INSIDE THE MIND AQUATIC
8/27/2007 4:34:30 PM by Sandy Lindsey
We scoured the globe to find the most diverse group of creative geniuses the world has to offer. These 10 men and women are among the greatest emerging photographers, designers and artists of our time. Their life stories are perhaps even more unique than the masterpieces they create. We hope their surreal journeys inspire a dream or two and yield a newfound appreciation for everything aquatic.
Compiled by Wave Editorial Staff
Todd Essick | Submerged Sensation
Often-nude models swim, dance and vogue with dolphins, sharks and a famous underwater statue in Todd Essick’s world, which combines the vision of a classical painter with the insight of a marine biologist. “I’ve got people constantly asking if they can be models for me,” he says. “My models are real people who are all artists themselves. I open the floor for their input on the shoots. I try to make each shoot an adventure for everyone involved while taking beautiful photographs in the process.” The result is his stunning book, Beginnings: Goddesses, Sirens and Mermaids. As Essick sets up his next shot, sharks swirl around a stunning model kneeling in the sand in a shimmering white gown. “My work is intense,” he says, speaking in particular of a recent shoot in Nassau where a shark got caught in the netting of the model’s costume. The following day had a model being nipped on the foot. The good news was that she required no stitches, just some precautionary antibiotics. “The nip was a reminder to us that anything can happen when dealing with wild animals,” he says. Throughout his varied career, which began on land, Essick and his camera have covered everything from daily news to drug and refugee interdiction in the Caribbean, riots in Miami, civil war in Central America and the Olympics. “At first I used scuba diving as an escape from the business of photojournalism,” he says, referring to his lauded work for the Associated Press. “If I have one long-term goal, it is to put together another retrospective in a large-scale coffeetable book with a top publisher showcasing animals that I haven’t shot yet. I also have a documentary in the works.”
Manny Diaz | Shore Muse
Manny Diaz strolls down a quiet beach as the morning sun shadows the sand with gentle splendor and the waves play musical counterpoint to the muffled sounds of beach-goers beginning to arrive. His discerning gaze scans the scene searching for individual miracles in the driftwood, shells and flotsam washed ashore. “I was born an artist,” he says. For years, Diaz, who has been a salesman of everything from shoes to jewelry for most of his life, created his pieces for himself. One thing led to another and finally he began to display his work in a few stores and fish markets. Word of mouth took care of the rest, which led to his first official showing earlier this year. His most outstanding individual piece resides in his backyard — and, he says, it may never be completed. “It’s a three- by five-foot piece of driftwood that I’ve been working on for the past 20 years,” he says. “I see it every day and find myself working on it again and again.” The good news for his fans is that his current favorite piece has already been completed. “It’s a pelican that was almost made by nature. I simply had to refine it, which took about three months.” As for future goals, Diaz is not looking to be the next overly marketed and branded marine artist. He wants to keep life simple. “I don’t need money to be happy,” he muses. “As long as I have sand and shells that I can see and touch, I have my dream life. What more could I want than the ocean as my creative backyard?”
Guy Harvey | Masterpiece Maker
What is 250-feet wide by 60-feet tall and will hang in the new Nova Southeastern University Sports Complex? The latest mural from prolific marine artist Guy Harvey. “I have a number of different projects in the works,” says Harvey. “I’ve been filming in Venezuela for the fourth season of my television series, Portraits From the Deep. It’s all about billfish. We went around the world to cover the different species — from Australia to Hawaii and all the way to the coast of West Africa, the Caribbean and more.” Harvey is also working on his new Caribbean flagship store on Grand Cayman. His shark and clownfish Florida license plates have been selling well and have raised significant funds for the Guy Harvey Research Institute. His lifetime spent on the water has led to some impressive moments. “My best day of fishing was on July 27, 1997,” he says. “It was on that day that I caught two blue marlin over 1,000 lbs. off the coast of Madeira, Spain. I’ve had a lot of underwater experiences, so for that day to stand out for me, you know it had to be really sensational!”
Carey Chen | Nautical Picasso
In his younger days, Carey Chen was a hardcore angler who fished a lot of tournaments. He was known for rigging tackle for the whole week prior to tournaments, getting up at 4 a.m. to catch bait and venture out in the roughest seas. All this passion for the sport is reflected in his marine artistry and ever-growing fame. This noted marine artist combines his love of fishing with his artistic talent on canvas, apparel and decorative tiles. “In the last few years, we discovered a very popular printing process called dye-sublimation which uses digital images to be printed on tiles,” he explains. “These tiles can be used in pools, bar tops, showers, flooring, decorative outdoor walls or framed as paintings.” Despite an increase of time spent on his art, his enthusiasm for sportfishing has not dimmed. “I think there’s nothing more exciting than a lit-up blue marlin behind your baits, but I’m just as happy on a flats boat casting into the mangroves for snook, tarpon and redfish or just cruising Biscayne Bay.” Sounds like a masterpiece in the making.
Samantha Scott | Lens Lover
Samantha Scott is sitting in an airport in Southeast Asia waiting for her flight back to the U.S., holding a cold Diet Coke in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Between sips and texts, she’s people-watching, planning her next photoshoot in her head, silently mulling it over until her vision is intact. Perhaps it’s because of this relentless addiction to perfection that Scott has earned some of the most prestigious awards in the industry including HOW’s “Top Emerging Artist.” Her career has taken her to more than 40 different countries on five continents, making her one of the most traveled photographers on the planet. But don’t think that all the notoriety has gone to this globetrotter’s head. She says she doesn’t remember her first published shoot, although she can’t forget her first billboard. “I was walking down the street one day when I turned the corner and saw one of my photographs up on a billboard,” she says. “It was surreal, to say the least.” Recently, motherhood has set in for Scott, whose toddler, Ziah, serves as her top model between magazine shoots. “She’s mommy’s little muse right now, but if she decides she wants to be President of the U.S., I’ll be the first to vote for her,” she says. So what inspires this picture-perfect international jetsetter besides her daughter? “Everyday life inspires me,” she says. “I never stop dreaming — or living.” And that, she says, is worth more than any photograph she could ever take.
Jose Amigo | Bikini Master
Jose Amigo is standing on the white-sand beaches of Miami Beach, surrounded by a dozen or so perfect-bellied, pretty-faced international female models. Although throngs of male onlookers are in awe, Amigo continues to click his camera, focused on his carefully crafted vision of the photographic masterpiece he’s creating. “Personality is the single most important factor in any shoot,” says Amigo, who himself is quite a charmer. “Without that, everything — including the photos — is empty.” Having shot covers and editorials for international editions of Marie Claire, FHM, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Maxim and Men’s Health as well as a barrage of other national and international titles, Amigo is not a novice to the Photoshopped perfection of fashion photography, although his beginnings were anything but airbrushed. “I was raised in the remote agricultural region of the Philippines on the rugged yet beautiful island of Mindanao,” says Amigo. “Those surroundings really made me appreciate a lot of what’s underneath the beauty — it’s just like a fast, flashy sportscar that looks flawless in every way, but deep down inside, there’s grease somewhere in there making everything work — there’s nothing like the feeling of documenting a tiny window of time on film…every shoot is a little visual taste of a moment in time with everyone taking part in the final product.” Upon arriving in the U.S., Amigo went to work as a migrant worker picking vegetables in the fields of eastern North Carolina. It was at this time that his father bought him his first camera. “I started shooting everything around me including my sisters, who were aspiring models. My first professional portfolio included everything from fashion to migrant workers, policemen, farmers and U.S. soldiers. Later, I expanded my portfolio when I hitchhiked around the U.S. for two years, taking photos of the entire experience along the way.” Although Amigo has shot overseas in areas including Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the Pacific Islands, he prefers shooting in the U.S. “America is one of the purest, cleanest, happiest and most rugged countries in the world,” he says. “I invested in modifying my truck by adding suspension, juicing up the engine and installing larger tires so I could get to any spot on America’s varied landscape, no matter how big the obstacle or how high the mountain.” So how does The Mrs. feel about the constant influx of beautiful women surrounding her husband every day? “It doesn’t bother me at all,” says wife Kim. “He’s a very loyal person — dedicated to people, places, crew, friends and family. He sees the model as an artist sees a blank canvas, able to transform it into whatever masterpiece he envisions.” As for their son, Logan, Amigo says his one-year-old baby boy is his favorite model. “I’m documenting his life,” he says. “During photoshoots, I try to sneak him into a shot or two with the models. When he turns 18, I’ll tell him they were his babysitters.”
Mirla Sabino | Sand Glam
Surrounded by skinny models in dazzling bikinis, Mirla Sabino is totally in her element. Though it has only been four years since she was invited by Agua de Coco swimwear to tailor their products to the international market — now known as Agua de Coco by Mirla Sabino — and two years since she launched her own line, ANK, she has reached many notable pinnacles. Sabino, who uses her “beach roots to fine-tune the style of her garments,” had her totally adjustable swimsuit end up on the cover of Sports Illustrated. “That swimsuit style is still our top seller, since women can use it according to the occasion,” she beams. Another career high occurred when Gisele Bündchen wore one of her suits. “This was especially thrilling because she’s the top model worldwide and hails from my own country, Brazil. To see her wearing one of my suits on the first spread of a Victoria’s Secret catalog was surreal,” Sabino gushes proudly. But don’t think of this as beginner’s luck: The creative Sabino has always been an entrepreneur. “My first company was a trade company where I was trading ship parts and machinery that cleans the ocean whenever there’s an oil spill,” she reminisces. “I also worked as a distributor of Cooper tires to Brazil. One day I woke up and felt the need for more glamour in my life, and since lots of people throughout my life have always complimented my good taste and my clothes, I realized that fashion was it.”
John B. Gynell | Shooting Star
Frame the picture, adjust the focus...snap. John B. Gynell’s most memorable photo is of a 4x5 camera sitting in four feet of saltwater. “The college I went to allowed overnight checkout of camera kits to extend into weeks during the quiet summer months if you booked early enough,” he explains. “They don’t let you leave school with the camera, let alone the state, or the country. Once, I spent an entire summer shooting Georgetown, Exuma, with one of their cameras.” In the ensuing decade, this Savannah College of Art and Design grad has gone far. The Bahamas National Trust has shown his work at their headquarters in Nassau for the Annual Art Festival; he was recently commissioned by Allan Saunders Design to produce a 60 x 80-inch print for a private client whose home and artwork were featured in the Miami Beach Gardens Tour; and the prestigious Geneva watch company Baume & Mercier sponsored a solo exhibition of his fine Bahamian landscapes titled Time is Endless. “I just recently spent time photographing the island of South Andros, as the guest of Tiamo Resort, like a guest-artist-in-residence program,” he says proudly. “The owners love my work and invited me down to photograph their island. They are going to feature my work in their beach bungalows and guest lodge.” Gynell is also a staunch supporter of ecological conservation and his association with Tiamo furthers that effort. “Tiamo is an eco-resort run on 100 percent solar power, for sustainable tourism,” he explains. “We both share a unique vision of what the Bahamas needs to do for future generations to enjoy the beauty of these pristine islands.” And, of course, leave them intact for future marine photographers.
Adrian Gray | Fish Man
Whether in his studio painting a marine masterpiece or in his office at the International Gamefish Association (IGFA) where he works as the institution’s full-time graphic artist, Adrian Gray is surrounded by fish. “Fishing is what I was placed on Earth to do,” he says. “If it’s lightning and blowing 30 knots...I’m inside painting fish. From when I was two years old, I have always had a fascination with fish.” Gray isn’t kidding. In fact, he attended the University of Miami for Marine Sciences just so that he might be able to pursue a fishing-related career. “A truly zany moment happened in 2002 when we first started swordfishing off Miami and caught more than we bargained for,” says Gray. “At 10 p.m., we hooked into something that almost spooled our 50-wide. We chased the animal and regained increments of line for a good five hours. We could not get the creature past the 200-foot depth mark on the line.” The battle lasted for eight hours with four exhausted anglers rotating rod and reel. “At 7:00 a.m. we saw it,” he recalls. “It came up beside the boat, lit up in electric blues and purples and a bright sheen of silver. It was an awe-inspiring sight. We landed the monster swordfish 12 hours after the initial hook-up. The sight of that magnificent swordfish is what inspired me to pick up the paints and brushes. The first fish I painted was that swordfish.”
Peter Caspari | Click King
Hanging out of a helicopter, Peter Caspari focuses in and snaps a photo of the speedboat racing along beneath him at 70 mph. His is not a career for the faint-hearted. “I have climbed up the towers of sportsfishing boats in 8- to 12-foot seas,” he says over the sound of the helicopter blades. “I tromped through the rainforests of Costa Rica; did a tail-hook landing on an aircraft carrier; and photographed a mid-air refueling operation of F-16 fighter jets from aboard a KC-135.” Of the 50,000-plus photos Caspari takes each year, he says he has several favorites. “What is surprising to me is that all of them were taken instinctively. The first shot is one of the Hillsboro Inlet light house. I had my back to the lighthouse shooting passing boats in a fishing tournament. I just happened to turn around and saw this spectacular sight of the sun rising behind the lighthouse.” This photo became the front cover of Billfishing Magazine. “The second shot that I consider a favorite,” he continues, “is when I was doing a photoshoot from a helicopter over Bimini for Wave. My pilot was attempting to maneuver around some rain clouds. Suddenly, we were in a position over Bimini and witnessed an emerging rainbow over the island. I shot a sequence of photos and it made the cover.” The cover, appearing on the magazine’s August 2006 edition, has since been nominated for several national awards. In his spare time, Caspari works to establish a non-profit organization, iReachAmerica, Inc., whose mission is to assist American heroes and their return to the workplace.