France • Born in 1974
Planet Seas

Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole and an expert in extreme weather, was fond of saying that « adventure is an explorer’s worst enemy ». This is because real exploration can only occur when three principles are in place : thoroughness, planning, and preparation. Laurent Ballesta can testify to this. It would be unfair to label him merely as an « underwater photographer ». A biologist by training and a diver by trade, he was born in the south of France and has been ceaselessly pushing back boundaries for over 30 years, challenging his body’s physical limits and the frontiers of the underwater world. His hope is that we can keep pushing a little further into that famous « twilight zone », where the light fades and the abyss emerges.

In 2019, for example, he took part in a 28-day underwater adventure – the maximum time allowed for this type of deep dive – with three other divers, in a craft the size of a train’s sleeping cabin. In this extremely confined space, they slept and ate in pressure equivalent to that found in the sea’s depths, breathing a Heliox mixture composed mainly of helium and barely 4% oxygen. The expedition sometimes took them to depths of 142 metres over a total of 31 dives. The conditions resembled a spacewalk on the ISS more than anything else.

Combining passion, research and photography is central to this photographer’s approach, and he has carved out a place for himself alongside other greats in the field such as Paul Nicklen, David Doubilet and Brian Skerry. His goal is to conduct research that enhances our understanding, fostering a deeper sense of awe and inspiring efforts to protect our increasingly fragile underwater environments. While these environments remain inhospitable and mysterious to humans, they are nonetheless essential to our species’ own life on Earth.

JARDIN DES MARAIS

Laurent Ballesta