This past week at the TED Miami event I heard Edith Widder the marine biologist state that more than 90% of the Earth is ocean. Yet there is still so much we do not know about the oceans and the seemingly infinite variety of creatures that inhabit them.
The ocean evokes so many connotations from it’s mighty power and volume to the serene tranquility of it’s vastness. The Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto captured the essence of these waters in his breathtaking meditative series entitled “Seascapes“.
Sea of Japan, 1997 by Sugimoto
Aegean Sea, Pillon 1990 by Sugimoto
North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Breton 1996 by Sugimoto
Baltic Sea, near Rugen, 1996 by Sugimoto
Ligurian Sea, near Saviore 1993 by Sugimoto
” Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention―and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.
The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there water and air. Living phenomena spontaneously generated from water and air in the presence of light, though that could just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let’s just say that there happened to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe, we search in vain for another similar example.
Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing. ”
Hiroshi Sugimoto
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