Get to know Xavier Salvador, the winner of MedFoto 2021 and jury of the 2022 edition
Xavier Salvador: “Knowing how to photograph is just as important as knowing what you are taking photographs of”
Last year you were the absolute winner of the MedFoto 2021. What story is hidden behind the photo of the juvenile monkfish?
It’s a photograph that I have been chasing since the beginning of the year. In the Mediterranean, “black water”, diving into an ocean trench, is not common. In these spaces, the larvae of certain species of fish come up at night to feed on plankton, taking advantage of the moonlight and the lack of large predators.
However, here there are upwellings of deep water during anticyclones that generate updraft. This brings together species that live hundreds of meters deep.
Last year there were upwellings for three months. It was spectacular because new species were appearing.
Thanks to that I got a photo of a juvenile monkfish in Calella, and we wanted to try places with stronger currents. We found three juvenile monkfish at different stages of maturation! It was incredible because I have seen monkfish my size (180 cm) and there I saw a defenseless little specimen swimming among jellyfish. The smallest monkfish had very long filaments, and moved among the jellyfish to blend in and not be preyed upon. The second had no filaments and the third monkfish was already beginning to mature, opening its fins and facing me in front of the camera as if to say “be careful! I am super old!”. He was actually four inches tall, not very intimidating.
We also saw a highly sought after specimen in the Pacific, the Phylliroe, a nudibranch that swims like a fish and emits bioluminescence when frightened. And it was here!
What would you recommend for shooting underwater photography?
First, have fun. Never focus on what others will think. You have to be proud of your own photographs. Enjoy and live it. Sooner or later you will see the results of the work done!
And do not underestimate the photographs you take. Sometimes things that may seem normal can actually be unique observations of great scientific value.
And of photographic technique? Any trick?
Underwater, the trick is the lighting, except if you’re shooting in black and white. Sea water absorbs the red color, therefore, the more lighting there is, the more real what you see and what is photographed will be, otherwise it will tend to be bluish.
In many cases, getting closer makes the light reach the subject better. Shooting the flash at 6 meters is burning particles for nothing, short distances are better.
It must also be taken into account that with the wide-angle close to the specimen, what the photo will transmit will be much more impressive.
You’ve published two books on underwater photography. What leads you to write them?
My childhood dream was to create the most complete marine fauna guide in the Mediterranean. The opportunity came to me, and there are probably people who know much more about underwater photography than I do, but I made it a condition to include a species guide in the book because knowing how to photograph is just as important as knowing what to photograph.
The first book was about fish, of which there are already many published, and the second about nudibranchs, of which there are very few in Spanish. In addition, I have made first records in Catalonia of new species. It is one of the taxonomic groups that I like the most: they have a lot of variability, a lot of seasonality and behavioral patterns, in many cases nocturnal, that have not been studied. I have tried to convey all the knowledge I have about each species of nudibranch.
So often, if you don’t know what you see, you don’t stop. Getting to know what you photograph generates more motivation to find more and find those you are missing. It is the spirit of the collector.
Is there any photograph that has been a milestone for you?
Each photograph transmits something different. It’s very difficult to choose one. You have to value richness in general, I can’t keep a photo, but I can keep a day.
To me it’s not important what it transmits, but it’s biological content. For example, I always track nudibranchs and opisthobranchs and in one night I managed to photograph forty-five different species. This is a milestone: a great biodiversity.
I try to repeat it year after year, and this allows me to see how the seasonality of the sea is not identical every year, it can start a little earlier or a little later.
How did you get started in the world of underwater photography?
I’ve been in the water since I was eight years old. I started spearfishing. Actually, more than taking a fish home, what I liked was finding species. I did it with a GoPro first, but it’s a camcorder, it has autofocus and the early models had total aberration underwater.
I was given the opportunity to buy a compact camera thanks to a scholarship. So I went with the speargun and the camera. I fished a little bit, and when I had my dinner, I left the speargun and took photos. One day, with the speargun, I found a forkbeard in a crack and I took pictures of it. My camera didn’t have a scroll wheel to look at the photos horizontally, and vertically it skipped them from five to five so I couldn’t see the others. All the pictures that I could see there were terrible, but the fish was very beautiful and it was my favorite to eat, so I caught it.
When I got home, I saw all the photos. She was looking at me, still, the curious expression of hers captured in the pictures made me wonder why I had caught her. I felt very, very bad having her for dinner. Since then, I only carry the camera.
Is fishing over for you?
I will not deny that I like to collect some hedgehogs in winter with the family or if I find a male octopus measuring more than 2 kilos, maybe I will take it. But I haven’t had one for more than two years. I am very conscious of what I extract from the water.
Has underwater photography made you more sensitive towards the conservation of the flora and fauna of the marine environment?
I already had the idea of conservation because I am a biologist. I think that extractive activity is bad, but the deterioration cannot be blamed on a single activity, but on the sum of everything we do.
Practicing photography makes you value what you see. Many people only consider the headline: “I’ve gone down fifty meters!” , “and what have you seen?” , “a lobster!”, “and that’s it?” I have worked in a diving center and I can tell you that you have missed an entire diving session, full of life, only to be able to say that you have gone down to fifty meters!
Do you think that protocols and ethical codes for taking photographs are respected in the underwater world?
Usually not. We have a clear case during winter in Tossa. The typical photograph of monkfish with its mouth open has become fashionable. And it is very coincidental that everyone can do it.
With a colleague we did an experiment. We took a scuba pointer, a stick that is carried to impact the seabed as little as possible, and we tested a small monkfish that had not been stressed. We touched his dental plate with the stick and instantly he opened his mouth. Do you really have to manipulate the medium to get an image that, knowing that it can be provoked, no longer has any value?
In many contests this manipulation is discarded or penalized. We must try to respect the environment as much as possible.
