Articles

PADI course director Hayley-Jo Carr running along The Ray of Hope, Bahamas

If you’ve seen images of wrecks packed with swirling sharks and a model who seems to have popped out of the ship as if she’s an ocean siren luring you into her world, then there’s a good chance that you’ve caught a glimpse of one of Photographer of the Week Pia Oyarzún’s creations captured at Stuart Cove’s in the Bahamas (where many James Bond movies and other films were shot). In creating images that feature sharks and models—which are mostly talented female instructors and divemasters—Pia is trying to highlight a peaceful and respectful interaction between humans and the ocean. And when she’s not waiting patiently for a model or freediver to breathe up or a shark to open its mouth, she is busy teaching and guiding a new generation of divers and potential photographers.

Whether you applaud Pia for her creative images or think she is nuts for putting her camera so close to a feeding shark, you have to admire how she’s turned Stuart Cove’s “underwater Hollywood” into a new sort of artist’s playground. I, for one, am partial to Pia’s work behind the camera because she showcases some of the industry’s leading ladies (and because she leant me her 8mm wetsuit when I was in the Bahamas in winter), and I find following Pia’s work is nothing short of inspiring.
 

Hayley-Jo Carr with a sculpture by James deCaires Taylor, Bahamas

Shark wrangler Charlotte Faulkner at the Twin Sisters wreck, Bahamas
 

Freediver Chang Sien Chin swimming up from a wreck in the Bahamas
 

Charlotte Faulkner in front of the Ray of Hope wreck, Bahamas
 

Charlotte Faulkner at Twin Sisters, Bahamas
 

Freediver Chang Sien Chin diving the Edwin Williams Wreck, Bahamas
 

Freediver Tohru Tamaguchi freediving a wreck at Stuart Cove’s, Bahamas
 

Shark handler Neal Harvey of Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas, balancing a Caribbean reef shark in tonic
 

Pia snaps a quick selfie
 

Check out more of Pia’s unique images on her website and her Facebook page.