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28 THIS WEEK THIS WEEK CULTURE | TV | FILM CINEMA LISTINGS FOOD | WHAT'S ON Underwater snaps Well-travelled and prolific Maltese photographer Kris Micallef speaks to us about his upcoming – and largely crowdfunded – project, REGNVM, a series of underwater photographs which will be exhibited at Blitz in Valletta in February with an accompanying book TEODOR RELJIC Fashion vs art in photography "For the past years my main interest was fashion photography. I have worked on various fashion editorials for magazines in Malta, Europe and MiddleEast, so my background has been highly influenced by everything that makes up this scene. Lately, however, my interest is shifting towards the art 'world'. "My love for portraiture is present in both my fashion photography and art photography – I haven't moved away from my fascination for the human form. However, I do have to adjust my frame of mind slightly when working in these different 'worlds'. I believe that my personal work is a mix of both art and fashion. Origins of REGNVM "REGNVM has helped me grow artistically. It is completely different to any work that I have published and exhibited so far. It is also the first exhibition of mine that I'm launching in Malta, and also my first book. "Personally, it was a great step to take and I'm very pleased with this body of work. Being a great lover of summer and the sea, I wanted to link my passions together. It started off with an experimental shoot in 2012 which has proved to be very successful – the underwater series titled 'UNDRWTR' which has been exhibited in Ukraine and Netherlands. There was no story behind this project, it was purely experimental. "As months passed, I wanted to create a story that is inspired by characters I meet everyday, moods, challenges, and the places I visit. This is exactly what REGNVM is about. There is a lot of thought behind every character portrayed in my imaginary underwater kingdom, many reasons and stories, and also several dimensions to it. I'm not restricting the viewers by telling them what is in my mind. I will let the book and the series inspire them to create their own stories and ideas. Underwater challenges "The main challenge while working on this project was definitely the weather. When the wind speeds and water currents are significant, it would not be possible to shoot as the visibility would be poor. However, we worked around this and we had quite a number of successful shoots. We worked in various bays around the Maltese Islands. My personal favourite bay was Crystal Lagoon in Comino. The waters are deep, crystal clear and the area is very peaceful and inspiring. Almost magical! "For this project I had a cocktail of professional models, gym-