Laurent Ballesta

Role: underwater photographer, deep diver, marine biologist, explorer First appearance: 2004 (^[1]) Affiliation: Andromede Oceanologie; National Geographic; Blancpain (sponsor)

Biography

Laurent Ballesta is a French underwater photographer, marine biologist, and deep diving pioneer. He is the founder of the Andromede Oceanologie company, which he started with his university partner. Ballesta grew up in Montpellier, France, where he developed his passion for diving despite having non-diving parents who were “scared by the sea.” He began diving at age 13 and taught himself underwater photography entirely self-taught using film cameras (^[2]).

Ballesta has been described as “the closest thing we have today to an heir to Jacques Cousteau” by photographer Henley Spiers. He has worked with French television presenter Nicolas Hulot for 12 years, serving as a marine biology consultant on his programs, which gave him opportunities to travel the world and learn expedition filmmaking (^[3]).

He is sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Blancpain through their Ocean Commitment program and is recognizable by his signature red wetsuit and yellow Revo rebreather (^[4]).

Contributions

• Coelacanth filming: Filmed live coelacanths in the wild — first at Sodwana Bay, South Africa (~2010, at 105–115m depth using rebreathers, diving 4–5 hours per day for 4 weeks, seeing coelacanths only 6 times; 3 divers had previously died attempting to reach the caves) and later off Mozambique as part of the Gombessa expedition series. The dives reached approximately 120 meters depth with only 12 minutes of bottom time, and required extensive decompression. Several previous attempts by others had resulted in fatalities. (^[5], ^[6], ^[7])
• Antarctic deep diving: Completed the deepest dives ever under Antarctic ice, reaching 230 feet (70 meters), with dives lasting up to five hours at temperatures below 29 degrees Fahrenheit. It took seven months for his nerves to recover from the trauma. He described it: “The waters under Antarctic ice are like Mount Everest: magical, but so hostile that you have to be sure of your desire before you go” (^[8]).
• Gombessa IV - Fakarava expedition: Led the Gombessa IV expedition to Fakarava, French Polynesia, documenting the mating aggregation of camouflage grouper and the predatory behavior of hundreds of grey reef sharks. The expedition resulted in a scientific paper on the inverted trophic pyramid published in Current Biology in July 2016 (^[9]).
• Saturation diving innovation: Conceived and developed a plan (first proposed around 2000 to COMEX founder Henri Germain-Delauze) to combine saturation diving with rebreather technology, enabling divers to exit a pressurized bell with rebreathers for hours of free exploration at depth, eliminating time constraints imposed by decompression requirements (^[10]).
• Deep diving pioneer: Reached depths of over 200 meters with more than six hours in the water using rebreathers, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in underwater photography and exploration. In 2008, he shot the deepest SCUBA underwater photograph at -192 meters in Nice, France. (^[11], ^[12])

Timeline

• 2004-11: Mentioned at Antibes Festival 2004 (^[13])
• 2008: Shoots the deepest SCUBA underwater photograph at -192 meters in Nice, France. (^[14])
• ~2010: Photographs and films live coelacanths at 105–115m in Sodwana Bay, South Africa using rebreathers. Eric Cheng promotes footage on Wetpixel front page. (^[15])
• 2011-01: Documentary of Laurent Ballesta filming live coelacanths off Mozambique featured on Wetpixel (^[16])
• 2017-07: Images from deepest dive ever under Antarctic ice published by National Geographic (^[17])
• 2017-07: Gombessa IV Genesis full film documenting Fakarava expedition released with Blancpain (^[18])
• 2019-02: In-depth interview by Henley Spiers published on Wetpixel, covering his career, philosophy, and saturation diving plans (^[19])

References

• ^[20]
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