Scuba Diver Australasia + Ocean Planet
BLACKWATER PHOTO GURUS
>> Scott “Gutsy” Tuason
The blackwater realm is without a substrate or a reef. There is no limit to the ways and angles one can shoot a subject, and it’s interesting to see the different approaches to how people shoot similar types of animals. Divers have been discovering new things out there – from odd relationships and unusual behaviours to previously uncaptured marine life. The dark ocean depths are more alien than outer space, but blackwater photography is giving us a fascinating glimpse into this otherworldly realm.
I don’t really like going diving at night. After a full day of dives, what I would rather be do is crack open the first of many happy hour beers while watching the sun go down, and heading out in the dark and put on a wet wetsuit for the nth time while my non-night diving companions have started to carouse on the liveaboard or are back at the resort. But I absolutely love blackwater diving, and I’d easily give up a moment of relaxation for the chance encounters one gets with the bizarre critters that come up from the deep after dark.
My fascination with blackwater started way back in 1984. My parents had given me a copy of Within
a Rainbowed Sea by the photographer Christopher Newbert, and on the cover was this shimmering and translucent unidentified larval fish. He wrote about open ocean night work and how he would descend 60 metres and take photos of whatever passed by his flashlight.
The idea stuck with me ever since, but back then, there was still so much regular reef diving to do.
Larval worm by: Scott “Gutsy” Tuason
WHEN
December 2017
WHERE
Philippines
HOW
Nikon D5, Nauticam housing, 60mm lens
(f/22, 1/250s, ISO 800)
Jack and jelly by: Scott “Gutsy” Tuason
WHEN
April 2017
WHERE
Casiguran Sound, Philippines
HOW
Nikon D4, Nauticam housing, 60mm lens
(f/32, 1/250s, ISO 640)
In 2012, I went to Kona, Hawaii to do the manta night dive. In town, I checked out Joshua Lambus’ art gallery, which featured several blackwater photos. Intrigued,
I booked the “Pelagic Magic Blackwater Dive” right after the manta dive, and I was blown away by the unusualness of all the alien-like zooplankton that make up the great nightly migration I photographed. The dive itself was quite restrictive as I was tethered to a line. I realised that I could do this the way I wanted in the Philippines. The first place I tried it out
with just a rope and a flashlight was in Anilao. It was nearly impossible to convince the boatmen to take us out for a dive in the middle of the ocean, but I was already thinking about
the book I was to publish in 2016, Blackwater
and Open Blue.
The explosion of blackwater and bonfire as a genre of photography has really upped the bar. Previously uncaptured animals, like the blanket octopus and the larval oarfish that can be found in Anilao, are being discovered almost every week. New behaviours are being
documented – like the larval jack who likes to stick himself inside a jellyfish, and a paper nautilus riding another paper nautilus riding a jelly.
I’ve been collaborating with marine scientists to help identify the things I photograph and sometime even they have no answers. Things really do get weird deep in the waters at night!