Mirko De Luca
Member Since June 2020
Artist Statement ↑I was born in a little town, north of Venice in Italy, the 18th of October 1982, right on the bottom of the Alps mountains.Been the countryside my playground, nature inspired me since little.Events of my life made me and my family moving a lot , changing house, school and friends often.This allowed me to be fearless about constantly moving and than travel.At the age of 14 i decided to study in the aeronautical academy far from home.Once graduated,was clear to me that world cultures and places where waiting for me, and even after signing up for Anthropology University in Bologna, i felt my place was on the road.I start backpacking at the age of 19, discovering Europe, and finding out the world was so interesting there was no sense to go back home.Every experience was a learning process, even just with languages, and the need of provide sustainability to my life style, i had been jumping in every kind of work around the globe, from dish washer to constructions.There was something that stayed common in every single trip, in every country i experienced; The call of wild nature and more than anything,the ocean.I wanted to be close to it,been able to see it ,its power and his constant change.Free dive was the point where we were meeting up but than scuba diving turned out to be the right tool to keep knowing the seas.Been a diving instructor allowed me to keep travelling and to take care of that special connection i have when i am underwater..Photography kicked in only after few years of diving, that is what i wanted to do,put in a frame what my eyes see of the magical perfect nature underwater.Diving the world around, i got to learn myself that what i loved the most, the oceans, was threatened. Been so lucky to work or just diving in places like Galapagos ,Palau or Revillagigedo , i had than the comparison terms for what means a healthy ocean. My first job as photographer was on board of a Sea Shepherd vessel, the Mv John Paul De Joria ,for 6 months ,in a campaign against shark fining in the Galapagos corridor. Now my motivations are higher, and i believe in photography as a tool to spread awareness and conservation to protect the 70% of our planet. I am now working as a Dive Master on a live aboard out in the Archipelago of Revillagigedo ,Mexico.
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