What It Means to Be Human Underwater

Last Updated on September 14, 2024 by Candice Landau

When Ellie Hudson shared a photo she’d taken of me underwater, I was blown away. Not only had she used a simple GoPro to do it, but she captured something that sent a chill down my spine—the otherworldly reality of what it takes for a human to exist in an environment that is naturally hostile to us.

By “hostile,” I don’t mean there are sharks lurking nearby. I mean that, without a lot of technical gear, it’s an environment where one simply wouldn’t survive. There’s no air to breathe, it can get cold really quickly, and the surface world is out of reach.

This photo has become one of my favorites—a meditation on humanity, nature, and how the two coincide in a human-centric world. It’s also a picture of another planet, underwater photo gear displayed at an angle you don’t see everyday. It’s a reminder to keep angles in mind. Even a dive with limited visibility, or little marine life can be turned into an image that captures something special.

There’s a reason it’s my new Instagram photo.