/ 2014 / Nature / Underwater

Surrounded

A scene captured underwater in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. While filming an assignment, there was a brief moment when I became completely surrounded by a large school of fish. Every angle and axis was filled with their silhouette. So much so that I could barely see the sun. Within seconds they were gone, and I was back to floating isolated in the deep blue sea.

Goh Iromoto grew up in Toronto, Ontario and is currently studying Human Geography at the University of British Columbia. Earlier on, he ventured into the scene of film and video editing where he began his young career as a documentary filmmaker. Eventually, he became an assistant editor in advertising post-production in 2005.

However, before committing to a possible lifetime career, Goh made the life changing decision to travel abroad. Despite the advent of the Internet and other modern forms of media, he still saw a world that was significantly different from those represented back home. Unique socio-cultural details such as the way people eat, talk, and even wash themselves were all missing gaps which the media often overlooks when depicting a foreign culture.

While his ten months overseas he also further discovered his interest in photography, particularly towards the idea of using it as a tool to communicate social and humanitarian issues and occurrences. Inspired by renowned photographers such as Nachtwey, Salgado, and Henri-Cartier Bresson, and young photographers such as Dominic Nahr, Goh seeks to further bridge the lack of visual communication between those of the developing world to those of the developed.