Author Claire Nouvian

Bringing the Deep Sea to the Masses

Macs At Sea

One of the first scientists Nouvian worked with, and one of the three biggest photo contributors to the book, was Steven Haddock, a researcher from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing, California. He has studied deep-sea jellyfish using both manned submersibles and remotely operated vehicles thousands of meters deep at sites around the world from the Mediterranean, to the Bahamas, to Mexico.

Haddock's lab group, which has discovered dozens of new species, uses Macs exclusively, and others in the field appear to be following suit. "It's pretty funny going out now on these research cruises, because the percentage of Macs is just really climbing. We're going to take an Apple family photo," says Haddock.

Haddock classifies himself as "old school," organizing his countless photos simply using folders set up for each of his expeditions with aliases to cross reference according to taxonomic groups. His team also uses Apple's Aperture, which he says is ideal for working with raw image files, allowing quick opening and sorting of these large files to identify and categorize them.

In other respects, the Haddock team's work is decidedly more new school. On land, the group relies on quad-core Power Macs, and they've recently added a new MacBook Pro for use on research expeditions. Haddock says they switched to Intel processors because, while more and more companies are producing Mac software for the instruments they use, some are still Windows based, and the new processors eliminate the need for additional computers.

Getting the Word Out

With only a handful of deep-diving submersibles on the planet, each costing tens of thousands of dollars a day to operate, few people are able to experience the deep sea in person, but Nouvian hopes her book can be the next best thing. "I'm thinking if it reaches into homes, people will sort of get a clue that there are things alive down there very much worth protecting." She's now well on her way.

"It's pretty funny going out now on research cruises, because the percentage of Macs is just really climbing. We're going to take an Apple family photo." — Steven Haddock

Already in its third printing, The Deep is available in English, French, German, and Italian. Positive reviews, especially one in The New York Times, have dramatically increased the book's reach, and reviews from those in the deep-sea science field have been just as favorable. "I think she just did an amazing job," says Edith Widder, founder of Ocean Research and Conservation in Ft. Pierce, Florida, recipient of a 2006 MacArthur "genius grant", and another major photo contributor to the book. "I was just so impressed that it was able to capture the deep sea so well," she says.

Besides continuing to promote the book, Nouvian is now also working as the head of a deep-sea exhibit running from November 2007 through April 2008 at the Natural History Museum in Paris, she's developing deep-sea documentaries, and she continues to run a deep-sea conservation non-profit organization called the Bloom Association, which she founded while the book project was getting underway. "I want to do it all," she says, "I want to tell the public about what's down there in every way possible."

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