Klaus & Oceana: A Love Story

It's a gross understatement to say that Aero director, Klaus Obermeyer, has always been a nature lover. Klaus grew up in Aspen, Colorado, where skiing and snowboarding were considered a way of life.  (I wasn't this lucky.  I grew up in Pennsylvania where not running over Amish buggies was considered the state pastime. But I digress...)  When Klaus started directing he moved to Malibu, California, and like a true character in an 80's film, he learned to surf, kite surf, wind surf, dive, etc.  It was then that Klaus fell in love with the ocean and all its natural inhabitants.  (Emphasis on "natural."  Ahem...)


Klaus wanted to combine directing with his love for the ocean.  He can now free dive for 2 minutes, which means diving without air tanks.  WITHOUT.  AIR.  TANKS.  (I get heart palpitations just typing those words!)  By holding his breath for 2 minutes at a time and not having air tanks on his back to create bubbles and noise, he's able to swim up right next to the creatures he's shooting without scaring them and therefore, his footage is quite amazing, unlike what a normal diving film crew would end up shooting.


It was a natural step for Klaus to get involved with Oceana. He has shot his first PSA for them all around the world in Tahiti, CA, Mexico, and the Caribbean.  He works for Oceana in tandem with Pete Zuccarini who is another underwater Director of Photography specialist. 


His newest venture with Oceana is a PSA campaign with Adrian Grenier from HBO's show, Entourage,who is also GQ's Gentlemen's Fund Ambassador for Oceana.  The PSA promotes awareness regarding the problem of over-fishing blue fin tuna, which you can watch here.  

This PSA was shot in Mexico and make sure to check out the behind the scenes footage shot by GQ and Nautica and the article in GQ itself!  And last, but definitely not least, World Oceans Day was this past Tuesday, June 8th, and La Mer also used Klaus’s footage for their own web video promoting the event.


Phew!  Klaus is a busy boy.  I hope you take the time to watch his work as it's truly his passion and not just his job.