The creatures of the sea often look like creatures from space, which explains why the queen xenomorph in Alien bears more than a passing resemblance to the plankton Phronima sedentaria. Now, you may find these critters a bit creepy, but Kei Nomiyama considers them cute. "The charm and grace of oceanic creatures is almost beyond description," he says.
Nomiyama has spent five years shooting all manner of miniature monsters for his series Blackwater. The Japanese photographer tends to work on Omi Island in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where springtime brings an upwelling that pushes warmer water out from shore while drawing colder water in from below. This water teems with minuscule marine life.
Most of Nomiyama's subjects are plankton and other tiny creatures, things like krill (holoplankton) and larval fish and crustaceans (meroplankton). Tiny as they may be, Nomiyama finds them fascinating. "I respect all oceanic creatures," he says. "Even if they're small plankton, I can feel their strong life force."
His dives can reach depths of 50 feet. He prefers shooting at night because many plankton have positive phototaxis, meaning they're attracted to light. A Canon 5D Mark III with a 100mm macro lens in underwater housing lets him capture the animals in amazing detail. A strobe and a small focus light with a tight beam illuminate the dark water. The light reflects off the glass-like bodies of the plankton, creating a ghostly iridescent glow. Shooting something measured in millimeters in the dark is challenging. Nomiyama finds autofocus unreliable, so he manually locks the focus on his lens and moves the entire camera to focus the image.
Nomiyama's interest in undersea photography started in childhood when he saw Luc Besson's 1988 film Le Grand Bleu. As a boy, he wrapped his camera in a plastic bag so he could shoot beneath the sea. His equipment has grown more sophisticated, but his youthful sense of wonder remains.
