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Bingqian Gao | Freediver, Photographer, Ocean Storyteller

@notsuperwomansusie

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📸 Wildlife, ocean, human-nature connection
👩‍💻 Ex-data&AI leader turned explorer & storyteller
🧜‍♀️ Deep sea freediver
↓ Work with me

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🏆 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐐𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐆𝐀𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐑. 𝐒𝐘𝐋𝐕𝐈𝐀 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄From data strategist to freediver from numbers to nature.London-based photographer Bingqian Gao has been awarded the Dr. Sylvia Earle Award of Excellence in the Endangered Marine Animals category of the Ocean Geographic Pictures of the Year (OGPICOTY) 2025 competition.Her winning portfolio, The Ocean’s Orchestrated Wonder, captures the ethereal choreography of Mobula munkiana the pygmy devil ray in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.Judged by Dr. Sylvia Earle, Michael AW, and Jayaprakash Bojan, her work was celebrated for its artistry, emotional depth, and rare insight into mobula behaviour. “To witness their movements hundreds gliding and swirling in silent harmony is to glimpse the intelligence and order that exists beneath the surface,” says Bingqian.Her journey reminds us that the ocean still holds wonder, mystery, and balance and that our future is inseparable from its health.📸 Awarded at Earth in Focus Festival, Singapore.#OGPICOTY2025 #OceanGeographic #SylviaEarleAward by @notsuperwomansusie

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9 months ago

What a journey! Four unexpected medals in my first freediving competition! 🥇Gold - Overall Women🥇Gold - Constant Weight No Fins (CNF)🥈Silver - Free Immersion (FIM) 🥈Silver - Constant Weight (CWT)It’s beyond my wildest dreams that I would win a single medal in any freediving competition ever, not to mention 4 in my very first!1 year and 10 months ago I couldn’t get my head around this thing called Frenzel Equalisation. I didn’t know how to duck dive. I couldn’t go down 5 centimetres from the surface of the ocean. And here I am now, thinking it’s only natural that freediving will be an integral part of the rest of my life. This competition was a blast. I had some awesome dives, some really tough ones, a few sleepless nights, and both new and old physical as well as mental challenges during the dives. I witnessed myself being the bravest I have been in years and fighting hard for what I really want despite the internal doubting voice.A ton of learnings and reflections. An ocean of emotions. Countless thought-provoking discussions and boundary-breaking experiments. Lots of fun and laughter, debates and games, new friendships and messing around, cooking together, sharing food and good times, explorations in the water, inspiring each other. Thank you so much @deepdominica family, and well done for a tremendously successful inaugural competition! Thank you judges, safeties, platform coordinators, athletes and FRIENDS for the good vibes and making this such an enjoyable and memorable experience! @padjenp @sofigomezu @jonfane_thefreediver_101mt @amypie23 @kelpprincess @daniel_arias_cordov @ol.aboard @lukeyts @love__freediving @bobbyckim Thank you @soufriereguesthouse for providing a beautiful place to stay and hang out. Thank you @natureislanddivers and Bottom Time Cafe as the spot for post-dive coffee chats.Thank you Soufriere, Dominica 💙Thank you @alchemy_hellas for the fins/neck weight. Congratulations to all the athletes for the beautiful dives, the many National Records and Personal Bests set, and to @stephanetourreau for the impressive dives and winning the Men’s Overall! #freediving #athlete #champion by @notsuperwomansusie

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3 years ago

Rare footage of a humpback whale in a threesome came close to check me out. It was caught with A roll (my dive buddy holding a GoPro) and B roll (a gopro strapped to my chest)… A magical connection beyond words.#freediving #gopro #wildlife #apnea #underwaterphotography #whaleencounter by @notsuperwomansusie

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3 years ago

What fish magic is this ✨🧜‍♀️ Freediving and being surrounded by a huge school of curious swirling jack 🐟It’s moments like this that gives me hope that parts of our oceans are still abundant 💙There’s an Easter egg hidden in there if you can find it 😉🎥 @notsuperwomansusie 🚤 Out in the Azores with @__behindthemask__ #underwaterlife #freediving #ocean #underwatervideography #nature by @notsuperwomansusie

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5 days ago

Not to bad 👯@__behindthemask__ @scubafinders @flora_underwater @notsuperwomansusie by @notsuperwomansusie

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13 days ago

Last few days to check out the winning images at the National Geographic Traveller UK (@natgeotraveluk) Photography exhibition in King’s Cross Granary Square, and vote for your favourite image from the People’s Vote shortlists (link in bio). Until 12 July, you can explore more than 80 winning and shortlisted images in this free open-air exhibition, sponsored by Hahnemühle (@hahnemuehle_uk) and King’s Cross (@kingscrossn1c).It’s a pleasure to share this experience and the awe of our nature and oceans through these images, and a little more from behind the scenes through this video. Thank you National Geographic Traveller UK for the interview at the celebratory award ceremony, and for connecting and inspiring us with this collection of images and stories 💙#TravelPhotography #NatGeoTravellerUK #dronephotography #underwaterphotography #NatGeo by @notsuperwomansusie

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17 days ago

A new master in the making.Come behind the scenes and see what it takes to prepare a RED camera for underwater filming inside a Nauticam housing, as Flo (@__behindthemask__ ) coaches @flora_underwater through assembling the full setup. Watching the process was fascinating. It was a complicated configuration, and there were so many details that demanded meticulous attention. It was a reminder that successful shoots are built long before pressing the record button.It was equally inspiring to watch Flo teach, with patience, clarity, demonstrations and plenty of humour (you get a sense of that in the snippets of the video). It’s the first day of this new filming project in Santa Maria, and my first time working with the Behind The Mask team - my role this time is mostly in front of the camera, but I was also hoping to gain some insights on the filmmaking process. We are off to a great start!Whether you’re just curious about underwater filmmaking or already have some experience, I hope this offers a glimpse into this craft. by @notsuperwomansusie

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20 days ago

It’s been an honour to be part of this year’s LSE exhibition. With a theme “How To Save The Planet”, the exhibition was on display through LSE Festival week and London Climate Action Week. Titled “values of the ocean”, the Ocean Wall showcases LSE researches connected to the seven desired Ocean Outcomes identified by UN Ocean Decade. Some of my favourite underwater visual work is featured next to these researches. Captured while freediving, these underwater images and the short film unWRECKed convey a sense of awe, inspiration, and connection from and with the ocean. My personal story transitioning from the data & tech world to ocean exploration describes the unexpected and serendipitous path I’ve taken since graduating from LSE in 2014.Creating emotional connection is just as important as policies, innovation, and financial systems that aim to protect our planet, for it is with love that we start to care and strive to do better. It’s with understanding, compassion, and connection that we shift from taking to giving back, from endless extracting to protecting.Thanks to the design team, I am delighted to see the curated collection of my work beautifully presented on the wall and through out the exhibition space in posters, intro banners, and booklets. We also made special edition postcards free for the visiting public. They come with a bonus gift of a recorded guided meditation for relaxation and nervous system regulation, inspired by training techniques we freediving athletes use such as visualisation and body scan. I enjoyed seeing people take a moment to pause in front of this blue “portal to the ocean”, and had some great conversations with researchers, students, and security guards alike. Nature really does bring us together. Today is the last day of the exhibition, so if you are nearby, do pop in to the Marshall Building to check it out. Besides the Ocean, there are other walls featuring different climate and sustainability topics including forests and fire, entangled environments, people and action, and sustainable cities. #OceanStoryteller #UnderwaterPhotography #LifeReinvention #ClimateAction #unWRECKed by @notsuperwomansusie

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23 days ago

Last month, I travelled to Utila and Roatán, two of the three Bay Islands of Honduras.Sitting along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, these islands are known for different experiences. Utila is a laid-back haven for backpackers and scuba divers, while Roatán is larger, more developed, with white sand beaches, resorts, and diverse marine topography. As a freediver and underwater photographer, I was particularly interested in Roatán as it’s one of the world’s premier freediving depth training destinations (the next CMAS World Championship will be held there this August), and home to sharks, rays, and other incredible marine life.So my plan for this scouting trip was to get back to the blue and test out the depth training setup, while hopefully get out to photograph the marine life there.The plan quickly changed the moment I arrived. Nothing worked out as planned. The adventure that followed was perhaps a story for another time. For now, I want to share the underwater scene that captured my attention - lifeless corals.It’s sad and depressing, I know. But I couldn’t help but gravitate towards them. I couldn’t look away.This is the reality now in many places we call paradise.No corner of the ocean escapes the global climate change, pollution, and the rapid degradation of marine ecosystems.As I hovered over these graveyards and my tears rolled into my mask and blurred my vision, I clicked the shutters to document these ghostly figures spread out on the ocean floor. I couldn’t help but wonder, how was it before the mass destruction happened? How did the reef look when every single piece of coral polyp was happily dancing in the current?I can only imagine. For now, these photographs are my attempt to bear witness to what remains.#coral #marineconservation #ecosystemdestruction #underwaterphotography by @notsuperwomansusie

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a month ago

I find it can be lonely to be an underwater and wildlife photographer.What people see are the beautiful photos and videos, what they don’t see are the countless hours spent on planning, researching, editing, curating, communicating, coordinating… not to mention the amount of uncertainty, unexpected changes, and difficult situations one has to deal with… often with much of the effort seemingly yielding nothing.I also miss working in a team, with great people, something I really enjoyed from my corporate days. Nowadays, I am almost always working alone, being solely responsible for the output, a "feature" that reminds me of my student days, something that I was not so fond of.But if you love the work, there is a great deal of joy throughout the process.When I’m in the field, I enjoy the freedom of being immersed in the ocean and connecting with wildlife.When I return home, I find excitement in combing through the captures and curating the visual stories that best convey those moments in the wild.And when the images are published, it brings me joy to connect people with the wonder and awe of our blue planet—a world we have the utmost privilege to live in.I’m grateful to @thetimes and all the media platforms that have shared our work and helped bring ocean stories to wider audiences.Thank you to the UN World Oceans Day Photo Competition for this recognition and for showcasing these stories to people around the world on World Oceans Day, 8 June. Thank you and congratulations to @underwaterellen and the panel of judges for hosting and championing this competition for its 13th year.@unworldoceansday @worldoceanday by @notsuperwomansusie

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a month ago

Today’s capture:A ghostly BenA ghostly AishaAnd two ghostly friends that could not hold it together Thank you for speed-walking around for my little long exposure experiment🤗 What a privilege 😆🥰Go check out the Nat Geo Traveller photo exhibition on Granary Square in King’s Cross if you haven’t already 😘📸😎 by @notsuperwomansusie

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a month ago

My underwater portfolio is shortlisted for People’s Vote in the Nat Geo Traveller UK Photography Competition, and I thought I’d use this opportunity to share some of the stories behind these images, as I was told many of you find them just as fascinating as the photos themselves.Of the four featured images here (from the ten submitted), two were taken in the cenotes of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. These freshwater sinkholes are unlike anything else I've experienced. There are hundreds of them, each with its own character, from cathedral-like enclosed caverns to mangrove-covered open-air channels, some with crystal clear water and others filled with fishes and lush underwater meadows.The first image was taken in a cenote called Maravilla. It was a modest-looking "hole in the ground", which opens up to a large cave system underwater.We were there for a freediving depth training session - of course, knowing the scenery would be beautiful, I also planned to do some fun diving and spontaneous shoot. To capture this image, I had to take a breath, freedive down into the darkness, let my eyes adjust while I dive further into the cave under the limestone ceiling with stalactites (meaning I could not just pop up and surface if I need to as I'd just hit my head). This was a big challenge - even more psychologically than physically as my freediving skills were more than enough to handle it but mentally it felt very scary at the beginning.Then when I felt I was far enough into the cave, still holding my breath and already starting to feel the first sign of urge to breathe, I had to turn around, frame, and wait for the freediver to come down in the light beam, praying they wouldn’t take too long.And then of course I'd aim to come back out and up without blacking out (I survived).This was overall quite a challenging shoot, but so satisfying and worthwhile when I saw the results!Do let me know what you think and if you have any questions. I’ll share the stories for the other images another day.Thank you to everyone who has voted so far. Voting is open while all finalists are displayed in the free open air exhibition at Granary Square in London until 12 July. by @notsuperwomansusie

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2 months ago