Justin Hofman
Justin spends most of his time working on expedition vessels as an educator, lecturer, dive guide, photographer or expedition leader. This work has taken him to every ocean and some of the most remote places on Earth where human impact can nonetheless be seen. His goal is to educate people on ways they can support conservation efforts through the daily choices they make.
Story Behind Seahourse Photograph:
Justin watched, delighted as the seahorse bounced from one piece of natural debris to the next. However, as rubbish and sewage began to sluice the shore, the creature seized upon this cotton bud as a stable anchor. Justin’s admiration for the beautiful seahorse soon turned to ‘vitriolic anger’ at the ‘incoming tide of pollution and litter’.
Because of their unusual equine shape, seahorses are poor swimmers. They propel themselves forward using their wing-like dorsal fins, with their smaller pectoral fins used for steering. It’s exhausting work, so they often catch a ride or take a break by clinging to sea grasses and corals with their prehensile tails.
Because of their unusual equine shape, seahorses are poor swimmers. They propel themselves forward using their wing-like dorsal fins, with their smaller pectoral fins used for steering. It’s exhausting work, so they often catch a ride or take a break by clinging to sea grasses and corals with their prehensile tails.
Hofman is a wildlife and nature photographer that documents the natural beauty of the world. In the first image is from his photo series from the South Pacific, it shows a clown fish in it's natural habitat (Sea Anemone). It is interesting to sea the fish within the plants and to see the contrast in textures. I like the fact that he is documenting the wildlife in underwater as we can see what it's like their through the photograph. The middle photograph is also from the South Pacific, I really like the composition as you can see half of the land above the water and half underwater, the half that is underwater is very clear too. It's interesting as you can compare what it's like on land compared to underwater. Hofman stated that his goal is to educate people, through his photograph people can make discoveries about topics to do with the natural world. The last image is of a seahorse getting caught with a cotton bud, this imaged went viral online as it shocked people about how everyday objects cause problems with the wildlife in the ocean. The photo raises awareness of plastic going into the ocean and that we can make a difference is we make little changes e.g. use paper objects.
Hofman also creates illustrations for educational purposes, he creates them using Photoshop. The first illustration is a painting of manta rays, pyramid butterfly fish, Percula clown anemone fish, cleaner wrasse. The painting shows us may different species that can be found under the sea. Hofman uses bold colours to recreate the beauty of the ocean. The second illustration is of Cetacean diversity, found in Essentials of Oceanography. It appears that this was created for educational purposes, it clearly shows the scale of each creature accurately to teach people about the species. The last illustration is of a Humpback whale swimming in the ocean at night. I like the contrast against the whale and the sunset, the white strokes around the whale emphasises the structure of the whale as well the movement of it swimming.
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Illustrations:
