Azul means blue in Spanish. The title shows what the photograph is all about. Cristina Mittermeier took this picture at Jardines de la Reina, Cuba in 2017. It shows a shark silhouette moving through blue water as the light fades.
The blue colours do more than point to where the picture was taken. They make the scene feel deep and mysterious. They pull the eye to the animal and to the underwater world around it. Mittermeier says the picture reminds us how little we really know about life down.
Cuba Beyond the Postcard
Cuba is often shown with American cars, colourful buildings and historic streets.. The natural world in Cuba gives another view.
Azul was taken at Jardines de la Reina, a group of islands off Cubas coast that is famous for marine life. Of looking at buildings or street scenes Mittermeier points her camera at the ocean. She wants us to see the wildlife below the water.
The picture was shot in 2017 years after the U.S. And Cuba opened their ties in 2014. While that is part of Cuba’s past the image stays with the underwater world instead of politics.
The Details Outside the Frame
When you look at Azul notice the shark silhouette against the water. The sharp contrast between the animal and its surroundings pulls the eye. The light that fades adds depth to the picture.
The shark looks small in the stretch of water. It makes you feel the scale and the isolation. These parts of the picture make us think about the ocean as a world that we still only partly know.
The picture also shows how composition, light and colour can give a sense of size and wonder without a story.
What Stays With Us?
Azul, Cuba, 2017 invites people to look past the silhouette and think about the huge marine world around it. With its blue colours and the lone shark Cristina Mittermeier captures a moment that shows both the beauty of the ocean and how far our knowledge of life, under the water still goes.