Samantha Schwann is an underwater photographic artist whose work concentrates on ecologically unique areas of the ocean, in a thoughtful approach to an increasingly urgent global conversation.
She began diving in 1994 off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada and progressed to earn advanced instructor ratings in both recreational and technical diving. Schwann’s artistic background was in sculpture (stone, paper, metal) prior to an introduction to photography in 2010, where she began with landscapes and abstracts. Her work is dedicated to ocean conservation since the acquisition of an underwater housing in 2015. In 2022, she was elected as a Member National into The Explorer’s Club, a professional multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the scientific exploration of land, sea, and space.
Schwann’s images shed the constraints of the underwater environment, inviting the viewer to share in the curiosity of the ocean and the range of events and subjects which present themselves. Interested in images with a minimal aesthetic, her work frequently incorporates elements of transience and impermanence.