(^)
YEAR DIVE CERTIFIED:
1997
AGE WHEN CERTIFIED:
27
DIVE CERTIFICATION LEVEL:
PADI Divemaster, IART CCR, AIDA 2*
WORDS TO LIVE BY:
“Where there’s a current, there’s life!”
N
obody who watched Blue Planet II will
doubt the need for us to do some-
thing.” That was then-British Prime Min-
ister Theresa May’s response to the
groundbreaking BBC series that intro-
duced more than 20 million viewers to
the wonders of our oceans, and was a call
for their conservation. At the helm was
executive producer James Honeyborne, a
biologist who learned to dive more than
20 years ago while producing for the
famed David Attenborough. Blue Planet II
revolutionized the way nature documen-
taries are filmed, with ultra-HD drone
footage and deep-diving submersibles
that recorded never-before-seen im-
ages. For his contributions to advance-
ments in underwater photography,
and in using it as a conservation tool,
Honeyborne is our September/October
Photo Issue Sea Hero.
Q: How did working on this series change
your perspective?
A: Making Blue Planet II helped my under-
standing of what the oceans do for us.
Our seas feed us, create our weather and
transport us. Most importantly, they’re
our planet’s life-support system, helping
to regulate temperature and creating al-
most half the oxygen on Earth.
But for too long their health has been
failing. We’ve taken whatever we want
out of the ocean and thrown whatever we
don’t want into it. And now, to make mat-
ters worse, the seas are warming at un-
precedented rates, with unintended con-
l
a wiser, more sustainable relationship
with the ocean, not least for our own sur-
vival. That’s why we made Blue Planet II—
to help people better connect with un-
dersea life and to feel it’s more relevant
to their lives. Which, of course, it is.
Q: Why is filming never-before-seen
behaviors important?
A: We all love novelty and surprise—it
transforms factual television from an
educational experience into mainstream
entertainment. The seas still have plen-
ty of ways to surprise us: We hadn’t seen
giant trevally catching birds in midair; or
Humboldt squid hunting in the deep sea.
When we view these behaviors we feel
a mixture of awe and fascination, which
makes me wonder what else there is still
awaiting its turn in front of the camera.
Q: What technical challenges did your
team overcome for Blue Planet II?
A: Many, from building a camera to ride
on the back of a diving sperm whale to
developing new lenses to give us the
perspective of miniature creatures on a
bustling reef. Perhaps the biggest was
filming in the deep ocean, which required
partnership with many organizations,
most significantly OceanX.
OceanX has a mission to convey the
excitement and importance of under-
sea exploration using state-of-the-art
science and media facilities on board its
ship Alucia. We collaborated with its sub-
mariners and crew, taking their 4K video
cameras to places never seen.
Sea Hero
JAMES HONEYBORNE
Helping us understand why the undersea realm matters to our survival
People of action, devoted to
protecting the planet’s oceans
and marine life through
conservation, technology or
by simply helping others. If
you spot a Sea Hero, join Scuba
Diving, Seiko and the 2019
Sea Heroes program by nomi-
nating him or her at
scubadiving .com/seaheroes
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