Someone, strong-willed, proposed that a page in this site with personal pictures should be included, and the reason she gave me was, “let the people know more about you; that way they’ll understand your paintings even more”. Personally I believe she proposed it as a way to amuse people. But, in any case, here is and I hope you enjoy it… somehow.Carlos Serra-Marchal
Photo 1:1 year old and it seem the marine influence started early with that “Captain” hat. Photo 2:I was gorgeous as a kid but as I grew older, something terrible happen to my face; it’s called life!
Photo 1:1980 - With some friends enjoying a cold beverage of some sort in the mountains of the Venezuelan coast. Photo 2:1982 – With this “Rock & Roll” style I started to work in architecture. Photo 3:1983 – Drawing some project, but I swear the Playboy magazines under the table were planted by the photographer; a coworker.
Photo 1:1987 – With Victor (black/red wetsuit) who is a former commando and true Rambo of the Venezuelan army and Reinaldo, an architect, a good friend and coworker who almost died in a night dive with Victor and me. Photo 2:1988 – The mystery picture. The aura around my head appeared just like that in the negative. I am the only one still alive of the group… ok, this last part is just kidding, and I hope they are all fine. Photo 3:1990 – High altitude diving with Jose Cordova (+3500 meters) in the Venezuelan Andes. The local people thought we were "nuts" and somehow I believe they were right; I almost lost my toes during the night due to frostbite while camping in -0 degrees centigrade. However, we were hired to collect samples from the bottom of a glacial lake. The guy standing behind drove us there from Caracas, an eight hour ride.
Photo 1:2001 – Hawaii - With Wendell Ko, Captain of the Hawaiian National U.S. Champion Team in spearfishing during a freediving course I taught with my former business partner, Pipin. Photo 2:2001 – In Honolulu, Hawaii, with Michael Otsuji and his beautiful family. He organized the freediving course in which the entire U.S. National Champion Team from the Aloha State participated. Photo 3:2002 – Dominican Republic - With Kim McKoy from Ocean Sensors, developers of the ultra-precise depth gauge used in freediving world records. Actually, this is the understatement of the year; the device is a highly sophisticated computer utilized by many universities, NOAA and marine research labs, among others.
Photo 1:1991 – Los Roques Islands – With the TV crew from Radio Caracas Television getting ready to film underwater shots for a documentary on sharks. Photo 2:1992 – With Jean Michel Cousteau at the DEMA Show, the largest diving convention in the world. Photo 3:2000 – Cozumel, Mexico - With photographer Bob Talbot, who did the wildlife cinematography for Free Willy, directed Ocean Men and was the marine photographer for Into the Blue. So this guy photographed Jessica Alba swimming underwater in a bikini. I love the guy already! Photo 4:2001 – Miami, FL – With Amos Nachoum, renowned underwater photographer who took a freediving course with my partner and me to improve his skills and get closer to the marine life while holding his breath.
Photo 1:2002 – Dominican Republic – With Johnnie Ventura, the famed Latin musician and former Major of Santo Domingo. Photo 2:2003 – Fort Lauderdale – With James Cameron, yeah, the same Alien Terminator who sank the Titanic into the Abyss, during the first conversations to obtain my business partner’s rights and make a film based on the Audrey saga. Photo 3:2003 – Nassau, Bahamas – James Cameron again in Nassau, where after an invitation to join him and his crew to board a ship in which he was getting ready to film “Aliens of the Deep”, we continued the conversations about a movie based on Audrey’s saga (The Last Attempt).
Photo 1:1984 – Morrocoy National Park, Venezuela - Getting ready for a solo-dive. Could not find anyone to dive with me that day. Photo 2:1989 – Mochima National Park, Venezuela – A picture perfect giant-stride entry from a yacht named Shangri-la, used for diving excursions. Photo 3:1991 – Morrocoy National Park, Venezuela - Exiting the water for a surface interval. Those days I would train four different scuba classes level within the same weekend; Open Water (entry level), Advanced, Rescue and Divemaster. Tiring? Yes, but the money was good!!!
Photo 1:1992 – Chichiriviche de la Costa, Venezuela – Deep dive, one of my favorites. So deep, indeed, that the bubbles are minuscule due to the ambient pressure. Photo 2:2000 – Bahamas – Shark dive in the Bahamas; another one of my favorite dives. Photo 3:2002 – Dominican Republic – As a safety diver doing a decompression stop after a deep dive during a practice dive for a world record attempt in freediving.
