The Gathering: A Manta Ray Photo Series in Darkness

The Gathering is a new collection of fine art manta ray photographs by Brooke Miles, captured during a once-in-a-lifetime Kona manta night dive in Hawai'i. Inspired by the quiet beauty of these incredible animals moving through the darkness, this collection explores the contrast between light, movement and the mystery of the ocean after sunset.

I'd been wanting to experience Hawai'i's famous manta night dive for years. It's something I'd read about and simply knew it had to be on my list! Not only because it's one of those experiences that's unique and exciting, but I was also excited to see what kind of photos I could create on such an encounter. 

And after seeing photos and reading blogs, nothing really prepared me for the experience - what it would feel like to be sitting on the bottom of the ocean watching them glide so closely overhead.

I was only able to spare two nights on this trip and used them both to dive with Kona Huna Divers, one of the operators who specialise in manta ray night dives along the Kona Coast. 

We started with a dusk dive just before sunset, which was a beautiful way to ease into the evening. There were already a few mantas cruising through the blue water, along with plenty of eels and a few other reef critters, and everything felt relaxed and unhurried. It was a lovely dive in its own right, but everyone knew the real excitement would begin once the sun disappeared.

After an extensive dive briefing, we slipped into the water and descended to around 10 metres, where we settled into a circle around the dive guides' lights; the lights that brought in the plankton, and the manta rays weren't far behind. 

And not just one or two, but 31 manta rays! Our guide mentioned that they usually saw single digits, and that getting into the low double digits was already a fantastic evening. So, 31 mantas was an incredible sighting. 

They seemed to come from every direction, spiralling up towards the surface before looping effortlessly back down through the lights. They danced around one another as they fed on the plankton, and at times they came so close they brushed against my camera housing and even grazed the top of my head. As more and more mantas joined us, the movement of their enormous wings created what can only be described as a gentle washing machine effect. I wasn't moving from my place on the ocean floor, but I could certainly feel the water moving around me.

Absolutely incredible!

By the time we surfaced, after 45 minutes in the water, I was completely in awe and thriving on the adrenaline of what had just unfolded in front of me. 

Night diving is completely different to photographing underwater during the day. I'm also used to having control over my lighting, but on this dive I couldn't use my normal strobes (due to the possibility of a manta gulping it up in its mouth, if the strobe was in the way!) So each image is lit by torch light, and very sporadically at that, adding to the challenge of getting a good shot. 

Between the bubbles, the drifting plankton, other divers' lights and thirty-one manta rays constantly moving around me, there wasn't much that felt controlled. I came home with hundreds of images, and most of them are wonderfully chaotic. I'm still working through them because every now and then another beautiful moment appears that I'd completely missed the first time around.

This collection is the beginning of the story. One of the first images I've finished is Phantom, a photograph that perfectly captures the feeling I remember most from that evening. There's another favourite, Rhapsody, continuing on the feel of these mantas dancing in front of me. Big Kona tells the story of how grande and forthcoming they were. While Gathering shows just a slice of the chaos of having multiple manta's in frame, gliding in and out of uncontrolled torchlights.  

The Gathering is a a collection of five photographs captured during these two unforgettable nights of scuba diving.

This series represents the first finished photographs from those night dives in Hawai'i. There are still many frames waiting to be explored, but these first 5 prints were the images that immediately stood out to me. They capture not only the beauty of the manta rays themselves, but also the atmosphere of that night beneath the surface.

Whether you've experienced a manta encounter yourself or simply feel drawn to the ocean, I hope these pieces bring a sense of calm, wonder and connection to your space.

And I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Location: Kona Coast, Big Island, Hawai'i

Subject: Manta rays during a night feeding aggregation

Depth: Approximately 10–12 metres

Lighting: Handheld torch and dive guide can lights only. No strobes were used.

Prints in the collection: Gathering, Rhapsody, Phantom, Hahalua, Big Kona

Available as: All mediums available. Fine Art Cotton Rag Paper, Framed Fine Art Print, Canvas, Acrylic, Brushed Aluminium