Whale calf - Reiko Takahashi
Reiko Takahashi grew up by the ocean in Japan and became passionate about diving about 12 years ago after being interested in photography on land. She was working as an engineer and in 2018 she went swimming with humpback whales for the first time near Okinawa, Japan. The photographs she took here would later win her the grand prize at the 2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest. Her photographs have since been published internationally and she carers deeply about the ocean. In this brief interview, we ask Reiko more about that photograph and why she takes photographs.
"I want to see this beautiful whale calf again, I felt the severity of nature and strength of life"(Reiko Takahashi)
Introduction
I live in the north of Japan (kiakami-city, iwate-pref) and Until 2018 I was a semiconductor engineer. I was shooting while working as an office worker. However, I quit my job last August and focused on the photography.
I shoot the scene that I was impressed. I would like to share the excitement with that photos. We live on the land of the earth and the view of the underwater has a view different from the land we live in living with organisms, plants, minerals that are all slightly different. I think the underwater is similar to the climbing of Everest; equipment such as air tank is necessary because there is no air. It is not a place where we can easily go. For me, it is a special and sacred place. The underwater which accounts for 70% of the earth is the place of adventure where we can encounter “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
Whale Sharks swimming among humans. (Reiko Takahashi)
The award winning photograph:
I slowly approached the whale calf and pressed the shutter; It was a special scene for me and the calf was completely relaxed and surfaced the water.
I fell perfectly in love with the calf with a curious, big beautiful tail and I got a little sad because the calf was bruises all over. Did you get involved in the fight between male whales? Have you been attacked by other creature? I also seemed to be due to that curiosity of the calf. I felt the severity of nature and the strength of life, looking at the calf swimming full of bruises. I expressed the impression with a photo of a tail of the calf.
Shark bait ball in Socorro (Reiko Takahashi)
Equipment:
I mainly use Olympus and nikon. The shooting equipment of the winner Natgeo photo of "Mermaid" is here: Olympus Pen E-PL7 with Housing PT-EP12, InonWide conversion lenz UWL-H100 and Inon Dome lenz unit2. I have a small body, so the weight and mobility of the equipment is important. I am using Olympus (wide) when the current is fast or it has to be lightweight. Since Nikon (D 810 & D 800) has all of the lens lineup, it is the main equipment.
A school of spotted eagle ray (Reiko Takahashi)