The School of Continued Oceanic Education is experiencing an exponential growth in its enrollment. The attractive nature of the course load, along with the submerged classroom environment, seem to have this year’s attendance near an all time high. The crew at Whalebone tracked down a few of the more advanced students in the school’s photography program to survey them on their experiences with ongoing classes. All students were asked the same question: “If there is one lesson that the ocean/water has taught you, that you’ve applied to your life, what would it be?” The following is a series featuring each’s response in both words and photos.
Fiona Mullen
“I have been blessed to find my passion at such a young age. I have the ocean to thank for that. Ever since I was a child, I have been drawn to the water so surf photography was a natural progression for me. I have learned that shooting surfing on the east coast is an entirely different world; with snow on the ground and ice cold barrels, there have been plenty of times that I’ve questioned what I was doing. The fear of going into freezing water temperatures during big swells still gets me every time I’m suiting up to go in the water. There have been countless times I had to completely step out of my comfort zone to get the shots I wanted. The ocean has given me this confidence to be fearless in anything I do; to be able to step outside my normal comfort levels to do things and go places I have always dreamed of. I am no longer stuck wondering the ‘what if.'”
As featured in Whalebone’s eighth issue, the Water Issue. Check out more of Fiona’s work on her website + Instagram.
