fascinated by this natural resource: “Between the spring runoff, the ocean in the dry part of the summer, and rain-fed rivers in winter, I could paddle year-round. What a wonderful, visceral way to learn about fluids!” (Source: http://www.martin-waugh.com/?page_id=2 ).

Martin Waugh decided to combined his passion for physics and for water in a creative fashion: with the use of high-speed photography, he manages to capture still shots of liquids, drops and water in all of its elegant and mystical grace. By altering the color of the liquids the size and angle of the shots he manages to create real works of art that seem to embody a multitude of colorful fountains; he entitles his photography: Liquid sculpture. In order to achieve such an unusual result, the artist tells us: “I instigate the myriad of shapes by varying the drops’ trajectories and manipulating their physical properties. Color, viscosity, and surface tension are controlled with dye, glycerin, and soap” (Source: http://www.liquidsculpture.com/statement.htm ). On the website, (http://www.liquidsculpture.com/index.htm) one can admire drops of colorful fluid that manage to create shapes and images with a dreamlike lightness. Paradoxically, the liquid substances become solid elements for a fragment of seconds; in some frames we can see a flower, a pot, a bowl or a crystal like diamond.

On his website, the artist tells us with great honestly that what you see in his photographs is truly the result of nature. He confesses that he uses Photoshop only to “clean up the background, balance the color and tidy up”. Shapes and composition are completely natural.  Martin Waugh reminds us that William Talbot took the first high-speed photograph around the 1850s. Today, with the help of the computer his biggest challenge is to orchestrate lights, liquids in order to create the desired shapes and color dynamics. The “liquid” nature of water that makes it so fascinating and attracting is the same characteristic that renders water so hard to manipulate and control. You will be surprise to know that to achieve such interesting results, he doesn’t use any type of special camera or lenses.  Everything lies around the technique of high-speed photography: in a dark room, he leaves the shutter open for quite a long time and uses a flash to illuminate the splash. The photograph reminds us that “the flash needs to be of a fairly short duration to stop the motion well. I use something like a 50 microsecond flash” (Source: http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=44). His work process remains one of a scientist, he likes to experiment and takes a lot of pictures in order to learn and grown from his “mistakes”.

His talent and ingenuity was soon discovered by the entire world and he started working for the world of advertising. Smirnoff asked Martin Waugh to create a martini and whiskey glasses out of water drops and splashes. The bioscience company, Novagen chose on of his works for the cover of the firm’s catalogue.  His peaceful and soothing shots were also chosen by many corporate offices in other to give their working environment a fresh outlook.

Martin Waugh, a scientist and photographer, has managed to combine his passion to achieve a brilliant result. The sensibility and lightness of his photographs are refreshing and innovative. He uses water to communicate a feeling, a situation or a state of mind. His frozen liquid fountains immortalize a second of a human being’s life and toughs.

The famous Japanese composer and the Italian photographer created an art project on the net called “ Mo No Aware”. This work of art hopes to raise media and public awareness in regards to the radioactive contamination of entire villages in Japan (especially Rokkasho).  This project consists of 3 narrative depicted using the latest web mediums such as “Flash”, an experimental interface,  and online videos. According to La Spada, the strong images and striking collages of powerful colors are “metaphors, fears, and points of view in regards to a broken world”.(Source: http://www.digicult.it/digimag/article.asp?id=1076).

This collaboration is part of Sakamoto’s larger commitment to protest  Japan’s Rokkasho nuclear fuel  reprocessing plant. According to the official website, “the sea and the lands of many European countries were contaminated with radioactivity from Japanese spent fuel and a large quantity of plutonium and radioactive waste still remains in France and the UK”.  (Source: http://stop-rokkasho.org/information/)

The two artists want to remind us that mankind needs to take responsibility for the damage it has voluntarily and recklessly brought to our planet, the damage that radioactivity causes to the land and wildlife, and of course, the impact on human beings, which is something we simply cannot ignore, erase or forget.  In the interview he gave to Digicult.it, Giuseppe La Spada emphasizes the use of technology as a powerful means of communication. The Internet has a rapid, effective and immediate quality that can replicate the speed of spreading information mouth to ear.

This multi sensorial and vivid project reminds us of the irreversibility of damage to nature; incidents like the BP oil spill will leave an undeniable scar on our planet. Some mistakes cannot be erased, which reminds us once again not take our planet for granted. (Check out at: http://www.mono-no-aware.org).

“A Fleur”

Giuseppe La Spada’s commitment to environmental causes denotes his appreciation and aesthetic sensibility towards nature in all its facets and shades. His newest work of visual art, “A Fleur” is an innovative and insightful collage of music, photography, design and video (in collaboration with the musician Con_cetta – Giuseppe Cordaro). Through  various mediums of communication  he blends and meshes, he  gives life to a unique creation, a synthesis of love and life presented through the lense of water as a unifying element. In an interview by Sibilla Panerai for ArtKey Magazine, Giuseppe La Spada  tells us: “I have always been fascinated by love and the struggle in searching for a loved one, the relationship between sufferance and creativity. If I have to imagine love, I picture it as a complete surrendering to the other person, like when you dive into water and you let go of all your inhibitions, regardless of the consequences. Under water, one feels the annulment of all spatial and temporal dimensions, a feeling that is encountered when one is in love”.

 (Source: http://www.teknemedia.net/magazine_detail.html?mId=7354)

This idea to plunge underwater in the desire to project a different perspective on life and love is evidenced by his unique and mystical photographs. When looking at the photographs,  the feeling of being immersed under water creates a loss for words where blurry visions capture the mind and soul.  “A Fleur” presents water as a means for soul-searching, offering us a therapeutic oppportunity. The water element is combined in a harmonious fashion with a metaphorical floral element: the tulip. From his description of the project, we learn that “in western culture, the tulip is a symbol of inconstancy, while in the oriental culture, it represents perfect love”.  (Source: http://www.afleur.net/).  The flower acts as the key to enter an underwater universe of self-reflection.  Using a unique combination of natural elements, the photographer explores the phenomenon of “air” colliding with water, creating underwater air bubbles. This sensation of “breathlessness” is  a feeling that according to La Spada depicts the reality of our restless and chaotic society where most of us forget to stop and take a deep breath of fresh air once in a while.

Giuseppe La Spada’s amazing art work intrigued us and we wanted to know more about “A Fleur”,   so we contacted him.” Our exclusive interview follows:

Q: In an interview you gave to www.teknemedia.net,  you said “for many years, I have been finding a lot of answers from water and in water”. What kind of relationship do you have with water from both a professional (as photographer) and a personal point of view?

A: From the professional point of view, it is  an ongoing challenge, since water is such an elusive and changeable element, in which  with just a few variables, even the appearance becomes dramatically different from circumstance to circumstance. As a person born by the sea, I feel the lack inside myself and I feel a return to my roots, without forgetting that we originate from water anyway.

Q: In your work “A Fleur”, you say that love could be a simple flower made of paper or cloth. The tulip image as perfect love (in Eastern cultures) is placed in contrast with the symbol of the inconstant.  If you need to immerse yourself to see love, why did you choose to drown these flowers under water? The photos could allude that perfect love is also necessarily inconstant?

A: Jean Vigo’s mention is only to bind to the phenomenon of underwater research. With the tulip as element ,we evolve to the dual vision  of “East-West”. While in the West, we want at all costs to possess things, here is the obsessive quest to possess the tulip, in the Orient, we  come into “possession” of a thing by contemplating it. Perhaps that is why in the society where we live,  we try to label or understand a thing as love,  while the essence is more alive in the quest rather  than in obtaining or retaining something unmanageable.

With this post, for a short moment we set  aside the problems of water scarcity or water conservation in order to present a completely different aspect  of this unique liquid. Water is not only a vital resource for the survival of our planet, but also a majestic and fascinating liquid that has always inspired artistic expression. Artists from all over the world have been inspired by the immensity of the ocean and the feeling of fear, curiosity and breathlessness it brings to its spectators. Giuseppe La Spada, a visual artist of world renown, has created a unique visual project where water becomes a source for soul-searching.

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned and get ready for some one of a kind water photos next Wednesday (06/23/2010).