Harders

Several years ago I was doing a freedive in False bay, Cape Town. The water was murky and cold. As I navigated my way through the kelp to reach some clearings in deeper water out the back , out the corner of my eye I sensed movement and turned to look. I watched as a school of maybe a thousand mullet or "Harders" swam through the kelp forest. They glided by so silently and I realised there is so much that we potentially don't see, our vision limited by goggles and conditions. Several thousand fish could've easily passed me by entirely unnoticed and it made me think how much else we don't see. I shot a single frame and the shot was gone. I love the decisive moment.

I think it was the silence and the atmospheric conditions that made me notice this image on the contact sheet. I printed this Black and White negative in the darkroom using the specialised Lith Printing process. The grainy duotone look this print process creates accurately portrayed the sea conditions, the mood and the ghostly feel that I was left with on my dive.