“Following the Taal Volcano eruption in the Philippines, the water column filled with particles from the stirred-up sediments,” remembers Jialing Cai. “Navigating through the low visibility and dense fog during a blackwater dive, I found this female paper nautilus. When I pressed the shutter, the particles reflected my light. The scene felt unusually serene following the natural disaster and reminds me of a fairytale set in a snowy night. As underwater photographers, we aim to shoot in clear water but this image reminds us that grains of sand, organic matter, or tiny organisms are integral parts of the underwater environment. I aim to accept their presence and seek non-disruptive ways to incorporate them into my images.”
Even weirder, these are not nautilus at all, they’re octopus. Seeing the nautilus “shell” with suckers did not compute. Confusing overlap in naming.