This is a picture book, but what pictures! Former world-champion Belgian freediver Fred Buyle takes the sort of underwater images I love to see – super-wide-angle shots with tiny divers hovering over massive wrecks, or freedivers in shiny superhero costumes interacting with great white sharks.
These 100 shots are Fred at his best. He sets himself a challenge to capture his images with minimal intrusion on the environment. It’s all taken on an SLR at between 0 and 60m while freediving, using available light only, and without benefit of any digital manipulation.
The intro page quote – “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need any roads” – alongside an ecstatic breath-holding infant sets the mood. The format is panoramic and the brief captions in French and English.
[Apnea] embraces competitive freediving, wrecks and spectacular topography, and a range of big animals from elephant seals and manatees to whales, dolphins, tiger sharks and hammerheads, all interacting with divers.
Look through these pages and you can only think that this is evidence of a life being supremely well spent!
Steve Weinman
Editions Catapac
ISBN: 2909524221
Softback, 112pp, 24.50 euros
