Wayne Levin's photo's cause a slightly surreal view of the world. It keeps fascinating me. The endless beauty of the ocean and his mysterious residents visitors. I'm so interested in these pictures that I did some research about Wayne Levin.
Wayne Levin was born in Los Angeles in 1945. His father gave him a Brownie camera, and a little kit to develop his own film, for his 12th birthday and from that early age he was hooked on photography.
His interest in travel and photography led him to take a year and a half trip around the world. Wayne sailed through the South Pacific and traveled over land through Asia and Europe.
He later traveled for 6 months throughout Japan and Korea, and made a final trip to Mexico and Central America. Documenting his travels through photography, these images later became the basis for his first solo exhibitions at Gima’s Art Gallery and The Downtown Galleries’ in Honolulu.
He uses a Nikonos IV underwater camera. A friend suggested he photograph the dolphins in Kealakekua Bay, which led to a re-immersion into underwater photography. During the following years he received magazine assignments to photograph throughout the Pacific and Caribbean and further developed his reputation as a black and white underwater photographer.
In 1993 Wayne was one of six artists included in the First Biennial Exhibit at the Contemporary Museum, in Honolulu. The underwater portraits of his daughter Elise, from age 6 months to 2 years, explored her interaction with the ocean while learning to swim, and further extended his black and white underwater portfolio.
From 1999 to 2001, Wayne traveled throughout the United States and Japan photographing aquariums. His objective was to investigate the phenomena of society creating hi-tech mini oceans as the world’s oceans become increasingly endangered.
In recent years Wayne has continued to focus on depicting the underwater world in black and white. He has photographed sea life, surfers, canoe paddlers, free divers, swimmers, shipwrecks, seascapes and aquariums. In short, he has attempted to depict as many aspects of the ocean as possible within the boundaries of the black and white genre.
