My Story

Chiara Salomoni ridirecting tiger shark in hawaii underwater holding easydive camera

Hi!

My name is Chiara and most days you can find me in the ocean. I dedicated my existence to art, photography, and nature, and on this site, I’m gonna share my work and my adventures with you. With my photography, I aspire to open a little window on the beautiful wild planet we live on and inspire respect and love for every creature and ecosystem.

A little bit about where I come from. I grew up in Italy in a little town by the mountains and a beautiful lake that sadly gets extremely cold in the winter and it’s pretty empty during the summer. I spent my childhood surrounded by nature and exploring the sea all over Europe whenever we had time off from school.

I pursued artistic studies starting in high school, and after university, it became clear that life underwater was all I wanted. From fine art and painting, I moved to the US to study photography at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California which was the only school in the world that offered underwater photography at the time. There I learned everything about photography starting from the basics to specializing in underwater photography, portraits, and wildlife while exploring the ocean and deserts to satisfy my need to get lost in nature.

While still in school, I got involved in the conservation world, making it my mission to shine a light on different issues affecting the planet and especially the ocean. I started traveling again, diving and shooting underwater portraits all over the world. Until I finally made it to Hawaii where my obsession for sharks turned into a full and beautiful career.

Meanwhile, I founded my own projects and joined efforts with organizations like Keiko Conservation, leading up to creating Mermaids For Change, a traveling program that linked art, underwater photography, conservation, and education to inspire kids in different countries to protect our planet.