Franco and Sabrina

Franco and Sabrina

CADRO, LUGANO, SWITZERLAND SWITZERLAND AND ITALY
Franco is a world known professional underwater photographer, extremely versatile, having dived in all the oceans of the planet: from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from east to west, and in many lakes, rivers, wetlands and springs. Franco and Sabrina collaborate as a photojournalist team. They both started as recreational scuba divers, then specialized in technical diving and recently in free diving. They live the liquid element with passion and dedication and are focused on sharing both the majestic beauty of the underwater planet and also highlighting environmental problems. “Photography can be a powerful instrument for documenting and changing the minds of people who are not yet aware of the troubles faced by our ecosystems.”
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Franco and Sabrina

A Flock of Marine Birds

by Franco and Sabrina - 14th October 2024
Have you ever had a flock of marine birds as dive buddies? It's definitely an unusual situation. They pierce the water's…
0Comments birds, cormorant, diving, freediving, gannet, Mares, ocean, pelican, photography, research, sardine run, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Leatherback sea turtles

by Franco and Sabrina - 18th January 2024
A leatherback turtle swimming gracefully through the open ocean is arguably one of the most majestic sights in the natural…
0Comments conservation, freediving, leatherback, Mares, ocean, photography, research, SSI, turtle, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Baja California Sur Safari – 2023 season

by Franco and Sabrina - 28th November 2023
It’s easy to understand why we return to Mexico's Baja California Sur almost every year. The five destinations we visit…
0Comments climate change, conservation, diving, fish, freediving, Mares, ocean, photography, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Hanifaru Bay: In a flying vortex

by Franco and Sabrina - 10th October 2023
Are you looking to be enveloped in a flying vortex of Mantas? Get ready, it doesn't happen often. Have you ever…
0Comments conservation, diving, fish, freediving, Hanifaru Bay, manta, Mares, ocean, photography, research, SSI, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

The 8th Anilao Underwater Shootout

by Franco and Sabrina - 20th June 2023
As divers, we know how difficult it is to describe the beauty and colours of underwater critters to land-based people.…
0Comments Anilao, Anilao Underwater Shootout, diving, Philippines, photo competition, photography, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Environmental Photography Award 2023

by Franco and Sabrina - 9th June 2023
Occasionally I enter prestigious international photo contests. The selected pictures have the power to leave a mark, spread knowledge, foster…
0Comments award, competition, Environmental Photography Award 2023, Franco Banfi, Monaco, photography, Prince Albert II
Freediver swimming with Dugong (Dugong dugon). Marsa Alam, Egypt. Red Sea
Franco and Sabrina

Are you looking for a mermaid?

by Franco and Sabrina - 26th May 2023
Okay then, get ready and hurry up before it's too late. Mermaids? Are you sure? All right, well, let's look…
0Comments climate change, conservation, dugong, freediving, Mares, ocean, photography, SSI, underwater
Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, Vulnerable (IUCN), Crystal River, Florida, Unites States
Franco and Sabrina

Crystal River: a warm, sleepy refuge for manatees

by Franco and Sabrina - 13th March 2023
Manatees (Trichecus manatus latirostris) are large, gentle mammals that would be the bugbear of any dietitian. Lazy and sedentary, during the…
0Comments conservation, freediving, freshwater, manatee, Mares, photography, research, spring
Scuba diver surrounded by shoal of Big-eye jacks (Caranx sexfasciatus), Cabo Pulmo Marine National Park, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Franco and Sabrina

Cabo Pulmo and endless vortexes of fish (Chapter Five)

by Franco and Sabrina - 22nd November 2022
If your diving wish list includes finding yourself finning inside vortexes of different species of fish so dense as to darken…
1Comments Cabo Pulmo, conservation, diving, fish, Mares, mexico, ocean, photography, research, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Bahia Magdalena: Where giant travellers rest (Chapter Four)

by Franco and Sabrina - 12th September 2022
The Baja California peninsula is another world, another universe, and inside this bewitching world there is a stretch of Pacific…
0Comments Bahia Magdalena, conservation, Magdalena Bay, Mares, ocean, photography, research, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Baja California Sur – Pacific Coast, Offshore Adventure (Chapter Three)

by Franco and Sabrina - 28th June 2022
In the southern part of Baja California Sur, on the Pacific Coast, the offshore high sea is a place of…
0Comments Baja California Sur, fish, freediving, Mares, mexico, ocean, photography, SSI, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Baja California Sur – The Sea of Cortez – A fascinating mystery (Chapter Two)

by Franco and Sabrina - 10th March 2022
Imagine swimming above thousands of small Munk’s Pigmy Devil rays (mobula munkiana) gliding slowly in warm water. You cannot see the…
0Comments Baja California Sur, fish, freediving, Mares, ocean, photography, rays, research, Sea of Cortez, SSI, underwater
Free diver photographing Striped marlin (Tetrapturus audax) feeding on sardine's bait ball (Sardinops sagax), Magdalena Bay, West Coast of Baja California, Pacific Ocean, Mexico
Franco and Sabrina

Baja California Sur- A general overview (Chapter One)

by Franco and Sabrina - 27th December 2021
Follow us on a real tour of the biggest Mexican peninsula, Baja California Sur, and its satellite islands. During the past…
0Comments conservation, diving, freediving, Mares, ocean, photography, SSI, underwater, XR
scuba diver and potato cod grouper, Epinephelus tukula, Aldabra Atoll, Natural World Heritage Site, Seychelles, Indian Ocean
Franco and Sabrina

Aldabra: An enchanted and enchanting lagoon

by Franco and Sabrina - 20th September 2021
Compared to many millions of people, especially in this difficult time, Franco and I are lucky to live an independent…
2Comments Aldabra, conservation, Franco Banfi, Mares, research, Sabrina Belloni
crinoids or feather star on a sea fan, Subergorgia mollis, Raja Ampat, Irian Jaya, West Papua, Indonesia, Pacific Ocean
Franco and Sabrina

Crinoids – Flowers of the reef

by Franco and Sabrina - 14th June 2021
One of the things that struck me most during the first dives I made in Papua New Guinea, and especially the…
0Comments climate change, diving, Mares, ocean, photography, underwater, Wildlife_Photo_tours
African Cichlid Malawi Lake is the ninth largest lake in the world, East Africa
Franco and Sabrina

Lake Malawi : The Lake of Stars

by Franco and Sabrina - 9th March 2021
So here we are. Six divers and I, patrolling large rocks at a depth of 18m, struggling to photograph a…
0Comments climate change, diving, fish, freshwater, Mares, photography, underwater
Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) is the largest animal ever known to have existed. This may be the pygmy sub-species of blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus. Mirissa, Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean
Franco and Sabrina

The largest animals ever to have lived on Earth!

by Franco and Sabrina - 17th December 2020
The southern coast of Sri Lanka may turn out to be one of the best international hotspots for seeing blue…
0Comments blue whale, climate change, conservation, freediving, Mares, ocean, photography, research, Sri Lanka, underwater, whale
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Franco and Sabrina

B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress

by Franco and Sabrina - 8th September 2020
The water surrounding the tiny island of Vis is the perfect guardian of many wrecks belonging to several historical eras. The aircraft…
1Comments diving, Mares, photography, research, underwater, Vis, wreck, XR
Portrait of Wels catfish, Silurus glanis, also called sheatfish, is a large catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, Neuchâtel lake, Switzerland
Franco and Sabrina

A Beautiful Beast

by Franco and Sabrina - 10th April 2020
Being based in Switzerland, when I’m not travelling abroad, I like to discover what lives in the freshwaters of Europe.…
0Comments diving, fish, freediving, Mares, photography, research, underwater
Free divers getting ready to jump into the water to photograph Striped marlin (Tetrapturus audax) feeding on sardine's bait ball (Sardinops sagax), Magdalena Bay, West Coast of Baja California, Pacific Ocean, Mexico
Franco and Sabrina

Striped Marlins (Kajikia audax)

by Franco and Sabrina - 6th December 2019
I’ve always been fascinated by Striped Marlins and wanted to take on the challenge of documenting some of their unbelievable…
1Comments climate change, conservation, fish, freediving, Mares, ocean, photography, underwater, wildlifephototours
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Franco and Sabrina

Tenerife – The island of eternal spring

by Franco and Sabrina - 28th August 2019
Tenerife is the largest of the seven islands that make up the Canary archipelago. In addition to having the best…
1Comments Banfi, conservation, diving, fish, Mares, ocean, photography, SSI, underwater, wildlifephototours, XR
Only in springtime, when the hard winter slowly subsides, are the ice-cold waters suitable for divers who can dive around a iceberg that floats in crystal-clear water, Tasiilaq, East Greenland
Franco and Sabrina

Greenland on the Rocks

by Franco and Sabrina - 6th June 2019
I had dived under ice platforms in the chilly, cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic several times before diving…
0Comments climate change, diving, Mares, ocean, photography, SSI, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

The Island of Santa Maria

by Franco and Sabrina - 27th February 2018
Islands in the current of an endless ocean (Part Two) Read Part 1 here Santa Maria In the Azores' archipelago,…
0Comments Azores, Canon, diving, freediving, Mares, ocean, photo, photography, research, Santa-Maria-island, scuba, underwater, X-vision
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Franco and Sabrina

An island in the current of an endless ocean

by Franco and Sabrina - 5th January 2018
Nine islands of lava, each one different from the other; some with high coasts and fjords, inlets that seem to…
0Comments Azores, blueshark, conservation, diving, EOS 1DX MkII, freediving, long_line_fishing, Mares, ocean, overfishing, Pico_island, research, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

The treasures of the submerged archaeological park of Baia

by Franco and Sabrina - 10th November 2017
Can you believe that is possible to freedive and scuba dive side by side with a grouper or an octopus,…
1Comments apnea, archaeology, conservation, diving, freediving, Mares, research, Roman era, SSI, treasure, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Fun, tech diving, photo pro, friends … what else?

by Franco and Sabrina - 25th July 2017
All over Croatia the sea is crystal clear with millions of shades, promising and seductive. It embraces a strip of…
0Comments Adriatic, colour, Croatia, diving, Mares, ocean, picture, sea, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Vamonos à bucear

by Franco and Sabrina - 15th May 2017
The look of the Baja California Sur can appear tedious: cactus, desert, rocks, beaches and vice versa, but the underwater…
1Comments conservation, fish, fishing, mammals, Mares, ocean, photo, research, scuba, scubadiving, sea, undewater, UNESCO
Great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) swimming over a sandy seabed, South Bimini, Bahamas. The Bahamas National Shark Sanctuary, West Atlantic Ocean.
Franco and Sabrina

The massive and solitary Sphyrna Mokarran

by Franco and Sabrina - 4th April 2017
A few weeks ago I was leading a micro-group of passionate divers and UW photographers to Bimini Island, a lovely sandy…
0Comments conservation, diving, Mares, ocean, research, underwater
Freshwater isopod, Amphipod gammarus (Acanthogammarus victorii), Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia
Franco and Sabrina

Baikal Lake, the blue pearl of Siberia

by Franco and Sabrina - 4th January 2017
Last summer I went to the Baikal Lake in Russia and lead a group of passionate cold-water divers and amateur…
7Comments baikal, coldwater, diving, extreme, fish, freshwater, Mares, photography, underwater, XR Extended Range
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Franco and Sabrina

What happened on the 12th of September 1944 between the Italian and Balkan battlefronts?

by Franco and Sabrina - 2nd December 2016
A few weeks ago I reached a special expedition of professional divers and technicians with the aim of photographing and…
5Comments diving, Mares, ocean, photography, rebreather, research, underwater
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Franco and Sabrina

Moments of a lifetime caught on camera : Snorkelling side by side with the sperm whales of the eastern Caribbean Sea

by Franco and Sabrina - 29th November 2016
This post starts our contribution to the Mares blog, to which we are absolutely grateful, and our first post is about the…
7Comments conservation, freediving, ocean, photography, underwater
silky shark, Carcharhinus falciformis, San Benedicto, Revillagigedo (Socorro) Islands, Mexico, East Pacific Ocean
Franco and Sabrina

Good News from CITES

by Franco and Sabrina - 5th October 2016
CITES voted yesterday (4th October) on proposals to list silky sharks, all three species of thresher sharks and all nine…
0Comments conservation, diving, fish, fishing, ocean, photography, underwater, WWF