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Giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta)

DateJune 2001

Object numberANMS1467[555]

NamePhotographic slide

MediumColour transparency film

DimensionsOverall (inc carrier): 50 × 50 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Valerie Taylor in memory of Ron Taylor

Terms

DescriptionThis photographic collection represents the career of filmmakers and ocean conservationists Valerie Taylor AM (born 1935) and her late husband Ron Taylor AM (1934-2012). The couple pioneered skin-diving, scuba diving and underwater photography and cinematography in Australia. Valerie was national spear fishing champion for three years in the 1960s, Ron for four years, however the couple soon stopped fishing and shifted focus to shark research, photography and film. They made chain mail diving suits to film sharks and became strong advocates for shark preservation. Ron and Valerie Taylor were committed to the documentation of a vast array of underwater wildlife. This archive features photography of corals in the Great Barrier Reef and in Indonesia. Many of the images are close ups, and are largely documented with names and annotations, offering revealing facts on species such as the Gorganian soft coral. The images taken at the Great Barrier Reef are a valuable visual record of a reef that is rapidly deteriorating in condition to this day. The Taylor's have recieved great acclaim for their wildlife photography, in 1997 Valerie winning the American Nature photographer of the Year for her photograph of a whale shark swimming with a boy in Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia.SignificanceValerie has a special connection with animals and this is best seen in her photography of marine species. As an accomplished photographer alongside her husband’s underwater filming, they have an amazing catalogue of films and images they created together. Valerie’s imagery has been published across books and magazines around the world. She has numerous prestigious honours for her contributions to conservation by using these pictures to help promote the importance and protection of the animals she has dived with and gotten to know firsthand. Valerie’s photographs also give you an intimate viewing into her career. Her images take you behind the scenes of filmmaking, epic seafaring journeys to remote spots and for many locations, capturing marine ecosystems often when they were much healthier than what can be seen today.