Underwater Zen by Makoto Kubo
By diving without breathing, you can be very close to the ocean and the ocean species: it is an act to understand our Mother Ocean. While we are holding our breath and diving deep into the ocean, we can synchronize with the ocean and I believe we can coexist with the earth.
I am a photographer who has been mesmerized by the magic of the ocean. I shoot the surface layer, the scenery, and the living creatures of the ocean. I am more talented in free diving than scuba diving. My spirit and body becomes "leveled" and utilizing the diving reflex stage, I can go into a meditating stage and it looks like I am practicing Zen. From this learning I have started this program "Underwater Zen" and I have been shooting divers and myself in a diver reflex stage.
Diver reflex stage is a certain body reaction that occurs when a person dives. His erasion veins contract and circulate blood to the heart, lungs, and brain; and at the same time, a reflex called underwater slow pulse occurs, and the pulse becomes calmer and calmer as the diver goes deeper and deeper into the ocean. In this stage, motor and brain activity are inhibited, and the diver is in a state of meditation. During this time, I photograph myself and other divers who are in a state of Zen with natural lighting in the dark ocean.
Being in the diver reflex stage, I can be one with this gigantic ocean, and I can see people in a noble state, and shoot sceneries of mental pictures in the deep ocean.
Makoto Kubo lives and works in Tiba prefecture, Japan.
To view more of Makoto's work, please visit his website.
