Orange Sea Lily (Nemaster rubiginosa) Bonaire

One of the reasons artists collect so much stuff; rocks, feathers, shells, crushed cans, you name it,  is because they have a talent for seeing elements of design in everything. Shapes and forms in the natural world awakens a sensibility that we recognize as having a “sense of rightness,”  Mark Getlein, Living With Art.

Sea Rod (Gorgonian coral) Bonaire

Focusing  on the natural world engages our imagination and inspires a creative response. Design principles from nature show up in science, engineering, architecture, art, textiles and fashion.

Sea Fan Pan (Gorgonia ventalina) Grand Cayman

The approach I took to photographing marine subjects for the book The Living Seas was to concentrate on  design within  marine life.  I  looked with curiosity at the line, light, shape and form I saw within the underwater world. Compositions  focused  on the central design feature of the subject I was studying.

A few years ago a project came along which gave me the opportunity to work with one of the finest designers  in America, Chip Reay.  Chip selected from my underwater images  ones which had  clean simple design .  He played with the photographs by making a duplicate of the image, flipping it and merging it with the original. the result was a wonderful mirror image, a delightful rorschach.  These three images are examples of his successful collaboration with my photographs.

To see more underwater images visit my Image Archive:   EastepPhotography.com