No boards, no wetsuits; just the ocean and the bare back of a swimmer dictates nature, surf, and ocean photographer, Mark Tipple's new photographic series, "The Underwater Project."
A project that has been over five years in the making, Tipple and his cast of ocean loving friends have travelled to places like the Cook Islands, The Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, and beaches throughout Southern Australia to capture that familiar underwater moment when duck-diving under a wave.
"Coming from a surfing background I used to wonder what happens when we're duck-diving, like what it looks like from a different angle than what we can see," recounts Tipple on his website.
After trying to capture the right angle by wearing a camera and housing on his helmet while surfing, Tipple eventually opted to get off his surfboard to capture the shot he imagined. In a series of 10-day trips and long, tiring weeks of shooting in cold water, and breaks with ankle-deep water and reefs thick with black urchins and sharp outcrops, Tipple has compiled a gorgeous and diverse collection of photographs surrounding a mere instant in time.
All photos copyright Mark Tipple.