Dive into the beautiful underwater imagery of marine scientist, Martin Stevens. Explore the power these images have to connect us to the ocean.

Martin’s work aims to showcase the species which go overlooked and represent them in a way which perhaps people aren’t used to seeing them, the details of some of the smaller species are incredible and much like close-up photography on land, they take you into another world but this time below the surface.

“I've always loved photography and it's been an important component of my research. I started taking underwater images a few years ago, but only sporadically. Then, more recently, I wanted to really showcase some of the amazing diversity of life and remarkable creatures that live in the intertidal zone, and in particular their incredible coloration and behaviour.”

As a photographer myself I am inspired by those who take images of places I have never encountered and as a result of viewing Martin’s imagery through the pandemic, I was inspired to start going into the water more regularly to see which species I could name and recognise from the ones he had shared on his social media (@sensoryecology). The power to create both educational and beautiful imagery is a difficult balance to successfully achieve but Martin does this extremely well through the beautiful natural lighting and colours.

“For me it's always been really important to get out and connect with nature, and like many people this has been especially important during the pandemic. I'm really fortunate that I live close to the sea and other wild areas, and hopefully people have taken pleasure from seeing the animals I've been able to document.”

With the majority of images being in the UK, they attract people to visit these locations and see the beauty of the places easily accessible to them which are also home to magnificent creatures and clear waters (weather dependent!) .

“In the last year or so I began trying to photo some of the creatures that live deeper down, and how they live. Something I've loved doing has been to show how beautiful they are, and how stunning the underwater worlds in the UK are (at least when the visibility is good!).”

With the ability to represent amazing and overlooked species in this way which attract people to build their own connections to the ocean- like I did, then you have the platform to talk about human impacts to these habitats, and what can be done to help these amazing creatures and maintain this beautiful underwater landscape which exists in the UK. Which is a large part of the representation of Martin’s images.

A further aspect which is hugely important about Martin’s work and starting out as a photographer is the accessibility to equipment, so much of professional photographers work is taken using equipment which very few of us can actually afford and get the most out of. For Martin’s images he uses a compact camera for the close-up images and a Go Pro for the wide-angle photo.

If you haven’t come across Martin’s work before then check out and keep up to date with his social media here: @sensoryecology and start exploring the amazing ecology within the oceans and rockpools and see what species you can recognise.

Sensory Ecology