Laurent Ballesta
Laurent Ballesta is a french naturalist photographer. Author of 13 books dedicated to underwater photography, he is the youngest photographer to receive the « Plongeur d’Or » at the International Festival of Underwater Image of Antibes and the only one at the have obtained three times. He has published portfolios in major magazines of the French and International press: 3 previously unpublished topics in National Geographic, some more than 20 pages and an annual meeting.
In 2000 he founded with Pierre Descamp, his friend from the University of the NGO L’Oeil d’Andromède, aimed to reconcile oceanology studies with the artistic highlights of marine wildlife and the environment. This partnership led to the creation of the company Andromède Océanologie in 2008.
In 1999, he became a scientific advisor in a marine environment for the TV show in prime time Ushuaia Nature TF1 alongside the explorer and presenter Nicolas Hulot. For 12 years, he took advantage of these trips to exceptional places to feed his bestiary of underwater fauna throughout the world.
In 2006 the Senate of the French Republic pays tribute to his work with the exhibition « Planet Ocean ». This makes him the youngest photographer to have exhibited his work on the famous gates of the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. Twenty exhibitions around the world will follow.
In 2008, he took the deepest image ever photographed by a diver at – 625 ft by the French Riviera.
With this knowledge in deep diving, he led in May 2009, a confidential expedition to South Africa to realise an old dream, diving with Gombessa (the local name of the coelacanth fish) and bring back the very first pictures of the living fossil fish taken by a diver, down at – 395 ft. This mission led to his first « GOMBESSA Expedition », 4 years later, to conduct the first scientific protocols on a live specimen down at – 120 m/ 395 ft.
Laurent Ballesta headed 5 GOMBESSA expeditions that resulted in productions for the French and international television, including the ARTE channel and National Geographic. Each of his new projects is in line with previous ones and reinforces the 3 pillars of his expeditions: a scientific mystery, a diving challenge and the promise of new animal images.
Following each of these large-scale missions, he published a book that retraces his explorations with photographs: First in January 2014, “Gombessa, meeting with the coelacanth” is the only photographic collection on this mythical fish. He presents his best pictures, those of the coelacanth and his environment, and writes the story of this adventure that lasted 4 years.
Then in 2016, following the expedition Gombessa III in Terre Adélie, he co-signed with Vincent Munier “Adélie Terre & Mer” unveiling the marine fauna and lush deep gardens of Antarctica, never explored diving nor illustrated before.
In 2017, on his return from Gombessa IV to Fakarava south (and Gombessa II in 2014), Laurent Ballesta offered to see for the first time the ballet of reproduction of the camouflage grouper and the swirling hunts of the 700 sharks that populate the narrow pass of Tumakohua. “700 Sharks in the dark” is his latest work to date, the result of 4 years of expeditions, 3000 hours of cumulative night dives and 85000 photographic triggers.
In the summer of 2019 he did a world first by successfully combining offshore saturation living systems with the technics of autonomous rebreather diving. For 28 days, Laurent and 3 other divers lived in a 5 square meters pressurized chamber and dove daily in the mesophotic zone, between 60 and 140 meters deep, with no time limit between Marseille and Monaco. There, they could illustrate targeted ecosystems and put together unique scientific protocols.
In 2021 the experiment of saturation diving will be repeated for 20 days off Cap Corse to unravel the mystery of the coral rings at – 120M.
MAJOR PRIZES & DISTINCTIONS:
2000/2002/2004 – Plongeur d’Or, Festival Mondial de l’Image Sous-Marine, Antibes, France
2013 – Hans Hass Award
2014 – Member of the Ocean Artist Society, USA
2017 – Wildlife Photographer of the Year, category Earth’s environnement, National Museum of London
2017 – Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite
2021 – Grand Prize of the 45th Salon de la Marine
2021 – Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Grand Title winner
2021 – Grande Médaille Albert Premier de Monaco, mediation category
BOOKS:
2003 – De la source à la mer, ed. SVI Puplicep
2005 – Planète Mers, ed. Michel Lafon
2006 – Planet Ocean, ed. National Geographic (traduit en 5 langues)
2007 – Plongées sans bulles, ed. SVI Publicep
2008 – Secrets de Méditerranée, 1ère édition limitée ed. Andromède Collection
2010 – Secrets de Méditerranée, 2ème édition limitée ed. Andromède Collection
2012 – Odyssée dans les eaux d’ici, ed. Andromède Collection
2013 – Une vie dans le port, ed. Andromède Collection
2014 – Gombessa, rencontre avec le cœlacanthe, ed. Andromède Collection
2015 – Gombessa, meeting with the coelacanth, co-ed. Andromède Collection/OceanPlanet
2015 – Secrets d’Oceans, édition limitée, ed. Andromède Collection
2016 – Adélie, Terre & Mer, co-ed Paulsen / Koballan
2018 – 700 Requins dans la nuit / 700 sharks into the dark, ed. Andromède Collection
2020 – Planète Méditerranée / Mediterranean Planet, co-ed. Andromède Collection & Hemeria
FILMS:
2004 – Le 7ème ciel des requins gris / Shark Sex
2007 – Dans les profondeurs de la Baie des Anges / In the depths of the Angels’ bay
2008 – Au royaume du Nautile / In the realm of the Nautilus
2011 – Les larmes du crocodile / The crocodile’s tears
2013 – Le coelacanthe, plongée vers nos origines / The coelacanth, a dive towards our origins
2015 – Le mystère mérou / The grouper mystery
2017 – Antarctica, Sur les traces de l’Empereur / Antarctica, in the footsteps of the emperor penguin
2018 – 700 Requins dans la nuit / 700 sharks into the dark
2019 – Le Mystère du Mont La Pérouse / The mysteries of the La Pérouse Mount
2020 – Planète Méditerranée / Mediterranean Planet
2021 – Le Feu de la Méditerranée / The fire of the Mediterranean
