Jade Hoksbergen
Wildlife Photographer
"With every click of the shutter, there is an urge to say: I was here, this touched me, and I don't want to let it go."
"It is true that painting and photography are two completely different disciplines, yet I find that they inspire each other in my work."
About the photographer
Expression through art has always played a vital role in my life and my wellbeing. Although I only started underwater photography in 2015, I have been painting for as long as I can remember and very prolifically in my late teens. It is true that painting and photography are two completely different disciplines, yet I find that they inspire each other in my work. Perhaps it is because I am nearsighted, but I have always been mesmerized by the smaller details and find myself drawn to the kind of beauty that isn’t immediately obvious. At least that would explain why my passion lies in photographing the kind of life which requires not just close proximity but also a certain intimacy in order to be observed. Although I am French-Taiwanese, I call the Philippines my home and this is where I began scuba diving.
Fast forward a little over a decade and I would find myself in another palm-fringed paradise — Saint Lucia — and taking my first-ever underwater image. Because the Philippine water was all I had ever known, Saint Lucia’s new cast of characters meant that I embarked on every dive as if it were the adventure of a lifetime. I was excited about the prospect of encountering yet another life form I had never before seen in my life. With every click of the shutter, there is an urge to say: I was here, this touched me, and I don’t want to let it go. When I take a picture of a creature or fish, I’m aware that what I produce is an abbreviation of the animal — a caricature I wish to remember, or a moment I wish to hold on to. Color plays a great role in my work, and the ocean delivers it in abundance.
With its secrets veiled to our naked eye, the true resplendence of life underwater is revealed by a simple burst of flash. It is a magical, almost fairytale- like process, whereby seemingly dull scenes are revealed to be kaleidoscopic. How rare to find that reality is in fact better than what it appears to be? In the ocean, not rare at all. With the camera in hand: I see, and then I see again.