The term “underwater photography” usually conjures images of crystalline seas, magnificent coral reefs, rainbows of tropical fish, and even friendly dolphins. “I like to shoot pictures in tropical water,” explains Wu Lixin,” because its beauty consumes my eyes and soul.” Like many underwater photographers, Wu first learned to scuba dive before beginning a professional career that took him all over the world in search of the most strikingly beautiful photo opportunities. At the Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2006, Wu dazzled the audience with his fantastic underwater worlds with an exhibit titled “How Much Longer Will the Beauty Stay?”

The success of that exhibition fueled Wu’s passion to pursue even more sublime underwater subjects. His more recent photos capture quite different scenes: muddy rivers, wild aquatic plants tainted with foreign substances, marine animals struggling to escape from fishing nets, and fish gasping for their last breath in a dry river bed.What motivated such a dramatic shift in the photographer’swork?

In 2006, the white-flag dolphin once found in the Yangtze River was declared “functionally extinct” by environmental authorities, which deeply touched Wu Lixin’s heart. The white-flag dolphin was unique to China, and Wu felt it a tragedy that no one seriously photographed the animal in its natural freshwater habitat before its extinction. China has a wide range of underwater environments and creatures inhabiting such wet places, both of which have not been formally documented in images. Upon realizing this fact, Wu began devoting all of his time and effort to finding and shooting the wonderful scenery below the surface of China’s waters.

To locate ideal destinations and subjects, Wu immersed himself in online research, but found little information on the internet. He began to dive into a wide range of books on the subject while consulting professionals involved with conservation of marine areas and protection of underwater creatures. Due to the shortage of data on domestic underwater resources and the public’s insufficient knowledge of aquatic organisms, Wu found it difficult to choose his subjects.