Hot on the heels of Blue Reef Photography, Matthew L. Wittenrich’s Aquatic Pixels is another repository of creative marine life photography. For those of you unfamiliar with Matt Wittenrich, he is the author of the premiere book on marine fish breeding, Breeder’s Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes and he is also a PhD student at the Florida Institute of Technology where he actively researches the mechanics of how larval fish feed. We’ve been keeping on eye on his website for some time now, waiting patiently for him to load it up and when we saw his latest article in CORAL Magazine featuring stunning photographs of hermit crabs like the one above, we knew his website was ready for the big time. We were fortunate to have Matt volunteer a short statement about his website which you can find below and be sure to follow the link below for more examples of the fine photography which is viewable on AquaticPixels.net.
Aquatic Pixels was borne from my passion for both the marine aquarium
hobby and photography; a mixing of science and art that portrays the
intricate details and innate beauty of the sea and the creatures
living within. I once read that ‘one can not conserve what they do not
appreciate, and they can not appreciate what they have not seen’. As a
scientist and hobbyist I believe that science can be beautiful and we
can promote conservation and sustainability through education and art.
Each creature living in the sea, independent of its size, is
remarkable and when captured in the right light, the correct angle and
pose, can be truly mind blowing. I am often attracted to the ordinary
creatures that are so often overlooked by divers and hobbyists.
Treating these animals as models, I shoot many of them in a studio
where their true beauty stands alone. I am often blown away by some of
the details these animals exhibit and if a fraction of this diversity
is portrayed or earns a ‘wow’ among the crowd I feel I have
contributed to the appreciation of the sea.
