The Nightlife Aquatic
A nocturnal underwater spectacle that features creatures from the deep.
01Billions of animals live far away from the sun’s rays in the dark depths of the oceans. But at night, they ascend toward the surface for food.
02Scott Tuason is often right there, his camera poised to capture the incredible plankton and pelagic creatures that float before the lens: an octopus riding a jellyfish, a trevally surfing a mangrove leaf, a pair of translucent sea butterflies mating.
03Tuason has been shooting underwater photographs in the Philippines since his dad gave him his first waterproof camera three decades ago. "Almost every dive brings me close to something I have never seen before," he says.
04About five years ago, he was beginning to suspect he'd seen it all. But then he backrolled off a boat in open waters at night for the first time, and a mysterious new world opened up.
05Now on nights when the water is calm, he pulls on a wetsuit and loads all his camera gear onto his boat. A few miles out, he kills the engine and lowers a 65-foot nylon rope, weighted down and beaded with video lights and a floater.
06He dives in with his Nikon D5, encased in waterproof housing and connected to two strobes. The animals approach the lights, sparkling like jewels in the blackness. He moves toward them slowly and quietly, so as not to startle any of the creatures.
07A bigfin reef squid near Aurora, Philippines.
08“Some jellyfish under stress will retract their tentacles and just turn into a blob,” he says.
09All sorts of colorful characters swim by—like this jellyfish in Janao Bay.
10Tuason loves the feeling of being "in this black realm, a little nervous, a little excited," not knowing what he might see next.
11"Whatever the ocean wants to reveal to you on any given night"—like a juvenile trevally wedged between the tentacles and bell of a jellyfish for protection—"is always a gift."
