Exposure: Lives at Sea - look inside the new gallery

From the large-scale panoramic to the intensely intimate, Exposure: Lives at Sea captures both the extreme environments and everyday sights of our seas and oceans today.

Bringing together photography taken around the world, from the reefs of Mexico to the isolation of Antarctica, the new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum shows us the myriad ways life can be spent at sea.

See just some of the stunning images on show, and learn more about the photographers featured in the exhibition.

Find out more about Exposure: Lives at Sea

(All photographs by kind permission of the artists)

Michal Krzysztofowicz captures the isolation of working in one of the most remote workplaces on Earth, inaccessible by sea, land or air. Once the supply ships leave in the winter, the 13 researchers based at the station are left alone for eight months.

Fakemas Flight

Working for 15 months as a Data Manager at the British Antarctic Survey's Halley IV Research Station, Michal documented his experience by taking a photo every day for a year.

Krzysztofowicz's photographs capture a breath-taking Antarctic world, but also a challenging one for humans. As winter progresses, the hours of darkness increase and the temperature drops to -56°C.

A neighbourly visit to the Penguins

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, but also one of the most threatened. Dr Adler's images reveal the feats researchers accomplish as they navigate underwater realms, assessing the health of our oceans to establish how best we can protect them.

Underwater Gardeners

By kind permission of artist © Jennifer Adler

Dr Jennifer Adler is a conservation photographer and underwater journalist, who dives deep into an unchartered world beneath the surface to communicate conservation and science.

Exposure: Lives at Sea - Precious Cargo © Jennifer Adler

Photography can bring emotion and connection to science and statistics. It can communicate research that wouldn’t otherwise leave the pages of a peer-reviewed journal

Dr Jennifer Adler

Precious Cargo

Iain Campbell's work reveals the human stories of people working in these challenging environments through evocative portraits and isolated shots of the oil rigs they call home.

Dimitar’s Cup

Peter Iain Campbell is a commercial photographer who, in order to document life in the offshore oil and gas industry, specifically trained to work as a drilling rig worker in the North Sea.

Exposure: Lives at Sea - Irene Lopez Rodriguez, Data Engineer/Mud Logger Prospector 1 Drilling Rig Franklin Field, central North Sea © Peter Iain Campbell

There’s an underlying feeling of isolation, volatility and danger offshore. The confined physical environment can be claustrophobic, the natural elements harsh and brutal.

Peter Iain Campbell

Irene Lopez Rodriguez, Data Engineer/Mud Logger Prospector 1 Drilling Rig Franklin Field, central North Sea

Gabriel's photographs serve as a reminder that seafarers are fundamental to supporting daily life in the UK, with 95% of all imports and exports transported by ship. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of seafarers became stranded. Many were stuck on ships unable to dock, while others were unable to travel to join their ships.

Enclosed Space

Chief engineer and photographer Cezar Gabriel has worked at sea for over 20 years, living on remote oil tankers. He began taking photos of life on board to raise awareness of the physical and mental challenges faced by seafarers.

If this pandemic showed us anything, it's how little we matter for some, and how much for others

Cezar Gabriel

Fallen

Aburto’s photographs document the vital changes local communities in Mexico have made to conserve ocean resources. Despite the communities’ efforts, the effects of climate change mean these delicate ecosystems remain under threat.

Playground

A marine ecologist and National Geographic explorer and photographer, Octavio Aburto has been photographing marine ecosystems off the coastal waters of Mexico since 1994.

Exposure: Lives at Sea - Fishing with Tapos © Octavia Aburto

Decision-makers can be inspired to make changes if they understand the scientific results we produce. Photography is a very good way to convince them to change in favour of the environment.

Dr Octavio Aburto

Fishing with Tapos

Commercial fishing remains one of the deadliest occupations in the world and Alaskan fishers work in an extremely hostile environment, with volatile winds, huge waves, freezing temperatures and long fishing seasons spent far from home.

Dark Sea

A photographer and commercial fisher, Corey Arnold documents the Alaskan sea and the people who work on its waters.

A science-based management approach has preserved healthy fish stocks throughout Alaska. However, abnormalities in ocean temperatures related to climate change pose a challenge for the future.

National Maritime Museum

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