Articles

Traveling Together: A pair of Asiatic toads (Bufo gargarizans) in amplexus, Mangwolji Pond, Suseong-gu, Daegu, South Korea
 

It’s a rare to see underwater imagery from South Korea and Japan. After all, for many divers, these largely temperate countries lack the tropical allure of, say, Southeast Asia or the Caribbean. It’s rarer still to feast your eyes on the small critters that inhabit both the marine and freshwater ecosystems of these advanced industrialized East Asian nations. Yet, through the exceptional lens of our latest DPG Photographer of the Week, native South Korean shooter Min-seok Jeon, the rarest of treats are served up in spades.

Mostly captured in the coastal waters and ponds of his home country, but also in the similarly chilly waters of his eastern maritime neighbor, Min-seok’s subjects—Asiatic toads, Gori salamanders, Japanese fire-bellied newts, Japanese bobtail squids, and crowned seahorses—are fascinating in themselves. But Min-seok doesn’t just shoot plain portraits of these charismatic little animals. Each image feels carefully thought-out and purposefully executed, always capturing a meaningful behavior, always artfully composed, and always perfectly lit and flawlessly composed.

That artistry hasn’t gone unnoticed, with several of his pictures celebrated on the underwater competition circuit. At this year’s ADEX Voice of the Ocean live judging event in Singapore, for example, the jury crowned Min-seok’s “Breeding Circle” of salamanders the winner of the Animal Behavior category. More recently, he bagged a Gold in the inaugural World Underwater Macro Awards with “Anatomy of Distortion,” an exquisite image of a Japanese bobtail squid and its surface reflection, captured on a blackwater dive.

It just goes to show that whichever corner of the globe you call home, the beauty of the underwater world is always ready to be revealed—no matter how cold the water or how unglamorous the subject.
 

Breeding Circle: Gori salamanders (Hynobius yangi), an endemic Korean species, surrounding egg sacs during the breeding season, Geumjeongsan Mountain, Busan, South Korea
 

The Swarm of Genesis: A massive swarm of Asiatic toad tadpoles, Mangwolji Pond, Suseong-gu, Daegu, South Korea
 

The Fall: A long-exposure portrait of a crowned seahorse creating a dynamic downward light trail, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

The Avengers: A seahorse, a pipefish, and a group of threadfin filefish, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

Anatomy of Distortion: A side profile reflection of a Japanese bobtail squid (Sepiola birostrata) at the water’s surface, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

Beautiful Birth: A male crowned seahorse (Hippocampus coronatus) giving birth, Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
 

Law of the Jungle: A fringe-head goby swallowing a surfperch whole, Goseong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

Midnight March: A school of threadfin filefish swimming together in the darkness, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

The Face of a Bobtail Squid: A frontal view of a Japanese bobtail squid (Sepiola birostrata) with its reflection on the water’s surface, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

Golden Waltz: A crowned seahorse creating golden afterimages through multi-strobe long-exposure photography, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

The Rope and the Fish: Threadfin filefish gathered around an abandoned rope, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

Four-Step Motion: A crowned seahorse captured in four distinct frozen positions using a multi-strobe technique, Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
 

First Contact: A Japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) making eye contact, Owase, Mie Prefecture, Japan
 

Min-seok Jeon, quietly celebrating his art
 

For more of Min-seok’s wonderful images, head over to his Facebook page and give him a follow on Instagram.