From February 6 to 9, 2020, the annual traditional diving exhibition Dive Show was held in Moscow in Sokolniki. There is so much to tell about it that I did not dare to sit down to write this report for a long time. Well firstly, the most important thing is exhibition
Until The Ice Melts
For the first time our exhibition is presented in such an amount – 20 the best works from the White Sea by Nikon Ambassador and our team leader photographer Viktor Lyagushkin.
Skeleton shrimps caprellas are sitting on a laminaria leaf. They are very funny animals, albeit very small: they grow to a maximum of 5 cm in length. Caprellas are very social: they communicate, eat and fight each other without stop.
One of my best stories about the White Sea is published on the Nikon website. How and under what conditions we have to work, what difficulties an underwater photographer encounters when shooting under the ice. Serious things and oddities in one bottle.
The story is divided into two parts, here are the links:
//nikonpro.ru/article/fantasticheskie-tvari-i-gde-oni-obitayut-fotosemka-na-belom-more-chast-1
//nikonpro.ru/article/fantasticheskie-tvari-i-gde-oni-obitayut-fotosemka-na-belom-more-chast-2
On December 11, 2019, Nikon Ambassador Viktor Lyagushkin met his fans at the Kiev School of Photography. The photographer told the audience about the progress of the project Until The Ice Melts, including the world’s first exhibition under the ice, showed videos and photographs taken during the project.
The pre-holiday situation in the city set Viktor in a cheerful mood, so the lecturer decided to appear in front of the audience, leaving the telephone box in the corner of the photo studio, as famous Doctor Who.
On November 15, there was a presentation of our Сalendar 2020 with photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin in the cafe “Our Circle”. It sounds very formal, but in fact it was a very chamber, almost family event.
Viktor told the guests about underwater animals that inhabit the White Sea, paid special attention to those whose photos were included in the Calendar. Bogdana Vashchenko spoke about climate change in the Russian Arctic and the impact of the change on the lives of animals and people.
Nikon Ambassador Viktor Lyagushkin and Nobel Laureate Alexei Kokorin at the opening of the exhibition
November 9, 2019 in the building of the Pomorsk Philharmonic in Arkhangelsk, the opening of the exhibition of photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin “Until The Ice Melts” took place in the form of a public talk where visitors could listen to Viktor’s stories about underwater photography, to ask climate scientist and Nobel laureate Alexei Kokorin, and attend a lecture by ecological journalist Bogdana Vashchenko “Climate change and people: what will happen to us?”
In total, 22 works from the White Sea cycle are presented at the exhibition, showing how marine life lives under ice. The exhibition runs until January 20, 2020.
“Angel Hunters” – our article with Viktor Lyagushin for the Russian diving magazine “Extreme Depth” about underwater world of the White Sea and the everyday life of the photographer on the Arctic Circle. Lyrics, biology and travel notes.
Nikon Ambassador Viktor Lyagushkin talks about the world’s first under ice photo exhibition “Until the Ice Melts”, which had been exhibited under the ice of the White Sea in February-April 2019. How the idea had been born, what difficulties had to be encountered in the process of its implementation, the author says.
Photography: Bogdana Vashchenko
My feature story for National Geographic Georgia, illustrated with Viktor Lyagushkin’s photography, about the Black Sea dolphins and dedicated scientists. During the work on the material I was deeply impressed with Professor Natia Kopaliani from Elias University in Tbilisi, who heads the program for studying and counting marine mammals of the Black Sea. There are only seven people in her group, but they manage with a huge amount of work: this includes counting dolphins and analysis of tissues of dead sea mammals for dangerous viruses and genetic analysis, assessing the diet of dolphins based on fish otoliths found in their stomachs, a lot of samples and so on. And finally, accurate and literate work with the obtained data, which then builds the most interesting scientific publications.
The work of the group made such an impression on me that I changed my original idea to devote an article to Black Sea dwellers only, shifting the emphasis to the work of scientists.
Material about our current project – the first world’s under the ice photo exhibition Until The Ice Melts by Viktor Lyagushkin on Republic.ru
The material is available by subscription. You may read one material simply by registering on their site.
The story about the world’s first under the ice exhibition, Until The Ice Melts, can be read in the German online magazine HEINZ for May 2019. It tells about the exhibition of photographs by Nikon ambassador Viktor Lyagushkin, which was exhibited under the ice of Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea from February 19 to 5 April 2019 on the basis of the Diving Centre and Lodge “Arctic Circle”.
The issue is available in English and German.