The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) will host a free photography exhibit called Marine Megatropolis 1974-1981 in the main lobby of the Santa Barbara Airport Terminal, 500 James Fowler Road.

Marine Megatropolis, which on exhibit until the end of the year, will be marked by an official opening ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 6.

“We are fortunate in Santa Barbara to live on the water and directly experience the rich maritime history of our channel,” said SBMM Curator Emily Falke.

“In the spirit of building community, SBMM and SBA worked together to exhibit Marine Megatropolis 1974-1981, photographs by Bob Evans, providing an immediate unique experience to viewers visiting from all over the world,” she said.

Featuring the underwater photography of entrepreneur, visionary and photographer Bob Evans, the exhibit greets Santa Barbara visitors and reminds them as they leave how beautiful the California Central Coast is, both topside and underwater.

The photographs include stunning images of marine life under the oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, captured between 1974-1981.

This free event is open to the public. It will allow everyone to meet the photographer and hear remarks from Bob Evans, SBMM Executive Director Greg Gorga, and others. Parking is free to attendees in the Airport Short- and Long-Term Parking Lots, located at the Terminal. Validation will be provided at the event to use upon exiting.

Marine Megatropolis 1974-1981 Photos by Bob Evans includes 16 images of life below the offshore oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, selected from thousands taken over 850 dive expeditions by Evans and Andrew J. McMullen of La Mer Bleu Productions.

Evans and McMullen photo-documented marine life as it developed beneath the platforms between 1974 and 1981. They installed an underwater observatory on Exxon’s Platform Hondo when it was newly installed, establishing a historical baseline for the eco-system.

They photographed the aquaculture programs of Santa Barbara Fishermen, believed to be the first alternative uses for offshore oil platforms globally. Evans executed a feasibility study using starfish for natural biofouling control.

With Richard C. Williams and Frank Hester, he established the first commercial harvest of California mussels for human consumption from beneath Chevron’s Platform Hilda.

Much of their equipment was not available off the shelf. Evans designed and built buoyancy controlled submersible and towable camera systems and housings to protect the cameras from pressure at depth. Their wetsuits, lighting, and time-lapse camera systems had to be custom made.

“It is an honor to share the progeny of our adventures with visitors and those traveling home through Santa Barbara Airport,” Evans said. “Please take time to look at the walls.

“As you fly over the channel, let my photographs inspire you to visualize what lives below. Imagine what it was like to be just out of college and spending our days diving together with friends,” he said. “Our 35-foot research vessel moored next to these massive jungle gyms, blanketed with marine life and schooling fish.

“We uncovered a beautiful and unique marine ecosystem, since documented as more productive than any reef existing worldwide. Its existence arising from these structures parallels the paradox between our dependence on fossil fuels and the environment that is Santa Barbara.

“It is my vision that Marine Megatropolis contributes to understanding the unseen Ocean and the opportunities available for a new offshore development paradigm inspired by the early aquaculture and research projects shared,” Evans said.

The offshore oil platforms of the Santa Barbara Channel are a unique vertical habitat, offering marine life shadows and shelter from predators and structure on which to anchor. Open ocean water flows by. Food is abundant. Life propagates and creates a thriving community we call “Marine Megatropolis.”

Evans was born in Paris, France. At age eight, he became interested in the underwater world when given a surf mat with a clear window from which he could see down into Mediterranean waters.

In his teens he was inspired by a school field trip to the Los Angeles Cabrillo Marine Aquarium to share his passion through photography. He went on to log some 5,000 hours underwater, accumulating a vast photographic collection.

Evans’ Channel Islands Collection is among his best-known, with selections used to promote establishing the California Channel Islands as a national park.

A 1985 exhibit of this work opened at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center on Stearns Wharf. In 1996 he was granted an honorary master of science by the Brooks Institute of Photography for extraordinary contributions to Photography, Art and Science.

Evans is currently working with Pacific Offshore Continental Shelf Operators, exploring collaboration on a pilot of his patented subsea system for desalination.

For more about evans, visit bobevansphotography.com.