This is my small collection. Different seas, polar lights and northern landscapes. Click on the gallery you want, wait until fully loaded (you can make some tea for yourself) and then you can browse photos with arrow buttons on your keyboard. I hope you’ll enjoy.

White Sea Bestiary

Most people think that pretty, colourful animals can not live in the cold dark water of the northern seas beyond the Polar Circle. This is almost true; there are no coral reefs, no clownfish or any other funny colored fish. The White Sea reveals another world with its own aliens, highlighting some truly amazing creatures. These colourful life forms will surprise anyone from a housewife to an experienced specialist. The Arctic fauna offers a totally different view of life forms then I’ve previously seen. It’s unique, inspiring and fascinating to study.

Prisoners of Lab

Many marine species can’t be photographed underwater for a variety of different reasons. Some animals are too small, some spend their life burrowed in the seafloor, and some live in the dark depths where nobody can dive. At our station, we collect specimens using different methods and as a result are able to show a wide range of animals, which we haven’t previously seen in their natural environment. You can view them in this gallery, which also contains photos of some more common, yet very beautiful White Sea inhabitants that I love.

The Sea of Japan. Octopus kingdom

The Sea of Japan is the true pearl among all Russian seas. It’s northern and tropical at the same time and that mix makes the Japan sea absolutely unique. Underwater life here feels like a boiling pit full of invertebrates – so many different creatures are moving around you every minute. Also here lives real-world aliens – cephalopods. I never was as emotional as when I saw 6 meters long octopus… It’s amazing. The Sea of Japan is wonderful place for diving, you need decades to see all the stuff here. And here Nature knows all about color harmony.

The Red Sea

This small collection of photos is all I have to show for 10 days in warm blue water. The Red Sea is so popular that you’re unable to discover any new unknown or unidentified creatures. All invertebrates are afraid of divers, especially when the divers out-number the animals. This is the downside of diving in the Red Sea. But here are also a lot of pros; the water is clear, the visibility is amazing, the sun is shining and the weather is sweet. The biodiversity blossoms in places where less than 20 diving boats per day are present or when its night-time.

Cold Underworld

A gallery of underwater landscapes in summer and winter seasons. We start our expeditions in March, when the White Sea is covered by thick ice. Diving under the ice is one of the most stupid ways to spend your time. It’s hard, very cold and sometimes extremely dangerous. But the things you see compensate for all these shortcomings. At times its very claustrophobic, but the beautiful ice ceiling, with its cracks and caves, diffuses the bright sunlight and illuminates huge pieces of ice that glow from the inside. It’s cool. Extremely cool!

Auroras. Light of the night

One of the most beautiful events of nature is the Aurora. It’s a very common sight for people who live beyond the Polar Circle and where night lasts for a half a year. Living in a Polar region is difficult at times. There is no sunlight, only low light for a few hours in the middle of the day. But it’s not always dark, when the sky is clear you can see bright arcs of green or red light moving across the sky. Photos just don’t do it justice, the Northern lights are absolutely amazing. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life… on land, certainly :)

Dreaming of the Sea

The White Sea Biological Station is located on the coast of Kandalaksha Bay on the White Sea, near the Polar Circle. The WSBS location makes it an ideal place not only to study a northern marine environment for scientists and students from around the globe, but to enjoy amazing nature, seascapes and sky panoramas. A 500 m strait separates the station from Veliky Island, the largest island of the Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve. Our station is a wonderful place with its unique atmosphere of science mixed with wild nature.