Reiko Takahashi

Incredible humpback whale photograph wins grand prize at the Nat Geo Travel competition. 

"I want to see this beautiful whale calf again, I felt the severity of nature and strength of life"(Reiko Takahashi)

The photograph:

I slowly approached the whale calf and pressed the shutter; It was a special scene for me and the calf was completely relaxed and surfaced the water. 

I fell perfectly in love with the calf with a curious, big beautiful tail and I got a little sad because the calf was bruises all over. Did  you get involved in the fight between male whales? Have you been attacked by other creature? I also seemed to be due to that curiosity of the calf. I felt the severity of nature and the strength of life, looking at the calf swimming full of bruises. I expressed the impression with a photo of a tail of the calf.

You can find more about the Nat Geo competition here

Whale Sharks swimming among humans. (Reiko Takahashi)

​Introduction

I live in the north of Japan (kiakami-city, iwate-pref) and Until last year I was a semiconductor engineer. I was shooting while working as an office worker. However, I quit my job last August and focused on the photography. 

I shoot the scene that I was impressed. I would like to share the excitement with that photos. We live on the land of the earth and the view of the underwater has a view different from the land we live in living with organisms, plants, minerals that are all slightly different. I think the underwater is similar to the climbing of Everest; equipment such as air tank is necessary because there is no air. It is not a place where we can easily go. For me, it is a special and sacred place. The underwater which accounts for 70% of the earth is the place of adventure where we can encounter “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

Shark bait ball in Socorro (Reiko Takahashi)

Equipment:

I mainly use Olympus and nikon. The shooting equipment of the winner Natgeo photo of "Mermaid" is here: Olympus Pen E-PL7 with Housing PT-EP12, InonWide conversion lenz UWL-H100 and Inon Dome lenz unit2. I have a small body, so the weight and mobility of the equipment is important. I am using Olympus (wide) when the current is fast or it has to be lightweight. Since Nikon (D 810 & D 800) has all of the lens lineup, it is the main equipment.

A school of spotted eagle ray (Reiko Takahashi)

​I want to shoot the scene that impressed me and share it with everyone. When you see my photos,  I hope people appreciate it. 

​You can find more about Reiko Takahashi's work here: 

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