Description
LOCATION: Papua New Guinea
STORY: As a fish geek, I love the hunt for the freakiest, most rate creatures in the sea. But as a photographer and artist, my eye is drawn to minimalism, simplicity, & beauty. So while I’m looking for that ultra-rare fish, every once in a while, I stumble across a natural formation that matches my vision, as sketched out in my “future shots ideas pad”. Yes, like many other shots in my portfolio, this was sketched years before taking the shot. And one of the beauties of living in Papua New Guinea on the boat for 2+ years, is that I have time to come back after another round of visualization. That was the case when I found this pristine cabbage coral, as my gear was set up for shooting other subjects. But I marked the location, and revisited the site the next month with the right lens, the right lighting, a plan, and the perfect conditions.
Like most of my images, I’m using an ultra-wide 160-degree fisheye lens, which exaggerates size and warps perspective. But underwater, that effect is my greatest asset. Primarily because it allows me to get much closer than most people would guess. I’m about 6-8′ away from the coral branch in the middle. Light fades off precipitously towards the edges, as the effect of my three flashes gets rapidly absorbed my the water by the time it travels ~3′ away to the coral at the corners. Now the crisp detail of the lit spiral becomes the focal point as per my vision, and the edges fade off, lending to the three-dimensional pop that I love to create.
And you know I love to title my images by giving a nod to musicians and artists I admire, like in Blinded by the Light, and Blue Man Group. The jazz-funk band Spyro Gyra may be a bit before my time, but my Dad made sure to introduce me to the good stuff early on! Actually, ~5 decades later, they’re still performing to this day! And for my sciency friends out there, yes, spirogyra is a type of freshwater algae.
For printing, Spiro Gyra has a nice neutral palate, which compliments the majority of the interior design plans we’re seeing this decade. By staying away from the bolder primary colors, it blends into a design scheme, rather than commanding attention from it. It’s also one of the very few pieces which has no true “up”, and can therefor be rotated to hang vertically. Spyro Gyra is flexible for cropping away from it’s native ratio of 3:2 and looks great as 2:1 or 3:1 panoramic art, and is available in huge art sizes up to a maximum of 150″ wide. You can purchase this luxury wall art online in our standard sizes, but if you’d like to discuss a custom crop or size, please contact one of our design consultants at the art gallery. Get it printed on aluminum if your décor is more contemporary and has good lighting, or get it printed on canvas if your décor is more transitional or traditional, and the lighting isn’t set up for highlighting artwork. For canvas pieces, our silver floater frame adds an elegant touch.