Photographer Brian Skerry: Images to Change the World

March 6, 2012

Award-winning National Geographic photojournalist Brian Skerry chatted with Mission Blue about his adventures lost under Arctic ice, exploring ship wrecks, and hanging out with 70-ton whales.

So why underwater photography?

I guess I was drawn to photography because I was a diver first. I had an innate desire to be an ocean explorer. After I became a certified diver, I attended a diving conference where photographers and filmmakers were showing their work. I had this epiphany where I realized I could be an explorer of the ocean, but do it with a camera. I was 17 years old. Before that, I was interested in photos but not passionately; I was more interested in stories and story telling. I was always a very visual person. I loved adventure, and loved the ocean. But I was slow to make the connection [between the ocean and photography] until I saw all that happening at the show. It’s the perfect job for me.

What have you been up to last week off the coast of Costa Rica?

I’m working on a story for National Geographic on seamounts, or underwater mountains. They’re a very unique habitat in the ocean. There are more mountains in the ocean than on land. They’re not well understood and only a few are explored, but they have unique biodiversity and are under threat because fishing fleets targeting them as some of the last hotspots where some types of fish can be found. We’ll introduce readers to what a seamount is and why they’re important.

What’s the craziest underwater mission you’ve been on? Have you ever had any close calls?

During my 35 years of diving I’ve had my share of close calls for sure. For example, I’ve been lost under Arctic ice for a few moments. During a dive in Ireland, we came up and the boat never saw us. We ended up getting picked up by fishing boat after 2 hours drifting in the sea. I was entangled in fishing line near the Andrea Doria. My gear was snagged and I had to cut myself out. I’ve been grabbed by Humboldt squid, nipped by sharks, and chased by sperm whales in Azores. I’ve had a handful of dicey moments, but actually it’s the countless fantastic moments that you really remember.

Can you tell me about some of those fantastic moments?

Sometimes I think of my career as one long stream of extraordinary encounters—one after another. The story for National Geographic on right whales is an example. We went to photograph a newly discovered population of right whales in Antarctica. It was highly speculative what we’d find since no one had been there before. We spent 3 weeks on an 82-foot sailboat. Whenever I was in the water, the whales would come up; they were very curious. These 45-foot, 70-ton right whales chose to interact with me. It’s the same with many creatures. The same thing happened with an oceanic white tip shark, an animal very close to extinction in the Bahamas. I only had one encounter but it was truly off the scale. A female circled me and let me photograph her. I’ve had encounters with 1,200 pound giant tuna and giant stingrays in New Zealand. One after another, after another. All animals interest me. Tiny creature like hermit crabs the size of a grain of rice can be stunning, not just big animals. I’m also interested in the connection all animals have to each other, the interdependence. A healthy ecosystem depends on everything working together. This is what drives me and defines the stories I try to tell to show people what matters.

What’s your favorite ocean destination?

That’s very, very difficult. There are so many great ones. I would actually say one of my very favorites is New Zealand. I’ve had such great luck there. There’s such a range of habitats from the North Island to the South Island. They’re pretty strong on conservation, too, so places there are doing very well. There is ecological resilience and the comeback of life is strong. I’ve done two or three stories there so far. I’m intrigued to go back there and spend more time. I love cold-water places too, like Canada and British Columbia. And my native New England, too.

Do you have a favorite photo of all time?

That’s so hard, like picking a favorite child. There’s maybe a couple, both for very different reasons. One picture is of my assistant with a right whale on the bottom of the ocean. It’s a striking photo of a human next to one of the world’s giants. It’s helpful to show this as a man and nature sort of theme, or as an animal interacting with a human. On other end of spectrum, there’s the photo of a dead thresher shark in a gillnet, looking almost like its crucified. It tells the story of global fisheries and speaks to the problem of 100 million sharks being killed every year on planet Earth. The photo gave empathy to that issue and had a big impact on protecting sharks.

Currently, what’s the biggest ocean issue or problem in your opinion?

I probably would give a different kind of answer to that. In my opinion, the biggest problem is that most folks in the world don’t truly appreciate that the ocean is in trouble. Many people’s belief is that the ocean is limitless, full of bounty. We need to show ocean is fragile. The single biggest problem is climate change—it affects so many things, like coral bleaching and ocean acidification. But the ocean is suffering death by 1,000 cuts from fishing, pollution, plastics, acidification—they all cause tremendous impacts. The simple answer is that we need more awareness. From there, if I had to prioritize, I’d say climate change.

What role do you think photography can play in conservation?

I think photography plays a huge role in raising awareness in anything. I think human beings are very visual creatures. We remember events in modern history through photography. The Kennedy assassination, man walking on the moon—these are what we picture when we think about iconic photos. Conservation needs that same sort of effort. We need people not only making beautiful photographs but also depicting problems. Most people aren’t diving every day or going into the ocean; they have no idea. A single iconic, powerful photo can last in memory for a lifetime and change a person’s behavior. We need good science but also great imagery to help move the agenda forward.