My name is Wen Hua Chen, but everyone calls me Zola Chen. I am a passionate admirer of art and photography that captures the beauty of marine life. My particular fascination lies with whales, which has taken me to various locations, such as Tonga, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan, to capture stunning images of these magnificent creatures.
One of my most significant series of works is Floating Together, which is my art creation of Humpback whales underwater in the Kingdom of Tonga Vava'u from 2015-2022. Humpback whales are named after their long pectoral fin and can grow up to 11 to 16 meters long, with newborn calves measuring 3 to 6 meters. They reproduce and give birth in tropical regions, migrating from the distant Antarctic to the warm waters from July-October to nurture their young before returning to the Antarctic for food. During this period, adult whales do not seek food, and only calves can drink their mother's milk.
The ocean surrounding Vava’u, the Kingdom of Tonga, is a place to search whales, jumping into the Whale Soup. It's an addiction I've never been able to quit, and an experience many people long to have. The direct face-to-face visual experience is incredibly shocking, and to capture the perfect shot, one needs physical strength, willpower, and a little bit of luck. The moments when you hang out with the whales and capture stunning images are some of the most beautiful in my series of works. It requires persistence, and I spend almost a month in Tonga each time, 6-8 hours a day searching for whales, sometimes spending an entire day at sea without finding any, or facing miserable wind and rain.
My focus is not limited to photographing whales alone, as I also engage in other ocean projects. Working closely with biologists, I have participated in various collaboration projects such as the Lemon Shark Research Project in Dongsha Island, Taiwan, the survey and underwater photography of whales in eastern Taiwan, and contributed to the Black Tide Navigation Project and the Megamouth Shark Documentary Program. I am committed to using my work to capture stunning images of the magnificent creatures of the ocean and to inspire those around me to cherish and protect marine life. The ocean is vast and fragile, and it is essential to do what we can to preserve and protect it for future generations.