Photographer Rachael Talibart spent a great deal of her childhood in southeast England staring at powerful ocean waves and imagining creatures in the sea. Through her ongoing photo project titled Sirens, Talibart is now sharing her imagination with the world.
Each photo in the series shows ocean waves that look like mythical creatures or Greek gods rising from ocean depths in powerful storm waves. The photo above is titled “Hippocamp,” referring to the mythical sea-horse.
“[I]n naming them, I have shamelessly plundered myths and legends from all cultures and eras,” Talibart writes at the Sony World Photography Awards, where she was shortlisted in the 2018 competition. “On the days I make these photographs, the sea is beautiful but also terrifying. I feel utterly insignificant, yet completely enriched by these encounters with wildness, and that is what I have tried to communicate in the photographs.”
Talibart uses a telephoto lens and freezes waves with fast shutter speeds.
“Medusa”
“Pounce”
“Sedna”
“Loki”
Giant warrior (Hebrew)
“Nanook”
“Poseidon Rising”
You can find more of Talibart’s work on her Instagram.
