Illustrated book “Our Seas”: You have never seen the North and Baltic Seas like this before

2023-09-20 16:07:00

Thomas Behrend loves the sea. For more than 40 years, the filmmaker and ambitious diver has been documenting a world that remains hidden from many of us for our entire lives. For his new illustrated book “Our Seas. North and Baltic Seas. Habitat of Superlatives” he and a small team dived into the depths of the seas on our doorstep for over three years.

Always on the lookout for the “little wonders of the Baltic Sea,” as he calls them, the documentary filmmaker has dealt intensively with a world that, at first glance, is not made for the big screen. There are no great white sharks, blue whales or giant moray eels in the Baltic Sea, and no turtles or coral reefs in the North Sea. It’s more the quiet stories that our seas tell. But they are no less impressive, as Behrend shows with his photographs.

Never heard stories

In his illustrated book, he takes readers close and authentically on his journey to the seal pups in Kattegat, a sea area between Denmark and Sweden, uses impressive images to explain the fascinating ecosystem of mussels in front of Mörs Klint, a large chalk cliff in southeast Denmark, and shows the living environment of sea hares off Bad Doberan in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

This brings his plan to show never-before-seen pictures and tell never-before-heard stories to fruition. Starring: The Baltic Sea, the youngest of our seas, and the North Sea, one of the shallowest seas in the world. And in the illustrated book, the photographer and filmmaker not only takes his readers on a journey of discovery through these different worlds, but also lets them transparently participate in the process of creating the photos.

“Animals and nature have a chance”

The images are intended to bring us closer to the many animals, but also to convey a serious message: the oceans need our attention. In his afterword, Behrend writes: “Every animal and every plant has a specific task and a place in the web of nature. Each forms a node in its world.” This network is in danger due to increasing UV radiation and the worsening climate crisis.

The documentary filmmaker’s urgent appeal is: “If everyone does their part, animals and nature have a chance. It’s not too late.” With his photos he shows why it is worth doing something for the oceans. We’ll show you a selection of them in the photo series above.