An athlete dressed as a clown jumps into the Mediterranean sea as he takes part in the Copa Nadal in the Spanish port of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, December 25, 2016. The Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup) is a traditional swimming competition that takes place in Barcelona every December 25th, where participants swim 200 meters in the open sea in the port of Barcelona. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/AP Photo)

A sick California sea lion with possible domoic acid poisoning is rescued to be evaluated by volunteers from CIMWI (Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute) in Santa Barbara, California, on March 25, 2025. Over a hundred sea lions, dolphins and other marine mammals, including birds, have been sickened by domoic acid poisoning from algal blooms in Southern California since February, US media reported. (Photo by David Swanson/AFP Photo)

An endangered baby turtle hatched from its egg in its nest on the Belek coast, is trying to reach the open sea by walking along the beach in Antalya, Turkiye on August 05, 2025. In the Belek and Kizilot region, one of the largest nesting areas in the Mediterranean, many baby turtles continue to meet the sea. (Photo by Tahsin Ceylan/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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.

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)

Boys eat at a rubbish dump where they are collecting recyclable waste outside Yemen's Red Sea port city of Houdieda January 20, 2016. (Photo by Abduljabbar Zeyad/Reuters)

Children sit on a bed in a flooded house following heavy rain in a village in Yemen's Red Sea province of Houdieda April 15, 2016. (Photo by Abduljabbar Zeyad/Reuters)