A serviceman of Ukraine's coast guard mans a gun on a patrol boat as a cargo ship passes by in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A person dressed as Santa Claus jumps into the sea during the Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup) swimming race in Barcelona, Spain on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Bruna Casas/Reuters)

The sun sets over the Mediterranean sea as a nine-branched Hanukkah menorah (Hanukkiah) is pictured by the coast in Netanya on December 31, 2024. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

A woman walks into the ocean as a sea lion makes its way to the beach in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Lake Assal is a crater lake in central-western Djibouti. It is located at the western end of Gulf of Tadjoura in the Tadjoura Region, touching Dikhil Region, at the top of the Great Rift Valley, some 120 km (75 mi) west of Djibouti city. Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level in the Afar Triangle, making it the lowest point on land in Africa and the third-lowest land depression on Earth after the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee.

Patients from Rady Children's Hospital hug a bottlenose dolphin after being invited to swim and interact with dolphins at Sea World in San Diego, California August 27, 2015. Sea World has hosted Dolphin Interaction Program for seven years. It was started by dolphin trainer Joy Soto who battled and overcame non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

I'm born in Russia in a village on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan. The sea itself that always catches the attention of divers and underwater photographers from all over the Soviet Union.

I started with underwater photography recently, in 1998, with a simple underwater "boom box" "Canon" and "Epic".
Then a "Nikonos-5", complete with wide-angle and close-up.
The first trip to the Red Sea, with colorful fish .. The first attempts to make the macro and the knowledge that this equipment was not good.

Tourists pose with pigeons in the flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, on November 7, 2014. The high water, a combination of high tides and a strong Scirocco wind in the Adriatic Sea, stood at 110 centimeters early on November 7. The city has for years been wrestling with the problems posed by the threat of rising sea levels. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)