Erena Shimoda

Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Erena Shimoda always had an affinity with the underwater world even though she grew up in the city. One of her favorite childhood memories includes floating in a small inflatable pool, daydreaming about mermaids and singing a children’s song:

The ocean is wide, the ocean is huge…

It’s no surprise, then, that Erena immediately became addicted to scuba diving after a trip to the Honduras Bay islands Utila and Roatan. She received her Divemaster certificate in Venezuela in 2005 and began shooting underwater photographs in Thailand, Bonaire, Corsica, Cozumel, Cancun and Hawaii. Today, she specializes in underwater portrait photography and uses her background in New Media and Fine Art to create unique compositions in different media.

Erena currently lives in San Francisco, California. When she isn’t planning her next photography trip in the tropics, she’s usually staring at the beautiful ocean. And, she’s still humming that ocean song.