Photography
I’ve never experienced—deep space, unexplored regions of the oceans, sometimes the discovery of a new species. Certainly I was not expecting a startling new image to come out of Tobermory, Ontario. Billing itself as the dive capitol of Canada, Tobermory is for Ontario divers what peanut butter and jam is for school lunches—a comforting old standby that still has the capacity to please. But last winter my perceptions were turned upside-down. That began when someone began to post photos in a Facebook dive group called Canadian Diver. The images grabbed my attention immediately: they were of a Tobermory like I’d never seen it before. As the winter passed, more images appeared, each more startling and beautiful than the last. I set out to find out
A 30 Magazine
unique image is a rare occurrence. These days, if I see one at all, it’s usually associated with worlds
more about the man and the pictures. What I found was quite
remarkable. The man behind the pictures is Jerzy Kowalczuk (www.
underwaterpixels.com). He came to Canada 22 years ago from Poland with an eight-year stop in South Africa in between. What’s really astonishing is that he only started shooting pictures seriously in the last few years. Clearly his progress has been nothing short of spectacular. The idea for his ice diving series came to him in April of 2014 when he got a call from friend Zsolt Vincze, who lives and works in Tobermory. He asked Jerzy if he was interested in coming up and doing a little winter diving. That got Jerzy’s creative juices flowing: “I started wondering what the light would be like passing through the ice,” says Jerzy. He decided to go up one weekend and see. So he recruited dive buddy Steve Kim and the two headed up one weekend to take some photos. Now April may not sound like
much of a challenge for some divers in Canada, but you have to remember that the last two
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68