Matt Bagley — Fine-Art Ocean Photography
Matthew Bagley is an Australian fine-art photographer based near Phillip Island and South Gippsland, Victoria. He grew up in a small coastal fishing town — the ocean was always close, and it has stayed that way.
His work is made underwater, on single breath, in the cold southern Australian waters he has known his whole life. No strobe. Only the available light of the environment. The images arrive through patience and stillness, not speed. Shot on a Leica camera in an Aquatech housing.
His photographs have been exhibited in New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Moscow, Monaco, Budapest, and Barcelona, and published in Australian Geographic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vanity Fair.
Collections
A portrait-format study of Victoria's southern coastline and its marine life — South Gippsland, Phillip Island, Bass Strait. Made in near-darkness, cold water, through patience and repeated return.
A long-term project using low-level UV light (UVIVF) to reveal ocean debris and the fluorescent ecosystems that have reclaimed it — red, orange, purple, blue — things the human eye cannot ordinarily see. San Remo and the intertidal zones of southeast Victoria.
Awards, publications, exhibitions, and practice notes.
Short essays on process, equipment, and the water: single-breath diving, working without strobe, and shooting a Leica in an Aquatech housing.
Prints
Limited edition fine-art archival prints are available through mattbagley.art.
Enquiries: matt@mlbdesign.com.au
