Stanislav Stelmakhovich is an underwater cinematographer, wildlife photographer, and expedition leader whose work is centered on the ocean and the lives of large marine animals. For more than a decade, he has worked in remote locations around the world, filming whales, sharks, dolphins, and other wildlife in their natural environment. His footage has contributed to productions for BBC, National Geographic, Prime Video, Netflix, Arte, and other international broadcasters and platforms. His background is primarily in moving image, where patience, field knowledge, and the ability to anticipate animal behavior are essential. In 2026, he began focusing more deeply on still photography, bringing the same documentary approach into single frames. Rather than treating photography as a separate discipline, he sees it as another way of preserving rare moments that unfold quickly and may never repeat. Much of Stanislav’s photographic work is built around encounters that depend on timing rather than control: newborn whales beginning migration with their mothers, dolphins moving beneath dense bait balls, humpbacks interacting with kelp, or flying foxes with newly born young. He is particularly interested in moments where natural history becomes visually simple and emotionally immediate — a relationship between parent and offspring, predator and prey, animal and environment. Working both underwater and from the air, he uses perspective to reveal behavior that is often difficult to perceive from the surface. Aerial photography allows him to show scale, movement, and relationships between animals, while underwater work places the viewer inside the environment itself. Across both approaches, his goal is to remain close enough to witness meaningful behavior while minimizing disturbance to the animals he photographs. His work is shaped by long periods spent in the field and by a strong interest in wildlife behavior, migration, and marine ecology. He is especially drawn to whales because of the complexity of their lives and the contrast between their enormous scale and the intimacy of their social behavior. For Stanislav, photography is not only about creating a striking image. It is a way of recording moments of wild life that are temporary, unpredictable, and often invisible to most people — moments that can create a stronger emotional connection with the natural world and a deeper understanding of the animals within it