|
Coral Seas by Roger Steene
Coral Seas by Roger Steene
Roger Steene is a well-heeled Australian who loves underwater photography and lives near the Great Barrier Reef. As such he has had both means and opportunity to pursue his hobby to the highest professional level, and this lush volume is the 10th book he has produced in 30 years of diving at exotic locations around the world, including PNG, the Solomons, Palau and Indonesia.
Those who prefer to scan a volume will be pleased to know that little of the art-quality paper is given over to text. But what a superb selection of 340 pictures! I wouldn't mind ten minutes going through his wastebin to half-inch some of the rejects.
And what a way to display your work: it's better than any slide show or photograph album - enough to make a member of the British Society of Underwater Photographers spit!
Instead of spending all our money at the camera shop only to see it later sacrificed at the altar of the defective O-ring, many of us would be well advised simply to go diving and spend our money on Roger Steene's books instead.
Like many underwater photographers, the author seems to spend most of his time pursuing macro subjects (although at times he goes micro), and most of the pictures are animal portraits.
The marine zoologists among you will be intrigued to discover images of animals never before documented; environmentalists will enjoy the sheer diversity of the fauna; and travelled divers will relate to the many familiar animals depicted. Ordinary citizens of Planet Earth will simply relish the beautiful photography.
John Bantin
|
Coral Seas by Roger Steene, New Holland. Hardback 270pp, £35
|
|
|
Archive | 
