Capturing man’s encounters with ocean giants

 Underwater photographer Chang Nam-won’s humpback whale photographs on display


Korea’s first underwater photographer Chang Nam-won will offer a journey into the deep blue sea with awe-inspiring photos of humpback whales this month.

Chang’s photographs will be on display at Lotte Gallery from Wednesday, allowing audiences a moment to cool down from the heat and dive into the rarely-exposed world of humpback whales.

Chang spent five years capturing humpback whales living off Vauvau Island of the Kingdom of Tonga in South Pacific Ocean, some 1,900 kilometers from New Zealand. The sea is known as paradise for the whales to raise their offspring as it is surrounded by coral reefs.

“It’s really hard to photograph them because you have to dive in without air. They respond sensitively to any type of unfamiliar sound,” said Chang, adding that whales can hear sounds from afar as the speed of sound underwater is about 4.5 times faster than in the air.

His depiction of whales does more than document them ― it portrays the special commune between human beings and the giant mammal.

He captured a diver’s amazing interaction with nature’s giant in one photo that looks like the two are reaching out to each other.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture such a moment,” Chang said.

“You don’t know when you will meet a whale. They constantly rush away till you become familiar to them. But once you become a friend, they stay with you quite a long time,” he added.

Chang shared his knowhow of getting close to humpback whales.

“You approach them from behind because they recognize you as threatening from the front. You appear three to four times that way. You also need to be more careful when a mother humpback is with her baby,” Chang explained.

The exhibition will include a photo of a baby humpback swimming on its mother’s back.

Chang, a pioneer of underwater photography in Korea, started his career as photojournalist and later entered the world of underwater photography in the late 1970s after learning to scuba diving.

As most of the underwater photos were close-up shots, Chang began to take them with a wide angle lens, changing the course of underwater photography in Korea.

“It requires intensive training to shoot underwater. It’s a completely different world of photography. You need to be good at scuba diving as well as acquiring special photography skills,” said Chang.

The whale photographs convey his love and passion for the sea.

He dives 10 to 20 meters underwater without air for about a minute to photograph the whales.

He often faces life threatening moments when he runs out of air while taking good shots.

“The sea is both a frightening and comforting place. Its rapidly changing characteristics sometimes frighten us, but it’s also the comforting place that waits for me all the time. I can’t stop loving it,” said Chang.

The “Whale, the Moving Island” runs from Aug. 8-26 at the Lotte Gallery, located on the 12th and 14th floors of the Lotte Department Store in Sogong-dong, Seoul.

For more information, call (02) 726-4456.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)