Alex Sher is a Los Angeles based fine art photographer, originally from Ukraine where he was born in 1962. He graduated at Kiev State University in 1984 with a major in medical biology and, in 1986, volunteered at Chernobyl nuclear station after the disaster providing medical help to the victims in 1986. He got his Post graduate in molecular oncology in 1987-1990 at Novosibirsk, Russia, and worked at Kiev State University as a researcher. In 1990, he started part time programming in 1990 and worked as a programmer from 1991 to 1995, when he moved to USA and started working as a programmer, starting his own IT company in 2000. Definitely an adventurous and various life. Alex started diving in 2010 and quit his IT carrier in 2013 to pursue his passions of scuba diving and photography.
Alex captured breathtaking underwater images in his worldly explorations recognizing him as a prolific adventure photographer. He transitioned into the rare art form of underwater fine art photography, which instantly heralded him to worldwide recognition. In 2015, his photo was presented at the Louvre in Paris. His recent works may also be found in several books including Best of Photography 2016. Last but not the least, his exhibit of “California Mermaids” at the Lurie Gallery got an amazing deserved success.
"I always have a camera with me, so when I started diving, six years ago, I took the camera along. To tell you the truth, the camera takes me along now. It decides where we dive and what we do underwater. It always keeps a bit ahead of me. The camera even saved my life once on a solo dive on Virgin Islands when reef sharks on were inviting me for a dinner. My cameras and myself have been around and have seen enough to say: the best place to dive is not the most comfortable one, not the one with the warmest water neither best visibility. Our best dive spot is here, in California. I am talking about California kelp forest. There is nothing like it. Sunbeams are pouring at you from the top, seals are biting your fins, and fishes are coming close to you to check whether you are eatable at all. I won’t be writing too much, just look it up. Or check out my photos. Unfortunately, we are loosing kelp forests here. The trees barely reach surface, the lives are all torn and sick. The reason remains unclear. The ocean water is warming up to start with. I hope ocean biologists will solve this before the kelp forest extinct here. We (my boat, my camera, my crew and myself) are going to spend this fall capturing the beauty of kelp forests for you."
Alex Sher
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