X-Ray Mag #17

Our talks with Bob Evans were just full of good ole plain fun, with lots of laughs and entertaining anecdotes, yet serious and focused on the subject. From the first impression, he was open, welcoming and very conversational. Inventor of the legendary Force Fin, multiple award-winner and industry legend with a long list of merits to his credit Bob Evans is obviously both multi-facetted and multi-talented and impossible to fit into any of the usual stereotypes boxes. Here are some of his thoughts on the connection between shape and function.

Fins provide a great way to get from point A to point B in an H2O environment. In fact, with few exceptions, it is the only way to get around with ease while diving.

It was inevitable that the ocean became the main focus of my painting. I started diving, and over the years, the ocean became part of my soul. I am forever fascinated by the seemingly limitless variety and ultimate complexity of the sea creatures I encounter and never cease to be intrigued by the beauty of the colors and the many shapes—everything from soft and ethereal, to stark and threatening. Nature, once again, is perfection, and it is a true challenge to try and depict that.

— Liduine Bekman

Differences of opinion have raged throughout history as to where close-up photography ends and macro photography begins. For underwater photographers, this question tends to be academic, though: all we are trying to achieve is detail and the best angle and frame to make the most of it.

The sun was just greeting the day as I hurried to the top deck of our cruise boat with a steaming hot cup of coffee in one hand and a camera in the other. I was alone, enjoying the splender of another Egyptian morning. Wispy veils of fog danced across the Nile’s glassy surface, slowly dissipating as the sun’s rays enveloped the distant mountains and countryside. As I sipped my cup of java, I wondered how many of Egypt’s nobility had once come this way.

There is something special about it, the Red Sea, that I have not found anywhere else on the planet. Granted every destination has its own, but here there is this special ambience of timeless mystique, of remoteness and rugged adventure that just hangs thick in the atmosphere with a whiff of historical greatness and millenias past, topped up with a scent of spices and a distant smell of charcoal from a campfire, or perhaps a sisha—a waterpipe.

There used to be a time when there was no safety margin in any activity that the human being wanted to participate in. In a merciless prehistoric world, on a daily basis, the cave men were hunting with stones and sticks, a large variety of predators the size of a truck, expecting to feed a hungry family. Then, Winchester gave men the ability to kill wild animals while staying at a comfortable distance, without risking their lives. Safety margin was born.

In the heart of the Middle East, occupying 80 percent of the eastern shoreline of the Red Sea, sits the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It covers an area of over 870, 000 square miles, almost all of which is desert, which holds more than a quarter of the world’s oil reserves. Despite its close proximity to Egypt and Sudan—places that are considered by many people to be some of the world’s greatest diving locations—the reefs around Saudi Arabia have barely been dived.

Erythra Thalassa—Red Sea, as directly translated from the ancient Greek name—is what it was called by the ancient Romans as well. Long has this great body of water been a focal point of trade in the Middle East, which has stood as a crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa for many thousands of years. The Red Sea, today, is still an important vehicle of global trade as well as a major tourist destination for millions.

Erythra Thalassa—Red Sea, as directly translated from the ancient Greek name—is what it was called by the ancient Romans as well. Long has this great body of water been a focal point of trade in the Middle East, which has stood as a crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa for many thousands of years. The Red Sea, today, is still an important vehicle of global trade as well as a major tourist destination for millions.

Water is obviously important as a basic necessity for maintaining life. Quite simply, if you don’t regularly take in water you can die within a few days.

Across the globe, coral reefs are in peril—this is already old news. Man-made stresses—overfishing, pollution and climate change—has sent even pristine coral reefs around the world into a drastic decline causing major changes in ecosystem structure. The resilience and regenerative capacity of reef ecosystems—that is, their ability to absorb shocks, resist phase shifts and regenerate after natural and human-induced disturbances—are being overwhelmed by these stresses causing dramatic shifts in species composition, often incurring huge economic losses too.

But what is really happening on reefs?