{"id":22103,"date":"2022-06-13T08:28:35","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T12:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/?post_type=dan_alert_diver&p=22103"},"modified":"2023-05-18T17:43:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T21:43:23","slug":"gutsy-tuason-blackwater-magic","status":"publish","type":"dan_alert_diver","link":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/fr\/alert-diver\/article\/gutsy-tuason-blackwater-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Gutsy Tuason : La magie des eaux noires"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I FIRST MET SCOTT \u201cGUTSY\u201d TUASON<\/span> <\/strong>at a Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) trade show in 2016. \u201cYou need to see his blackwater work. You\u2019ll be blown away,\u201d Marc Bauman of Sam\u2019s Tours said before introducing us. Tuason had just published Eaux noires \/ Open Blue<\/em>. As we sat in the Sam\u2019s Tours booth, I thumbed through the book\u2019s pages amid the distractions of a trade show. I was indeed blown away and later was able to give the photos and captions the slower pace and appreciation that a fine coffee-table book deserves. The book features blackwater macro photography and pelagic encounters with whales and sharks (hence the \u201copen blue\u201d appellation), but blackwater photography has been Tuason\u2019s singular focus for quite some time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Gutsy
Gutsy Tuason<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

We connected on Instagram, and I became more familiar with his vision\u2019s excellence and eclectic nature with each photo. His macro photography \u2014 not just blackwater but also general coral reef minutiae \u2014 surprised me the most. So much of macro photography is reminiscent of a documentary, yet Tuason manages to infuse each image with artistic execution through his use of composition and light. Here is a glimpse of the man behind the photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pieuvre
Blackwater Long Arms<\/strong> Cephalopods are amazing creatures to shoot at night when they are often busy hunting and doing their thing. Like this longarm octopus in Anilao, they do not like cameras in their faces. Octopuses and squids can make you think they are staying put when they are actually slowly sinking deeper and deeper. Before you know it, you\u2019re alone at 130 feet on a blackwater dive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Atteindre un tel niveau d'excellence t\u00e9moigne d'un engagement \u00e0 faire de la photographie sous-marine un mode de vie. Comment en \u00eates-vous arriv\u00e9 l\u00e0 ?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Je pense que j'ai eu la r\u00e9v\u00e9lation dans les ann\u00e9es 1980 en voyant le travail que David Doubilet effectuait dans le cadre de l'initiative National Geographic<\/em>ce que vous faisiez en Skin Diver<\/em> et le travail novateur de Chris Newbert dans son livre Dans une mer arc-en-ciel<\/em>. By then I had a Nikonos V and a 35mm lens, but I wasn\u2019t getting photos like those I saw on your pages. Wide-angle shots were especially hard for me to figure out. Using a 35mm lens meant I had to get farther away if I wanted to shoot something large. I didn\u2019t know about water\u2019s density compared to air and the blue cast subjects have at more than about 4 feet away, so I kept shooting from 15 feet and coming home with blue and poorly focused photos. Then I figured out the secret sauce. You all had the 15mm lens for your Nikonos cameras and could capture large subjects from a short distance. It seems so obvious now, but it was a revelation then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Poisson-savon
Poisson-savon et poisson-chat<\/strong> Cette image a \u00e9t\u00e9 prise lors de ma premi\u00e8re plong\u00e9e \u00e0 Anilao apr\u00e8s le blocage de la pand\u00e9mie de 2020 aux Philippines. Je n'\u00e9tais jamais sorti de l'eau pendant neuf mois de ma vie. J'ai suivi ce banc de poissons-chats marins \u00e0 la recherche de nourriture pendant la majeure partie de la plong\u00e9e, en attendant le bon moment, lorsque le poisson-savon qui chassait avec eux s'est retrouv\u00e9 au beau milieu de tout cela.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"R\u00e9flexion
R\u00e9flexion sur le serpent de mer<\/strong> Walo-walo, le mot philippin pour serpent de mer, est d\u00e9riv\u00e9 du mot pour le nombre huit. Ce curieux serpent lime d'un m\u00e8tre cinquante (un constricteur non venimeux) s'est approch\u00e9 de moi \u00e0 la fin d'une plong\u00e9e en eaux noires dans le d\u00e9troit de Casiguran, aux Philippines. La soir\u00e9e \u00e9tait calme et je voulais exploiter son reflet sur l'eau, mais il continuait \u00e0 nager rapidement vers moi et \u00e0 passer en trombe comme si sa proie \u00e9tait derri\u00e8re moi. Le fait de me voir reculer pour prendre une photo de face a d\u00fb \u00eatre hilarant pour l'\u00e9quipage du bateau.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Comment en \u00eates-vous arriv\u00e9 l\u00e0 ? \u00c9tiez-vous d\u00e9j\u00e0 impliqu\u00e9 dans la photographie, ou \u00e9tiez-vous d'abord plongeur ?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that, we need to go back to my time as a child in Australia and then the Philippines. My mom is Australian, my dad is Filipino, and they met as students in Australia. We lived in Australia for a while, but I was too young for that to be formative for me in terms of diving. Once we moved to Manila, I was only 75 miles from Anilao. This was 1976, and I was just 8 years old, but we often went to Anilao. I snorkeled until I was about 10. My dad saw me tagging around in the shallow waters above him while he dived and finally said, \u201cHere\u2019s a regulator; follow me.\u201d By 1980 I\u2019d done my junior open-water course, and by 1985 I had my advanced certification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anilao remained a weekend getaway for my dad and me. By 1979 I had evolved from finishing whatever air was left in my dad\u2019s bottle to finally having my own gear. But I think the real game changer came when a Spanish professional photographer, who then-president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos had commissioned to do a coffee-table book on our country\u2019s visual wonders, hired my dad and Eduardo Cu Unjieng as dive guides. The team booked a three-week liveaboard dive trip to visit all the Philippine dive hotspots, which divers from North America travel around the world to visit. It was like a backyard to us, even though it was all new to me at the time. I had a 50-cubic-foot tank, a horse collar buoyancy compensator, and my own regulator, and I was keen to take it all in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"B\u00e9b\u00e9
B\u00e9b\u00e9 Ange <\/strong> I don\u2019t often shoot fish identification photos, but when I come across a juvenile emperor angelfish, I can\u2019t resist. They are so beautiful, and their pattern is hypnotic and seems to scream, \u201cShoot me, shoot me.\u201d And I did \u2014 about 30 frames, trying to get just one photo with less of a documentary feel. I also opened the aperture to soften the blow of the messy background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Requin
Requin Mako<\/strong> The mako shark has always been at the top of my list of sharks to see in the wild. After three days of bobbing around like a cork in the middle of the ocean off Isla Mujeres, Mexico, this gorgeous male briefly showed up. The unusual amount of sargassum in the water created a beautiful backdrop, but it isn\u2019t a good thing as an indicator of climate change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Qu'en est-il de la photographie sous-marine ? Votre p\u00e8re \u00e9tait-il lui aussi un passionn\u00e9 de photo ?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Il l'\u00e9tait. Il poss\u00e9dait un Nikonos III et essayait de conserver quelques images pour que je puisse les photographier \u00e0 la fin d'une plong\u00e9e. Je conservais ces images jusqu'\u00e0 ce que je voie quelque chose de significatif, puis je prenais la photo. Cela m'a inculqu\u00e9 une bonne discipline qui m'accompagne encore aujourd'hui. Pour mon 16e anniversaire, j'ai re\u00e7u le kit de mes r\u00eaves : un Nikonos V avec un objectif 35 mm et un stroboscope SB103. J'ai emport\u00e9 ce kit avec moi lorsque je suis all\u00e9 \u00e0 l'universit\u00e9 de Tampa, en Floride, et que je me suis inscrit au programme de biologie marine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure that I was passionate about marine biology, but it allowed me to dive. I soon figured out there was more to the program than diving, and most people who had a career in that field didn\u2019t dive much. By then I was getting into photography and took a fine art photo class from Lew Harris, who inspired me and remains a dear friend. They had only two classes, an introductory class and \u201cspecial problems,\u201d so I took the same problems class every semester for two years, always trying to shoot a better photo or do a better job with it in the darkroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, I got a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics, which I didn\u2019t need for my first jobs after college: teaching tennis and cleaning yacht hulls. I also worked in a framing shop to earn money, but in the end my dad told me what I already knew: \u201cYou aren\u2019t American, you are in jeopardy of overstaying your visa, and you need to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Adieu
Adieu aux dauphins<\/strong> Alors que nous \u00e9tions en mission en Australie occidentale pour le livre Project Dolphin, nous avons pris le bateau le dernier jour en pensant que nous avions d\u00e9j\u00e0 toutes nos images. Mais ce n'est jamais vraiment le cas. Avant notre dernier adieu aux dauphins de Monkey Mia, alors que le soleil se couchait, l'un des dauphins que le scientifique qui les \u00e9tudiait connaissait s'est approch\u00e9 de la proue pour nous dire au revoir. C'\u00e9tait l'un de ces moments rares et magiques qui me rappellent pourquoi je fais ce travail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Que signifiait pour vous le retour \u00e0 la maison en tant que jeune dipl\u00f4m\u00e9 en \u00e9conomie ?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cela signifiait travailler dans l'entreprise familiale. Nous \u00e9tions fabricants d'armes \u00e0 feu depuis 40 ans et je m'occupais de la vente en gros. Je reconnais aujourd'hui que je ne m'int\u00e9ressais pas \u00e0 l'entreprise. Il \u00e9tait difficile d'obtenir des cong\u00e9s et tout ce que je voulais, c'\u00e9tait m'absenter du travail pour plonger et prendre des photos. J'ai r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 cr\u00e9er une branche de l'entreprise qui me convenait mieux. Mon id\u00e9e \u00e9tait de cr\u00e9er un espace de vente au d\u00e9tail pour vendre du mat\u00e9riel photographique sous-marin et du mat\u00e9riel pour le golf, le tennis, le squash et la plong\u00e9e, en plus des armes \u00e0 feu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a photo print shop established in 1905 called Squires Bingham Photo Print, and they mostly created picture postcards. By the 1930s it had expanded to include sporting goods. My grandfather bought the business in 1941, shortly before the Japanese invaded the Philippines. I always found it interesting that the family business had its roots in photography before growing into our sporting goods store, Squires Sports Philippines. It is now my business, and while we sell dive gear, we aren\u2019t a dive shop. We don\u2019t do rentals or air fills, but we do have high-end retail. We also do dive travel, and I get to lead the tours. Before the pandemic, some of our more popular trips were to Tubbataha, Cocos, Socorro, Tonga, and Norway, where we focused on orcas. I will be back to Tubbataha soon, and it\u2019s a good feeling to know our travel business is getting active again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you still get to dive Anilao much since it\u2019s close to your home in Manila? I see so much amazing blackwater work from there, and I heard you started it in the Philippines. Is that true?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still dive Anilao on weekends whenever I can. It never gets old for me. As for blackwater, I went to Hawai\u02bbi for a wedding in 2012 and did the famous manta night dive in Kona. The local dive shop offered a second night dive on the manta trip to do a blackwater drift. I was in awe of the creatures we were seeing, but it also occurred to me that I could do this in other places. When I returned to the Philippines I tried the same protocols, but not without resistance. No one wanted to take me out on their boat late at night to drift along in deep water and shoot tiny things some people couldn\u2019t even see. But I persevered, and I think you could safely say I started blackwater diving in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huel temps vous a-t-il fallu pour rassembler les travaux que vous avez publi\u00e9s dans Eaux noires \/ Open Blue<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cela faisait environ trois ans que je prenais r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement des photos sur ce th\u00e8me. Je savais qu'il s'agirait d'une niche photographique importante et je voulais \u00eatre le premier \u00e0 publier un livre. Les identifications \u00e9taient difficiles. J'ai d'abord contact\u00e9 Jerry Allen, l'un des meilleurs sp\u00e9cialistes de l'identification des poissons. Il m'a aid\u00e9 quand il le pouvait, mais les animaux \u00e9taient si obscurs et si peu photographi\u00e9s dans la nature qu'il m'a envoy\u00e9 voir d'autres experts, comme un sp\u00e9cialiste des m\u00e9duses ou un gourou des c\u00e9phalopodes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quel est votre objectif principal en mati\u00e8re de photographie sous-marine aujourd'hui, et o\u00f9 souhaitez-vous voir vos photos publi\u00e9es ?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think books will always be my thing. My books on Anilao and Bahura are Philippines portfolio books, and I\u2019ve collaborated with others on books about seahorses, dolphins, Philippine coral reefs, and some topside subjects, like one I shot for the Manila Golf and Country Club. I\u2019ve done 11 books so far, and I have ideas for several more that I\u2019m currently working on. Magazine articles are not for me; the pace is too fast, and I can\u2019t deal with the whole writing-on-a-deadline routine. I like to let the ideas germinate more slowly and shoot to a theme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Pikachu\"
Pikachu<\/strong> For being such a slow animal to shoot, nudibranchs can be surprisingly fast when you are trying to set up with a snoot. This rare Pikachu nudibranch from Anilao resembles the Pok\u00e9mon character for which it is aptly named.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

En savoir plus<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

See more of Gutsy Tuason\u2019s work in a bonus photo gallery and in this vid\u00e9o<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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