Shortly after completing my freediving training off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, I set out to capture a schooling akule formation known to gather just offshore at Kona-Kailua Beach.
Working beneath the surface, I positioned myself alongside a tightly packed bait ball as it was methodically shaped by hunting giant trevally. The interaction between predator and prey created a constantly shifting structure - disciplined, fluid, and highly responsive to pressure.
As the school began to form a defined wave pattern, I composed the frame with a single focal point in mind, allowing the surrounding motion to fall away into abstraction. Timing, breath control, and precise camera settings were critical, holding steady within the movement to isolate one moment of clarity inside the chaos.
Amber Jones is a photographer and visual advocate whose work navigates the raw energy of the sea and the quiet intimacy of life beneath the surface. Her practice is rooted in a deep reverence for the intuitive rhythm of the underwater world and a physical discipline developed over years of immersion. From her early days shooting surfers in Kona, Hawaii, to the underwater landscapes of the Alderman Islands, her work functions as an animist offering to the marine life of Aotearoa.
Size: 80x60 cm
Material: Photographic Fuji Print with matte laminate, mounted in white floating frame.
Print edition: Limited edition of 15
