Ambassador

Fred Buyle

Nationality: Belgium
Website: www.nektos.net

Ambassador

Fred Buyle

Nationality: Belgium
Website: www.nektos.net

BIOGRAPHY

 

Fred Buyle is a freediver and underwater photographer.

Since his childhood he has been in contact with the sea, spending several months a year on the family’s sailboat.

At the age of 10, he discovered freediving. After years of practice, he became a scuba diving instructor and started to teach freediving in 1991.

He set his 1st world record in 1995 and then decided to dedicate his life to freediving. He achieved three more world records between 1997 and 2000.

In 1999, Frederic passed the mythical 100m barrier on one breath of air, being the 8th person to do so.

In 2002, he started underwater photography to show the beauty of freediving and the underwater world. All his pictures and images are taken whilst freediving, using only the natural light available in order to minimise the impact on the ecosystem.

A freediver is able to capture unique moments thanks to his simple equipment and ease of movement. What makes Fred’s photography different from any other underwater photography is his rather zen approach to this media.

Concerned by conservation issues for many years, in 2005 Fred Buyle started to work with marine biologists, assisting them in their field work. He uses his freediving abilities to approach the animals and perform tasks such as acoustic and satellite tagging or DNA sampling.

Fred has collaborated with teams from Colombia, Mexico, France, the UK, the Philippines, South Africa and Portugal, providing them with his practical knowledge and experience in the water with marine life. He has worked with great white sharks, great hammerheads, scalloped hammerheads, lemon sharks and ferox sharks, humpback whales, sperm whales and orcas amongst others. He always does so freediving with no protection cage to minimize the disturbance caused to the animals.

During these missions, Fred documents the field work to contribute to conservation on a larger scale through talks and conferences.

Numerous NGO’s use his material for their conservation campaigns. His approach to conservation pushes forward the concept of positive imagery versus the catastrophism widely used in the media nowadays.

For Fred, freediving is a tool and a lifestyle!