WAYNE LEVIN His pictures express the heart of Poseidon's philosophy

The photographer Wayne Levin is best known for his extraordinary underwater pictures. This stunning body of work takes us into the unknown: the strange, sometimes murky undersea world. Working almost exclusively in black and white, he makes us look afresh at the ocean and changes our assumptions about the art of photography itself.

His pictures express the heart of the Poseidon experience – the freedom and human curiosity: the very reasons we dive. For that reason a selection of Wayne Levin images have been chosen as a reflection of the company’s values and philosophy.

Wayne Levin and Poseidon are natural partners, sharing a sense of awe and wonderment, and a desire to explore and experience, without intruding or disturbing the ecology of the deep.

Appropriately, Wayne Levin is interested not only in seascapes and animals, but in the ocean itself: the texture, movement and volume of the water. It is this visceral sense of power– of how it feels to be right there within the vastness of the ocean - that accords perfectly with Poseidon’s dedication to a pure, unrestricted diving experience.

Early in his underwater career, Wayne Levin sensed that the modern formula of colour film and flash illumination was a constraint on his vision, as the water filtered out most of the spectrum and the flash restricted his viewpoint. By changing to black and white, and using natural light, he saw the mystery of the ocean unfolding before him. Back on shore, he again turned to traditional techniques, adjusting contrast in the darkroom and pre-fogging the paper to breathe a sense of depth into individual prints: like the dives themselves, no two are ever exactly alike. Wayne Levin lives in Honolulu with his wife and daughter.

Poseidon: How did you start in photography?
Wayne Levin: Like many photographers, it all started with my first camera. My father gave me a box Brownie for my birthday when I was 12. I was really fortunate because he also gave me a developing kit, which meant I could take all the pictures I wanted, and see the results quickly.

After high school I attended the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, but I left in 1964. It was a key time for the civil rights movement, and I worked for several years with the Congress of Racial Equality and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Of course, leaving college put an end to my deferment and I came close to getting drafted; but I had become fascinated with the sea as a teenager racing sailboats in California, so I joined the Navy instead. So even at this early point, the two things were coming together: my photography and my interest in everything to do with the sea.

P: Why Hawaii?
WL: I was born in Los Angeles, but the family moved to Hawaii while I was away in the Navy. So that’s where I went when I was discharged. Then I got the travel bug and took off for a year and a half trip around the world. When I got back, I worked for several years with the Hawaiian photographer Robert Wenkham and the architectural photographer Augie Salbosa, and then set up my own commercial photography business. I also went back to school, to complete my photographic education.

P: Would you describe yourself as an environmental activist?
WL: I’m interested in the survival of the planet, and preserving the environment, and I think the camera is a good way to highlight the issues. So in that way, yes. But I’m also interested in the human side.  I think the way we treat each other reflects the way we treat the planet, and vice versa.
For example, a few years ago I worked with some other photographers to record the story of the Island of Kaho`olawe and its misuse by the military – and then its restoration. I think that was an important story to tell.

P: Which piece of work are you most proud of?
WL: I try not to do anything I won’t be proud of! But something that really inspired me was documenting the settlement at Kalaupapa on Molokai. I went back several times in the mid-eighties. The pictures were taken using black and white film and a 4x5 view camera, which may sound old-fashioned, but the quality of the images is hard to beat. And with the pace of life being so much slower, it felt appropriate to relax a little and take time to set up each shot. On a personal level, some of my favourite pictures are the underwater portraits of my daughter Elise learning to swim. She was just a baby, and her natural interaction with the ocean was fascinating.

P: When did you start taking pictures underwater?
WL: When I was teaching photography at the University of Hawaii I bought myself a Nikonos IV underwater camera and began taking underwater pictures of surfers. Later on, a friend suggested taking pictures of the dolphins in Kealakekua Bay. That led to magazine assignments throughout the Pacific and Caribbean.

P: Why black and white?
WL: I work with black and white for the most part, because it means I don’t have to rely on flash, so I don’t have to get up close all the time. I can take pictures from further away, and capture all the detail on a shipwreck or seascape. I also like the ambiguity – sometimes you’re unsure whether you’re looking at the ocean or the air.

P: Are divers and surfers your main interest?
WL: I’m interested in the ocean and everything in it. I try to show as much as possible - the seascapes, plants and animals, and the human influences: surfers, canoe paddlers, divers, swimmers, and of course shipwrecks. I spent a couple of years photographing aquariums in the US and Japan. I think it’s fascinating that society has created these high-tech mini oceans, just as the real ones have become endangered. Again, it’s about respecting humans and the planet – two sides of the same coin.

P: What are you working on at the moment?
WL: In 2009 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) invited me to join one of their research cruises to the remote Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands). I was photographing above and under the water and the pictures will form a major exhibition in Honolulu in 2010. I also have two book projects on my desk. And I like to get in the water at least twice a week.