SNAP ACTIVATION

Rolex Testimonees and award-winning conservation photographers CRISTINA MITTERMEIER and PAUL NICKLEN are protecting our oceans, one stunning photo at a time.

World-renowned conservation photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen regularly risk life and limb to get the perfect shot. They work in the Earth's polar regions where austere conditions, with howling winds and sub-zero temperatures, are almost guaranteed year-round.

Plunging into the frigid deep, navigating the darkness and ocean currents, to photograph apex predators like leopard seals and polar bears in their natural habitat? That's just a regular Tuesday.

They welcome their challenging work environment - in fact, it is the very thing they are trying to protect, one photo at a time, with their non-profit organisation SeaLegacy.

The collective, which the pair founded in 2014 with Emmy nominated director, National Geographic photographer and marine conservationist Andy Mann, brings together an international task force of filmmakers, marine and climate experts, photographers, indigenous leaders and policymakers from around the world, with the common goal of building engagement and safeguarding the world's oceans.

CONNECTED TO THE OCEAN

Though both Rolex Testimonees are now united in their ardour for marine life, they hail from vastly different backgrounds. Mittermeier was born and raised in Mexico, in a tiny, landlocked town called Cuernavaca.

Closer to mountains than she was to the sea, her early encounters with the ocean came from the pages of storybooks, including one about French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau that was ironically gifted to her brother.