About Me

About Me

My name is Asu Sabuncuoglu and i was born in 2006. My passion for underwater life started at my early ages. My father is an award-winning underwater photographer. In our home, marine life, photography, diving has always been a part of our daily life and conversation.

Talking about underwater but not being allowed to scuba dive until the age of fourteen due to the local laws was very disappointing. However, this changed in the summer of 2020 because finally, I was old enough to get the training to become a certified scuba diver. My training took a week and ended with a written exam. Afterwards, I allowed to gear up and start the underwater part of the training. Following six training dives, I completed my initial training and received my international open water diver certificate.

Thanks to smartphones, everyone is carrying a high-resolution camera in their pockets. It is easier to become a good photographer due to the capabilities and availabilities of these cameras. However, this is not true for underwater photography. The environment is always wet, moving, and changing. You can not know what will happen next. A sudden underwater current or the water temperature can change the fish’s behaviour or drag you from one place to another. You and your camera should always be well-prepared for these changes. As a result, you have to be a good diver and an excellent photographer to handle these situations.

I was thinking that the most challenging part of achieving my desire to become an excellent underwater photographer was getting the diving certificate. After a couple of dives with a professional camera, I realized that I was wrong. The certification process was only the beginning. Achieving the state of “neutral bouncy”  with all the diving gear and the photography equipment requires a lot of practice. That is why I will be diving with a camera whenever I can, as practice makes everything perfect. In the meantime, I will be mastering photography from books and courses. I know that underwater photography differs from land photography. You have to decide which lens to use on that dive as one can not switch the lenses underwater. Under the water, you can not see the colour without light. So, one must learn to control the flashes and the right angles to use them. Also, approaching marine life without scaring them is another challenge.

After seeing the beautiful underwater with my own eyes, I knew that I had to share it with others. For that purpose, I had to make a project.   Therefore, I will be bringing my project to life by choosing this topic as my Personal Project. For this project I chose to create a website, an instagram account and an online exhibition. Since technology is a huge part of our lives, I am sure that I will reach thousands of people through internet.

As I share the stages of my journey. Some will learn what I have been through and follow my footsteps, while others will enjoy the beautiful photographs.