CAPTURING THE
CORAL REEFSDOUG ALLAN“ I’m granted a chance
encounter with a whale
shark. The gill rakers
that sieve out her tiny
plankton food are
visible inside her open
mouth as she swims
past me.”Underwater, there’s a breath-
taking profusion of life:
dazzling hard corals in spiky
blues and pale yellows; soft
anemones like floppy grey
mushrooms; rainbow riots of
fish. The water, as warm as
a bath at the surface, meets
the deeper, cooler layers.
This fuzzy thermocline interface
plays hell with the focus
through the camera lens as
I rise and sink through it; it’s
like lime juice being poured into
a margarita.
Above me, the school of
fish is so dense it darkens
the sun. It moves like a giant
single organism, swirling like
a murmuration of starlings.
As if by magic, holes appear
in the fish mass as my bubbles
rise through it. Cruising on the
periphery are the mobula rays,
predators capable of bursts of
speed so fast there’s no way
I can follow them close up. I film
them wide and hope the editor
can make something of it.Doug Allan is an award-winning
wildlife and documentary
cameraman whose credits
include BBC One’s The Blue
Planet, Planet Earth and
Frozen Planet, and National
Geographic documentaries.
dougallan.comFROM TOP: The spectacular rock formations
of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago;
clownfish seen on an anemone during one
IMAGES: GETTY; DOUG ALLEN of Doug’s dives in Raj Ampat
INDONESIAJul/Aug 2020 79THE POWER OF PLACE