COURTESY WAYNE LEVIN
A small school of akule circles over the sand at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island. This shot is part of an extended series of images of schooling akule, which form amazing shapes and school with incredible uniformity.
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Underwater artistry
A love of surfing led Wayne Levin to underwater photography some 20 years ago. Levin wanted to capture images of surfers below the wav es, so he bought an underwater camera and went to work.
But after disappointing results - "The shots were murky" - Levin experimented and discovered that black and white photography worked well underwater.
"Black and white makes the pictures surreal, it abstracts them," he says.
Today, aside from the occasional stock photography assignment, all of Levin's work is done in and around the ocean. His focus has led to several books, including one from 1997 titled "Through a Liquid Mirror" that features stunning shots of underwater landscapes.
Levin's latest project, to be published in the magazine Lenswork in a couple of weeks, captures the unlikely beauty of akule schools moving through the ocean.
"It looks like sculpture underwater," he says. "The shapes they make are incredible and constantly changing as they interact with predators. They act more like one individual, like selves of a larger whole."
LEVIN'S LOVE of photography started in childhood. He began shooting pictures as a youngster and studied photography into adulthood, attending the Brooks Institute, the San Francisco Art Institute (where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree) and the Pratt Institute (Master's degree).
All that experience and education has made for a successful career. Alongside all his other accomplishments, Levin's work is included in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Hawaii's State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
COURTESY WAYNE LEVIN
Renowned bodysurfer Mark Cunningham, above, dives under a large breaking wave at Pinballs, the break in Waimea Bay.
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COURTESY WAYNE LEVIN
A man dives from an outrigger canoe in Kona. "I like the white stream of bubbles and how it's reflected on the surface," says photographer Wayne Levin, who's made a career out of underwater photography.
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COURTESY WAYNE LEVIN
Levin and a friend went diving just before the start of the Ironman Triathlon. "It was very early morning, and I remember how calm and peaceful it was. Then my buddy pointed up as the first swimmers passed overhead. As more and more swimmers appeared, I remember how surreal it felt to be in such a calm environment, while up above it was total pandemonium."
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