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OUT OF BOUND 57 EXPLORE 58 Outdoors
GLACIER UNDERWATER
Photographer captures images of Glacier National Park from unique sub-surface perspective during artist-in-residence visit
P BY TRISTAN SCOTT
hotographer Chris Gug is accus- tomed to immersing himself in his work, having captured underwa-
ter images of seascapes, shipwrecks and marine life in more than 40 countries.
His most recent month-long assign- ment as artist-in-residence at Glacier National Park was an opportunity to dive into new territory, however – profession- ally, geographically and literally.
The Florida-based photographer has been scuba diving and shooting underwa- ter photography since he was 15 years old, with his travels taking him to shoots in warm climes, submerged in sun-soaked bodies of water in the Caribbean and o the coast of Papa New Guinea.
But when he stumbled serendipi- tously upon Glacier’s artist-in-residence program (he was Google searching infor- mation about artists and the Fort Lau- derdale Airport expansion, and the loga- rithm inexplicably led him to Glacier) his interest was piqued.
Gug had already been exploring a new concept through a photo series he calls the “New Americana Project,” in which he juxtaposes landscapes that have been famously featured by photographers, like Ansel Adams, but from a partially sub- merged underwater perspective.
He calls it a “split-shot,” and by half-submerging his 9.5-inch lens port, he merges the crystal-clear underwater perspective with the eye-popping moun- tainscapes above the surface.
Between Oct. 6 and Nov. 1, Gug dove in Glacier’s many lakes and streams, captur- ing autumnal images at and beneath Ice- berg Lake, Kintla Lake, Lake McDonald, McDonald Creek, Upper Grinnell Lake, Hidden Lake, Paola Creek, and more.
One split image shows a spray of golden alpine larch stands bristling along the shore of Kintla, radiating above the burnished pastels of Lake Kintla’s bril- liant bottom-stones.
“I had never even heard of a larch,” he said. “We caught Kintla right at peak of the larch turn. The trees were so amaz- ing, and the rocks underwater are just as pretty.”
Along with his partner, assistant and gallery manager Suzanne Bushnell, Gug explored the park at depth, diving at Lake McDonald’s underwater forest east
of Sprague Creek, where trees rise verti- cally from the lake’s silt bottom. He swam beneath the ice formations near Grinnell Glacier, trying to capture underwater split-images in the split-second window of time before the lens port of his camera froze in the 40 mph winds.
“Grinnell Lake had three inches of ice on it, and I was trying to shoot split-shots through the ice chunks, but with the wind
ABOVE Hidden Lake in Glacier National Park.
LEFT Chris Gug at Grinnell Glacier. PHOTOS COURTESY GUG UNDERWATER, INC.
whipping the snow o the mountains I had to really learn a new technique to keep ice o my port,” he said. “On second thought, the hardest part of that shoot was getting out of my hiking gear and into my dry suit. It was just
numbingly painful.”
While Gug focuses his work on under-
water landscapes and vistas, he’s also fascinated in marine life. Once he’d cap- tured the wide-angle, sh-lens images he wanted, he turned his attention to shoot- ing lake life on a macro scale.
Caddis y larvae, colonial bryozoan, native sculpin sh, leeches, snails, and – to his delight – freshwater sponges.
“I found just as much to photograph on a macro-scale in Lake McDonald than I have in any coral reef,” he said.
Gug recently gave a presentation of his Glacier Park artist-in-residence stint at his gallery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and said of the more than 100 attendees only about a dozen had visited.
Although Gug hopes to share the maj- esty of Glacier through his images, he also realizes that the park is in danger of being loved to death.
“I really speak from my heart about Glacier National Park as one of the most fabulous frontiers, especially out of sea- son when there are no humans around,” he said. “There were so many days where we didn’t see a single other person. It brings back the spirit of adventure in this day and age of always being plugged in and removed from the wild.”
View more of Gug’s work at: www. GugUnderwater.com on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ GugUnderwater
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
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DECEMBER 16, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM