June 8, 2023

Kate Mothes

All images © Doug Klug, shared with permission

If you’ve walked along an ocean shoreline, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the crumpled, brownish-green tendrils of kelp washed up at high tide. Despite appearances, the otherworldly seaweed is not a plant but rather a type of algae. Leaf-like forms called blades soak up sunlight to photosynthesize, and gas-filled bladders hold the structures close to the surface. Underwater, they grow in elegantly swaying forests, providing nourishment and shelter to marine wildlife. For Douglas Klug, these graceful, undulating ecosystems provide endless inspiration and surprising interactions.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, Klug is an avid scuba diver and photographer who focuses on marine life, highlighting schools of fish and myriad textures as they interact in the rippling sunlight. Most of the kelp forests he explores are within

Find more of Klug’s nature photography on his website and Flickr.

#climate crisis#Douglas Klug#nature#oceans#seaweed#water

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