AD 2015 Q4

IMAGING
SHOOTER
The Mediterranean Sea is known for its spectacularly
clear water, particularly in the south of France. But this
clarity is not found off Montpellier, where Ballesta grew
up. A far cry from the French Riviera, Montpellier’s
coastline is characterized by muddy green water, rough
seas and poor visibility. The snorkeling and diving are
arduous, and the environment does not readily reveal
charismatic sea creatures. In fact, the visibility is often so
poor you can see your watch or dive computer and little
more. But such an environment will teach someone who
cares to look for marine life how to detect it. Studying
this almost imperceptible marine life was Ballesta’s
childhood passion and likely the first steps along his
path of an illustrious career as a marine scientist and an
underwater photographer of the highest caliber.
Like many underwater photographers, Ballesta was first
inspired by the exploits of Capt. Jacques Cousteau. But as
a child watching the documentaries on French television,
he didn’t want to be a filmmaker like Cousteau or the
skipper of the Calypso. In his fantasies he was the marine
biologist on board — the man who would find the rare
and unusual creatures and point them out to Cousteau.
Cousteau died when Ballesta was a teenager, which was a
great disappointment to the young man. He would have
to find another path that related to the sea.
His first passion for the ocean world was to observe it;
his second was talking about what he saw. He would bore
friends and family with constant stories about the weird
and wonderful creatures he discovered in Montpellier’s
turbid waters. Eventually one of these offshore encounters
drove him to try underwater photography.
While looking for a deep wreck to dive, Ballesta
and his buddy saw the giant dorsal fins of a school of
basking sharks swimming nearby. The water was cold,
dark and dirty, but he swam with the baskers. He didn’t
have words in his vocabulary to describe what he had
seen when he went home to his parents, and in their
eyes he could see skepticism. Right then he knew he
needed an underwater camera, and his dad agreed to
buy him a Formaplex Aquamatic. The camera used 126
film (28 mm square), and flashbulbs provided the only
artificial light. But as crude as the system was, he could
take pictures underwater.
A few years later he convinced his dad to buy him
his first modern camera, a Nikonos V with an SB-105
flash. Once Ballesta finished his education and had an
assignment for a science expedition in French Polynesia,
he went to the bank to get a loan for a Nikonos RS.
Finding the versatility of a housed single-lens reflex
(SLR) camera better suited to his needs, he bought a
Nikon F100 and a Seacam underwater housing, and
he has stayed with those two brands ever since. Today
his favorite camera is a Nikon D4S because of its ISO
sensitivity and ability to perform well in low-light
situations (he sometimes uses ISO settings as high as
30,000 for low ambient light). He uses a housing with a
special deepwater dome port to withstand the crushing
pressures of the deep depths to which he dives.
After earning his master’s degree in marine ecology
at the University of Montpellier, Ballesta and three
partners founded Andromede Oceanologie, a firm
specializing in underwater mapping of the seafloor,
studies of pollution and surveys of harbors and other
coastal areas. Andromede Oceanologie also conducts
pure research, particularly in deep Mediterranean
ecosystems. To this end Ballesta and his partner, Pierre
Decamp, have developed competency for rebreather
diving in depths to 600 feet. But this is not deep diving
for its own sake; it’s expedition diving for the purpose
of solving scientific mysteries, producing media content
such as photo galleries or books, and enhancing human
knowledge about dive technology and physiology.
STEPHEN FRINK// I think I first became aware of
your work through a very unusual series of images of
a mantis shrimp catching a fish (see photos on Page
99). This was in 1999, so it almost had to have been
made with film. I thought these photos were cutting
edge at the time, and they’re still quite innovative.
How did you get the shots?
LAURENT BALLESTA// As a marine biologist I knew
that the mantis shrimp has a punch of amazing speed —
some say like the speed of a bullet. I understood that to
capture that speed would be quite a challenge. I was at
Loloata Resort near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
and the guides there knew of a large and relatively
accessible mantis shrimp at a nearby reef. So the
elements were right to try for the shot, but I still needed
it to catch a fish and then capture that on film.
I spent two days hoping to get the shot by luck —
well, maybe a little more than luck for I confess I tried to
coax a few fish into striking range of the mantis shrimp.
But I think the reef fish knew very well where this
mantis shrimp lived and wouldn’t go near its tunnel on
the seafloor. Finally I set up my housed Nikon F100 on a
tripod with a cable release and aimed the strobes toward
where the shrimp would exit its hole. I set the motor
drive to the highest speed and the strobes to the lowest
power so they could recycle almost immediately for a
burst of 10 or 12 frames. I did a test to find the right
aperture, again for the distance at which the mantis
shrimp would be when attacking prey in ambush. Then
I swam away and left it all in place overnight. This led
98 | FALL 2015