Midnight Dance

Every night as the sun sets off the Big Island of Hawaii groups of reef manta rays gather to feed on plankton attracted by surface lights.

The mantas dance in the darkness, performing acrobatic flips and tight turns under the harsh spotlights. They swim with their mouths agape using their cephalic fins and gills to filter gulps of plankton to their tiny gullets. At times several mantas can be vying for the plankton under the lights such that they collide and bump each other, often seemingly with surprise. 

The contrast of their white bellies with their black backs and the inky night sea suits black & white photography. In the featureless dark ocean the mantas appear as floating, ghost-like apparitions. This artwork was created over several evenings freediving with these feeding giants with a single black & white camera.

I remember the dives as chaotic, and at the same time, quiet and meditative.