“On the Day of the Dead I celebrate life! The Mexican “Día de Muertos” is an inspiration for me – life reborn from death. This regeneration is especially poignant to me in relation to conservation. The day of the dead is a metaphor for the damage that we are doing to our planet and the hope that we have for recovery and new life.”
La Catrina Sirena and the Song of the Ocean
“I had the opportunity to travel to Tahiti in French Polynesia. I saw LIFE! As I heard the whales singing… and my heart grew of appreciation for the beauty all around us. I heard the ocean’s song in the deep blue. This planet is made of water and under the dance of the waves: life signs. As I heard the ocean song, I felt compelled to add my words and found a musician to help me write the music. This is a song for the ocean.” – Sol
My Tahiti underwater photography experience was incredible. Meeting freedivers in love, dancing around whales and sharks, I was so connected to the ocean and having a simple, real life. Loving and enjoying every day.
This year I am choosing to share less Catrinas with painted faces. This year I want to show real people, real stories and real life.
The amazing Captain Aline embodies the Catrina spirit. Aline is an adventurous soul who found her home in Tahiti. She found an abandoned catamaran on the beach – dead – salvaged it and refurbished it herself. She breathed new life into the bones of the broken boat. Now that dead shell is her home surrounded by sharks and an ocean teeming with life.
The Moorea local tour company showed us the incredible life and the truth about rays and sharks. Hollywood sold us the wrong story, sharks are friends and a vital part of the ocean ecosystem. They interacted with the dancing fish. The stingrays even choose to touch the people and “play” with them. Humans entering the marine environment with love, provokes positive and natural interactions. Each interaction, chosen by the animal, is a privilege: sharing moments in life.
Photographing a mother humpback whale and calf was incredible. I was listening to their songs and just loving everything as I moved through the water. “We live in a fast world, so fast that we forget our essence. We forget our connection to the whole and in our endless pursuit of more, we stop enjoying life and are killing our resources, our ocean.”
Photographer: Sol Tamargo
Diving services and technical support: Solo Buceo
Corset and Rose crown: Claudia Bo Designs
Mermaid tail by Polly
Make Up Artist Sirena #1: Monica Riquelme
Models: Polly, Frida Lemus, Adriana Chardi, Paulina Araujo, Iris Vasconez
Tags: Best Of, Catrina, Cenote Trash the Dress, Claudia Bo Designs, mermaid, Sol Tamargo, Sol’s Projects, trash the dress, Underwater Photography
