Born in Varese (Italy) in 1973, where she still lives, Isabella always liked to swim and she made her first dive with mask and snorkel when she was 16 years old.
A true passion for the ocean drove her to become a scuba instructor and manage her dive center, “Deep Avenue”, in Mendrisio, in the Italian side of Switzerland.
She started to take underwater photos to her scuba diving students as first tangible results of a new adventure. However, this initial business approach developed soon into a true deep genuine passion.
Isabella has won numerous awards in national and international competitions, very much deserved because of her very personal way to use the light for depicting the environment. She’s already working with a number of magazines, combining her passion for photography to writing.
Since October 2016 is an EZdive Mag contributor.
“UW photography is a form of communication, a universal visual language which meets my ambition to tell without a word the amazing beauty of nature.
My way to take underwater photography is my way to communicate using a universal visual language; it comes from my strong ambition to tell, to describe without words the marine underwater perfection.
I fancy the idea to shoot dynamic pictures in order to draw the observer inside the image;
I love it so much and I cannot consider anymore a picture as a static, bi-dimensional image…
In such trend, I want to develop my future experimentation. I do know is hard, in photography, nothing can be improvised and rules, for a perfect canonic composition, must be respected. However, with no challenges, there is not gain.
Anytime I diving, my Nikon’ camera is with me, as an added part of my body … My love for the underwater diving builds up however I do not look anymore the Neptune’s Garden through my mask but my camera’ shutter.
To observe the World through a lens was a way to increase my sensitivity towards the environment. I was even feeling more deep inside it.
I was feeling as a writer with no words …
A digital image is not just a number of pixels, but a powerful way of communication which may be more effective of words.
Besides this, to collect unique images of the Marine World may help to monitor the environment and to contribute to saving it,
providing to all the spectators (not only the scuba divers) positive feelings and environmental responsiveness.
The emotion arose by a photo can be very devasting; it doesn’t matter if comes from a dying turtle caught in an abandoned net or from a beautiful landscape of an intact blooming coral barrier.
The sent message is always the same: the importance to preserve and protect the Underwater World.
“To write by light” is like to weave a plot of an amazing never ending Story where we are all embroiled.
Isabella Maffei uses Cosmiq underwater computers during her dives
Myanmar: like that, is called now the old Burma kingdom.
An amazing place, where nature and culture blend together.
The most famous dive area in Myanmar, the Burma Banks, are enormous flat-topped seamounts.
It risings to within 15 meters of the Andaman Sea surface, before plunging back down, into the surrounding 300 meter deep waters.
The diving industry is a newborn in Myanmar. Not so many touristic structures are available. Most of them are a guest boat.
There’s not a marine environment culture in Myanmar.
Lots of reefs are destroyed by bombs. Fishing with bombs was a practice really diffused in Myanmar. But some place resists to the destruction, and become a survivor submerged oasis, full of life.
Shallow waters and strong currents create a unique micro-cosmos environment, like the amazing diving spot called “In The Middle”.
As its name suggests, it’s a rock block, with hat about 12m from the surface, and the base at 40m, located in a channel that separate two outlying cliffs.
The place is not always easy to access, because a strong current, can be as intense as a river in full. It will give me more than one dive!
Here I realized one of my most famous shot: “Ocean Heart”.
Philippines archipelago is situated in the western Pacific Ocean.
Called also the “smiling archipelago” consists of about 7,641 islands.
Waters around these islands is an important part of the Coral Triangle. The total number of corals and marine fish species was estimated at 500 and 2.400 respectively.
New records and species discoveries, continuously increase these numbers, underlining the uniqueness of the marine resources in the Philippines.
Discover the great richness of this water, through my images: landscape and macro vision. From the wide view to the macro you can start a journey into another world: the big blue.
Every centimeters quarter is full of life, for discover this amazing biodiversity, you have just dive!
Born in Varese (Italy) in 1973, where she still lives, Isabella always liked to swim and she made her first dive with mask and snorkel when she was 16 years old.
