Conversation with Aaron Wong by Henley Spiers

In the latest in the series, I talk with Aaron Wong, a commercial photographer from Singapore and highly renowned underwater photographer. What fascinated me most about Aaron’s story is his unfamiliar path into the underwater genre. Unlike most of us, who start out as keen divers and then progress into underwater imagery, Aaron had a strong background within professional studio photography before he even went diving or picked up an underwater housing. As such, he brings a meticulous approach to the use of light in his images which has inspired me to get more creative and deliberate with my strobes. The portfolio showcased here comprises underwater photos falling under the natural history and fashion genres, my personal interest lies firmly within the former but I was pleasantly surprised to find that even the pool shots elicited a strong impact on me.

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Conversation with Laurent Ballesta by Henley Spiers

Laurent Ballesta is someone I have looked up to immensely over the last few years and, in late 2018, I had the opportunity to meet him, as he was a judge at the Anilao Shootout. Even in that setting, with many big shot figures from the underwater photography world around, there seemed to be a collective acceptance that here, in Laurent, we were in the presence of underwater royalty.

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Conversation with Mike Bartick by Henley Spiers

I started admiring Mike Bartick’s images pretty soon after getting into underwater photography. I was in love with macro and just becoming aware of snoots, and Mike was one of the masters of macro that I looked up to. Over the next few years, Mike became especially renowned as a blackwater specialist and I followed his articles and the Facebook Blackwater group with great curiosity. I finally had the opportunity to meet the man in person whilst staying at his resort, Crystal Blue, for the Anilao Shootout. 

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Conversation with Christian Vizl by Henley Spiers

I’ve just come back from an absolutely incredible trip to Baja Mexico where the marine life was bountiful and I had the privilege of shooting alongside one of my favourite underwater photographers: Christian Vizl. He has an extremely distinctive style of (mostly) black and white photography and, to me, is the finest proponent of underwater imagery as art on the scene today. Over the time we spent together we had a some transformative discussions which have materially benefitted my own underwater photography and, on the last day of the trip, we sat down for this interview which I hope will serve as inspiration for some of you other underwater shooters out there.

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What's it like on an Alex Mustard workshop? by Henley Spiers

As a budding image-maker, you can quite easily sign up for a workshop with the Lionel Messi of the underwater photography scene. For me, the Ballon D’Or of underwater photography goes to Alex Mustard, in fact as both the best player and coach I guess he’s kind of like Lionel Messi and Josep Guardiola rolled into one.

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