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Featured Underwater Photographer – Tom Shlesinger

One of the best ways to learn photography is to see other photographers’ work. We try to find some of the best underwater photographers in the world, and showcase their work, along with the gear they use, to help other aspiring photographers improve, learn new skills and get inspired.

This week we will feature the talented Tom Shlesinger!

Photo by Derya Akkaynak

About Tom

I grew up on the shores of the Red Sea, in Israel, where I did my first dive in 1988 at the age of six. Since then I have been fascinated with the diversity of life forms in the sea and their behavior, colors, shapes, and patterns.

Today, I am a marine ecologist (PhD), underwater photographer, and a naturalist. Most of my photographic and scientific journeys are intertwined. I focus on discovering unique moments of rare or unknown behavioral and reproductive phenomena of coral reef dwellers. In most parts of my work, I bring into the spotlight the backbone of the underwater tropical world: stony corals. They are the engineers, architects, and the artists that build and maintain the complex reef structures and breathe life into them. In my photography, I try to tell some of their stories and expose their incredible beauty while raising awareness to the threats they are facing.

Fizzy Sea. Exploring an area in Papua New Guinea where volcanic carbon dioxide fizzles from the seafloor through hydrothermal vents alongside surprisingly diverse and thriving coral reefs.

Tom’s Gear

Camera: Sony a7R mark III

Lenses: Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM

              Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS

Housing: Nauticam NA-A7RIII with a Nauticam 180mm optical-glass wide-angle dome port and a Nauticam N100 Macro Port

Strobes: Retra Flash Pro

Video Lights: Kraken Solar Flare Mini 8000 and Kraken Hydra 3500 WSRU.

Occasionally, I also use a compact Sony Rx100 M4 with a Fantasea housing.

Tom’s Work

Sea Star Spawning. A female warty sea star spawn bright orange eggs that will be carried away with the currents and will later be fertilized and develop into larvae in the open sea. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Come Out of Your Shell. An undulated moray eel that found a night shelter inside the shell of what used to be a giant clam. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Fishy Courtship. A male (upper one) bluetail trunkfish wooing the female (lower one). Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Busy Night on the Reef. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Floating in Black Space. A juvenile fish hitching a ride on top of a jellyfish throughout the dark black water. Photo taken at Palm Beach, Florida.
Coral Beauty. Remarkable patterns, shapes, and colors are being created by the stony corals that builds and maintains the world’s reefs. Photo taken at Papua New Guinea.
Under the Sea, Under the Sun. Reef-building corals rely on sunlight to get energy and grow as they live in a close relationship with tiny photosynthetic symbionts, embedded within the coral tissues. These symbionts transfer much of the photosynthesis products to their coral host, and thus provide much of its needed nutrition. Photo taken at Papua New Guinea.
Nightly Portrait of a Bigfin Reef Squid. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Colorful Sponge and Soft Coral Garden. Photo taken at Boynton Beach, Florida.
Underwater Colorful Snowstorm. A close-up of a branching coral spawn pinkish egg-and-sperm bundles. These bundles will be carried away by the currents, mixing in the water, until they finally encounter a match – a sperm fertilizes an egg and new life is created. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Sea Snail Spawning. A female toothed top shell sea snail spawn tiny greenish eggs that will be carried away with the currents and will later be fertilized and develop into larvae in the open sea. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Coral Close-up. A close look at a coral expanding its feeding tentacles. Although most stony corals rely on photosynthesis as their primary nutrition source, at night, they “open up” and prey upon tiny creatures drifting with the currents (generally called ‘plankton’). Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.
Coral Spawning: An Underwater Celebration. Feeding frenzy of fish feasting on the highly nutritious coral eggs that were just spawned by the branching corals during dusk. Photo taken at the Gulf of Aqaba and Eilat, Red Sea.

Follow Tom

Instagram

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP_hyOY7L_d9NDy9Yje7FRQ

Temporary webpage until a website will be ready: https://www.lensculture.com/tom-shlesinger

Jill B
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