Erick Regnard on the wonders of underwater photography

Hello to you all, my wonderful supportive Wandering Journo Tribe!

Sometimes you meet someone whose dedication to their craft is so meticulous and thorough, you just have to find out what drives their passion.

‘Cocoon’ from ‘A Thousands Kisses Deep’ by Ian and Erick Regnard from the exhibition ‘Floating Bits’. Courtesy of Ian and Erick Regnard.

So it was with international award winning photographer Erick Regnard. He and his twin brother Ian have travelled the world doing high-end art and advertising photography, shooting for more than 25 magazines worldwide such as The Wall Street Journal and Harpers Bazaar.

One of their previous exhibitions which toured the world was called ‘On Unfavourable Days’, featuring portraits of surfers and celebrities such as Helena Christensen, Richard Branson, Jack Johnson, Henri Salvador and the Buena Vista Social Club. It went from Perth to Sydney, Hong Kong, Paris, New York and Mauritius, where they were born. Their work is internationally renowned and Brisbane is now lucky enough to be Erick’s new home.

They heard about the wonders of underwater photography in Niue, a tiny island off Tonga, with water so clear it was like being suspended in space.

And so Ian and Erick designed an experimental camera format that had never before been used underwater, and after many months of planning took off on their adventure. The unique underwater format they pioneered has since featured in National Geographic.

In a true twist of fate they went searching for whales but instead came back with astounding underwater photos featuring a female model interacting with her surrounds that make you question the laws of physics.

The incredible photos won the Regnard’s International Photographers of the Year in New York in 2010, and numerous awards around the world since. They are now on display in a free exhibition called ‘Floating Bits,’ in Brisbane’s Maud Street Photo Gallery.

‘Waiting in Silence’ by Ian and Erick Regnard from the exibition ‘Floating Bits’. Courtesy of Ian and Erick Regnard.

The exhibition has only been shown in Perth previously and is being held in Brisbane now because Erick moved here at the start of the pandemic, and he wants to introduce this work to his new hometown.

Erick says that ‘Floating Bits’ is inspired by the need to be alone, knowing there is a presence somehow lurking closer; that “we are all bits floating in the ocean—objects, people, continents—that come together to create life, perspectives and images”.

He tells us in this episode of Streets of Your Town, how the stunning images were shot off Niue in crystal-clear waters, where visibility after rain is up to 100 metres because of the limestone in the geography.

The Regnard brothers on the shoot in Niue. Courtesy of Ian and Erick Regnard.

They could only take one photo at a time, then had to return to their boat on the surface, to reload the polaroid camera.

“The camera took us about a year to work out how we are going to make it work underwater,” Erick says.

“Because it's not a camera you normally, or nobody will, take under water. It’s very hard to work on land.

“Niue is like a limestone mushroom and when the rain falls on it, the rain gets filtered. All the water gets filtered by the limestone and that’s why there’s no sediment going into the water because there’s no rivers actually going into the ocean."

Erick gives some insights into what keeps driving his creative quest, after decades of taking astounding photos all around the world.

“I’m also a photographer that shoots commercially, et cetera, and I go out and I shoot 500 or a thousand photos in one day,” he says.

“It was so great to be able to shoot just eight photos in one day and really had to take time and calculate and make sure that you got the right time when you press that button because, even sometimes three seconds later, there was like, as good as a photo and sometimes even better! And you go, ‘Oh no, I can’t shoot it because I’ve already shot it’.

“I’m always shooting some lifestyle, some colour. So how, when I see somebody on the street, you know, I'm constantly looking at people to see if they can be my model, guy or girl.”

Photographers Erick (left) and Ian Regnard at the exhibition preview for ‘Floating Bits’ in Brisbane’s Maud Street Photo Gallery. Courtesy of Ian and Erick Regnard.

lan and Erick still have a deep passion for the ocean and love grabbing a board to go and surf when they have time around their photography commitments.

Their love of the ocean is also evident in the way they are donating 10 per cent of all proceeds from the exhibition to Water.org to help people access safe water.

Thanks so much for your ongoing support my wonderful Wandering Journo Tribe!

Talk soon!

xx Nance