Photography
Creating art has never been my focus when taking up photography. The driving force and inspiration behind my images is based on social- and environmental concerns and the ambition to make a difference for sustainable future. Don’t understand me wrong, I’m not concerned about our planet, but rather about the future of the human race. Planet Earth and its ever changing fauna and flora, will definitely be around for sometime with or without us.
The Coral Triangle, where I have done most of my photography over the past 20 years, is the most bio diverse marine environment on this planet. It is an ecological treasure, such as the Amazon or the Congo Basin, and of greatest importance to the future of humankind.
More than a hundred million people depend directly on the region’s marine resources for daily protein and livelihoods. Its biodiversity may hold the key to find cures and vaccinations for some of the world’s deadliest diseases. The Coral Triangle’s natural beauty and cultural diversity is a heritage worth protecting for all humanity.
Today, the region’s ecosystem is under pressure; over-harvesting of resources, illegal fishing practices, degradation of coastlines and pollution are having a heavy toll on the environment and the food security of millions of people. The effects of rapid Climate Change are the most worrying. Powerful storms and floods, ocean acidification and sea level and water temperature rise already costing the region’s economy billions of dollars every year.
But let’s think positive and keep on working to reduce our energy footprint and move towards a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies.
My photography is dedicated to help find our way and to support the many hard working and dedicated conservationists, researchers, activists, educators and other individuals I have met during my travels, each contributing in their own way to make a difference and to get a few steps closer to become a sustainable society.
I don’t know if we are going to succeed, but I know we can’t afford to fail.
The Coral Triangle, where I have done most of my photography over the past 20 years, is the most bio diverse marine environment on this planet. It is an ecological treasure, such as the Amazon or the Congo Basin, and of greatest importance to the future of humankind.
More than a hundred million people depend directly on the region’s marine resources for daily protein and livelihoods. Its biodiversity may hold the key to find cures and vaccinations for some of the world’s deadliest diseases. The Coral Triangle’s natural beauty and cultural diversity is a heritage worth protecting for all humanity.
Today, the region’s ecosystem is under pressure; over-harvesting of resources, illegal fishing practices, degradation of coastlines and pollution are having a heavy toll on the environment and the food security of millions of people. The effects of rapid Climate Change are the most worrying. Powerful storms and floods, ocean acidification and sea level and water temperature rise already costing the region’s economy billions of dollars every year.
But let’s think positive and keep on working to reduce our energy footprint and move towards a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies.
My photography is dedicated to help find our way and to support the many hard working and dedicated conservationists, researchers, activists, educators and other individuals I have met during my travels, each contributing in their own way to make a difference and to get a few steps closer to become a sustainable society.
I don’t know if we are going to succeed, but I know we can’t afford to fail.
Awards
2017 Winner 1st place of the Duikvaker Photography Competition - Category Outside NL
2018 Commended and shortlisted Photographer in the Sony World Photography Award - Nature & Wildlife
2016 Finalist Travel Photographer of the Year - Wildlife & Nature
2016 Finalist Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award HIPA - The Challenge - Dubai
2016 Winner 1st place of the Sony World Photography Award - Swiss National Award
Read here an interview by SONY Switzerland with Eric Madeja
2016 Commended and shortlisted Photographer in the Sony World Photography Award - Nature & Wildlife
2016 Winner 1st place BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition - Photo Essay - California Academy of Science
2016 Finalist and shortlisted Environmental Photographer of the Year - Royal Geographical Society in London
2016 Winner 11th place Nature’s Best Photography - Ocean Views - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Washington / Alert Diver
2015 Winner Merit Medal Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award HIPA - Life in Colour - Dubai
2015 Shortlisted Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Under Water - Natural History Museum London / BBC
2015 Honorable Mention Beneath the Sea International Imaging Competition - New Jersey USA
Exhibitions
My photographs have been exhibited at various locations around the world.
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA
Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA
Royal Geographic Society, London, UK
Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany
Somerset House, London, UK
SM Aura Premier, Manila, Philippines
UK City of Culture Celebrations, Hull, UK
Stockwell Street, Greenwich, London, UK
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA
Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA
Royal Geographic Society, London, UK
Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany
Somerset House, London, UK
SM Aura Premier, Manila, Philippines
UK City of Culture Celebrations, Hull, UK
Stockwell Street, Greenwich, London, UK
Stock Images
My stock images are available for licensing. Feel free to surf, share and download the sample albums below. By doing so, you agree to the Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND), which allows use under certain terms & conditions.
You can purchase a commercial rights-managed (RM) license should you require high resolution Coral Triangle images without watermark. Please use the stock image inquiry form for this purpose. I have many unpublished images in my library, please contact me for specific requests.
We receive a high number of "free of charge" images requests by individuals and non-profit organisations. For various reasons we can only accommodate these requests under exceptional circumstances. Please email us for more information.
You can purchase a commercial rights-managed (RM) license should you require high resolution Coral Triangle images without watermark. Please use the stock image inquiry form for this purpose. I have many unpublished images in my library, please contact me for specific requests.
We receive a high number of "free of charge" images requests by individuals and non-profit organisations. For various reasons we can only accommodate these requests under exceptional circumstances. Please email us for more information.
Farming, ranching, caging, seaweed, pearls, mussels, lobsters, crabs, fish, abalone, shells, shrimp, prawn, sea cucumber
Harvesting, collecting, preparation, sea cucumbers, holothuroidea, Hǎishēn, 海参
Hard coral, Soft coral, Gorgonians
Crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, prawn, krill and barnacles
storms, earth quakes, destructive fishing, blast fishing, cyanide, fish trawling, pollution, climate change, epidemics, siltation, over-fishing
recreational diver, research diver, underwater photographer, filmmaker, snorkelers, marine tourism, scuba tourism
dolphins, porpoises, whales, marine mammals, cetaceans
parrotfish, fusiliers, barracudas, snappers, sweetlips, mackerels, tuna, groupers, batfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, triggerfish, trevallies, rabbitfish, wrasses, surgeonfish, damselfish, pufferfish, boxfish, filefish, porcupinefish, burrfish, tuna, sweepers, bannerfish, squirrelfish, breams, scats, baitfish
scorpionfish, lionfish, gobies, dragonets, sand divers, waspfish, stargazers, stonefish, hawkfish, anthias, dottybacks, sea moths, dartfish, flatheads, scorpionfish, catfish, jawfish, blennies, cuskeels, lizardfish, sand perches, flounders, frogfish
clownfish, anemonefish, damselfish, aquarium fish
fish larvae, fish juveniles, flying fish, oceanic sunfish, mola-mola, sargassum frogfish
seahorse, pipefish, pipehorse, traditional chinese medicine
sharks, rays, mantas, mobulas, shark finning, jaws, teeth, fins
small scale fisheries, fishermen, net-fishing, line fishing, fish traps
commercial fisheries, fish trawling, purse seiner, tuna fisheries, bagang, processing plants
blast fishing, dynamite fishing, cyanide, hookah divers, speargun
jellyfish, anemones, mushroom coral, seapen, hydrozoa, cubozoa, scyphozoa, anthozoa
beautiful scenery from the Coral Triangle
Coral Triangle split-level (over-under) photography. Part underwater, part above water.
mangrove forests, mangrove planting, resources use, cutting, mangrove wildlife, mangrove roots, archer fish, mudskipper, crocodile
mussels, clams, oysters, cockles, scallops
octopi, squids, sepia, cuttlefish, chambered nautilus, mimic octopus, starry octopus, blue-ringed octopus, long-arm octopus, bobtail squid, flamboyant cuttlefish, octopus and squid fisheries, nautilus trapping
nudibranch, slugs, abalone, conches, periwinkles, whelks, triton shell, souvenir trade
people, villages, transports, cooking, faces, children, markets, sea gypsies, bajau laut, resource use
Phytoplankton, Zooplankton
beautiful underwater reef scenery from the Coral Triangle
scientists, researchers, volunteers
snakes, kraits, hydrophiidae
green turtle, leatherback turtle, hawksbill turtle, flatback turtle, loggerhead turtle, turtle egg trade, turtle nesting, egg collecting, hatchlings
amphibolis, cymodocea, halodule, syringodium, thalassodendron, enhalus, halophila, thalassia, posidonia, phyllospadix, zostera, sea vegetables, latok, sea grapes, seagrass beds
star fish, sea star, sea urchin, reef gleaning
filter feeders, sea squirt, barrel sponge, hexactinellid, homoscleromorpha, demosponge, calcareous sponge, ascidians, thaliacea, larvacea
birds, lizards, coconut crabs, insects, monkeys, apes, orchids, elephants, snakes, moths, bats, bees
textures from the Coral Triangle
energy, waves, currents, winds
christmas tree worms, hobbit worm, flat worms, tube worms
Eric Madeja
WhatsApp: +60128382272
Skype: eric_madeja
Email me