Arts Design

THE ART & ROMANCE OF COLD WATER FISH NOW

Lion’s Mane Jellyfish with Blue Rockfish by David Hall.

by David Hall. Lion’s Mane Jellyfish with Blue Rockfish.

Anyone who has snorkeled or dived knows that it isn’t hard to find beautiful fish in the sea. But naturalist, author, and photographer David Hall has a particular way of romancing them. We are sharing his work with you today.

Beyond the sheer aesthetic beauty, Hall is obsessed with the science. He holds a B.S. in Zoology and he is a medical doctor, practicing many years as a radiologist before becoming a full-time wildlife photographer.

Initially, Hall took his underwater photographs purely to document the different species he encountered. But he quickly fell in love with their beauty, and he began to create underwater photographic works of art.

While most underwater photography is shot in warm, tropical waters, Hall has recently concentrated on colder climates. His most recent award-winning book, Beneath Cold Seas: The Underwater Wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, has been published in four countries and has received widespread critical acclaim. We featured it in our post 10 Gorgeous Books on Beautiful Fish Now.

Focusing on fish in the cold waters from northern California up through Alaska, Hall offers us a view we’ve never before seen. The tentacled moon jellyfish, transparent candy stripe shrimp, and 16-foot Pacific octopus, are breathtaking.

Wearing a 50-pound lead vest to keep him from bobbing up to the surface, and a special dry suit to protect him from the frigid temperatures, Hall takes his shots, both fully and partially submerged. They connect the viewer to the connections between land and sea.

His photos seem surreal or like they’ve been Photoshopped, but they are neither. They are, however, pure magic. The sockeye salmon in Hall’s half-above-half-below-water shots, for example, is totally mind-blowing.

Hall received a special award from the International Institute for Species Exploration for co-authoring the scientific description of one of the ten most significant new animal species.

Love is clearly Hall’s motivation. His love of science and wildlife powers every shot. His passions have been channeled towards environmental causes as well.

Hall also shares his knowledge by writing for photographic, scientific, natural history and diving-oriented publications, and is the author or co-author of eleven books.

Christopher Newbert, author of the best-selling Within a Rainbowed Sea, said: “David Hall shoots with the inquiring and exacting eye of a scientist yet the soul and vision of an artist, combining the two to produce uniquely beautiful underwater images that educate as much as they inspire.”

Hall has been photographing underwater life for over 35 years. His works have appeared in hundreds of books, calendars and periodicals, including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Natural History, Sierra, Time, Science, Scientific American, Geo, Terre Sauvage, and BBC Wildlife.

He has won two first place prizes in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, first place awards in the National Wildlife, Sierra, and Nature’s Best competitions, among others.

Hall lives in Woodstock, New York, with his wife, Gayle Jamison, who is also an award-winning wildlife photographer, and their two scuba diving children.

See more of Hall’s incredibly Beautiful Fish photos here.

Read more about Beautiful Fish, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Gorgeous Books on Beautiful Fish Now, New Sea Dragon and Seahorse Beauties Happening Now and A Return to Beauty for Fish Right Now.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Fish in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 03.07.15. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!