Nicolas Helary FR

Gallery

Underwater

In Thailand, the Philippines and the Red Sea, freediving and on scuba. We go down: the reef and its fish, then the very small, and finally the deep blue, where I photograph freedivers.

Thailand · Philippines · Red Sea

  1. −8 mReefThe reef
  2. −12 mReefUp close
  3. −30 mDeep blueThe deep blue

−8 mReef

The reef

Groupers, clownfish, morays, scorpionfish: the reef’s residents, from Thailand to the Red Sea.

Orange grouper covered in blue spots, head-on, above the reef.
Coral hind, Cephalopholis miniata. Thailand
Orange-red clownfish among the tentacles of an anemone.
Clownfish. Philippines
Grey moray eel with a white eye, poking its head out of a crevice in the reef.
Moray eel. Philippines
Black-and-white banded sea snake, head raised above the seabed.
Banded sea krait, Laticauda colubrina. Philippines
A lionfish spreads its long striped fins above the reef.
Lionfish. Philippines
A school of striped yellow fish passes over a coral.
School above the reef. Thailand
A small red-spotted fish perched on a pink soft coral.
Hawkfish. Thailand
Close-up of a triggerfish’s head, mouth half open.
Titan triggerfish. Thailand
Striped batfish, seen head-on, in open water.
Batfish. Thailand
A small clownfish nestled deep in a large anemone.
Clownfish in its anemone. Philippines
A yellow-spotted moray eel between two rocks.
Moray eel. Red Sea
A fish with orange and yellow fins, propped on its free fin rays like legs, on rippled sand.
Devil scorpionfish, Inimicus filamentosus, walking on the sand. Red Sea
A lionfish on the reef, the sunlit surface above.
Lionfish. Red Sea
A pale moray eel emerges from its hiding place in the dark rock.
Moray eel in the shade. Red Sea
A small spotted eel standing out of its burrow in the sand.
Garden eel. Philippines

−12 mReef

Up close

A few centimetres: worms, nudibranchs, blennies and corals.

Two purple Christmas tree worms spread out on an orange coral.
Christmas tree worms, Spirobranchus giganteus. Thailand
Two black-and-white nudibranchs dotted with yellow, on the reef.
Nudibranchs. Thailand
A small yellow blenny peeks out of its hole in the coral.
Blenny. Thailand
A tiny striped fish resting on a green coral.
On the coral. Thailand
A small white crab spotted with red, hidden between the branches of a coral.
Coral crab, Trapezia. Red Sea
Red-and-white Christmas tree worm on a coral.
Christmas tree worm. Thailand
Close-up of the translucent vesicles of a bubble coral.
Bubble coral, Plerogyra sinuosa. Thailand
Branches of a turquoise and pink soft coral.
Soft coral. Thailand
The green and yellow polyps of a coral, packed together like flowers.
Coral, close up. Thailand

−30 mDeep blue

The deep blue

In open water: the Moalboal sardine run, then freedivers in the Red Sea.

A huge school of sardines forms a dark mass in the blue.
Sardine run, Moalboal. Philippines
A diver with a lit torch swims along a slope of corals and seagrass.
Along the slope
Silhouette of a freediver ascending towards the light, fins together.
Ascent
A bubble ring rising towards the surface through blue water crossed by light.
Bubble ring
A freediver on the way down, head towards the bottom, reaching a hand towards the camera.
Descent
Two freedivers along a descent line, in deep blue water.
On the line
A freediver lying on the surface, photographed at water level: sky above, dark sea below.
On the surface
Two freedivers near the surface, either side of the line.
Below the surface
Photo sessions for freediversDahab, Red Sea