During April and May 2016, we are hosting “Cape Town’s Underwater Wilderness”, an underwater photography exhibition featuring spectacular images, by nine of South Africa’s top photographers, dedicated to the marine world found off the coast of the Western Cape. Eighty of the photos will be sold at R1 000 each and each photographer’s top photo will be offered up on auction. All funds raised will be donated to Shark Spotters and will be used for a shark research project.
Allen Walker is an underwater photographer based in KwaZulu-Natal.
“I fell in love with underwater photography because of its essence, difficulty and rawness, which allows the photographer the freedom to paint his canvas and create fine art that tells a story.
“Underwater photography is most probably the truest form of wildlife photography that any photographer can experience. The underwater photographer is extremely limited by equipment and fully exposed to nature and its elements in every conceivable way – no bird hides, 4X4s, barriers and so on.
“Just imagine walking around a game reserve amongst lions, leopards, wild dogs, elephant, buffalo and rhino with the normal non-threatening buck or bush pigs around you. A raw nervous energy heightens your senses, stirs your emotions and enhances your creativity. You have the freedom to photograph these awesome animals and, of course, rely on the fact that they are not planning to eat you. Well, that’s underwater photography in a nutshell and that’s why I find this genre of photography most appealing.
“The studio is a moving, changing and all-encompassing, live canvas. It has texture and substance that can be touched and felt, very unlike air. The medium is constantly changing and it has many limitations, e.g. time, movement, density, light and so on, making it a very demanding yet stimulating to work in. Taking it to the “next level” is my constant goal and I love the challenge to 'get the shot'!
"The Cape coast is such a dynamic and exciting location to capture great events and images. My entire portfolio of Cape waters was captured in a mere seven days! Not many places in the world can compete with that."
Be sure to check out Allen's photography, along with the work of eight other photographers when you visit the Aquarium in April and May! If you are interested in purchasing any of the prints, please email members@aquarium.co.za.
The exhibition is co-sponsored by Orms Print Room & Framing, Nauticam and Dive Action.
