My girlfriend Marianne and I are 40 years old, passionate about marine life, freediving, swimming, and now sailing... that's it! We left our Parisian lives and our respective jobs to discover life at sea for better or for worse.
Diatomée is the name of our lovely 18-meter aluminum sailboat, manufactured in the 1980s. She is the starting point of our project that started one year ago, an attempt to realize a childhood dream: to live on the water, discovering the oceans and their inhabitants.
When we decided to live only aboard a sailboat, we barely knew how to navigate. It took the best part of a year to learn all this with the help of a friend and Captain by profession Gilles Rigaud. His 30 years’ experience was vital to our success.
How does photography fit to this project? The idea was to invite on board Diatomée personalities with a particular attachment to the water, to form a collective to develop projects rich in challenges, learning and artistic creations.
With an ecological approach and to limit our impact on the natural environment, we want to develop this concept by traveling at the speed of the wind, and to dive without heavy equipment.
This boat is now placed in associative form and we wish to develop 4 axes for the purpose of raising awareness about conservation of the oceans:
- An artistic axis - as an underwater photographer, it seems to me essential to sublimate the richness of the ocean and highlight our desire to protect it.
- Pedagogical axis led by Marianne, who communicates directly with children France.
- Sporting axis - sport is an integral part of our lives and it seems only logical to take up sporting challenges with the athletes who wish to get involved in the adventure.
- Scientific axis: whether trying to participate in studies or by inviting scientists on board, it is important for us to try to contribute, even very humbly, to the research that can take shape aboard a sailboat.
Very sadly, Diatomée was crashed into this summer while we were back at work in Europe, so the project takes on a new challenge!
See more updates from Alex on Instagram!