A new ‘night gallery’ on Cannery Row offers a deep dive into underwater photography.

There’s a new space in Monterey devoted just to underwater photography. Breakwater Collective is a night gallery, meaning that, for the most part, the gallery door is locked, but the art is viewable 24 hours.

“We tried to make everything lit so each piece is visible from the outside,” says gallery co-founder Suzanne Frey.

The other founder is Berkley White of Backscatter Underwater Video and Photo, a shop located practically next door. The idea is for the visitors to see the pieces through the first-floor gallery window, scan the QR code and follow the link.

Just like a diver, passersby have to come close and take a peek into the underwater world which – penetrated by photographic light – reveals a stunning array of colors, starting with all possible hues of the green and blue palette. There are beautifully illuminated strawberry anemones burning gold and red in a turquoise depth (“Anemone Reverie” by Martina Steurer); honey golden kelp dancing (“Swim Through” by Effie Benjamin); and a dotted orange triopha lurking in the bright green eelgrass (a sea slug, photographed by James Emery). Water, always flowing – combing purple urchins and rocking jellyfish to sleep – is the artist here. For the photographer, the goal is to stay still enough to capture all the beauty.

“Most people don’t realize it, but to do underwater photography you have to be a really good diver,” says Frey, who has been pursuing underwater photography since the 1990s. The location of the gallery itself isn’t a coincidence. From there, one can see San Carlos Beach, a favorite spot for training divers from all over the world.

The selection comprises 30 pieces from 30 artists, a majority of them local. The main requirement for being included in the collection is that the shot had to be taken in Monterey Bay, which has been for decades a mecca for underwater photographers. After all, the largest underwater photography competition in the U.S., the Monterey Shootout, attracts hundreds of photographers each July.

The pieces displayed at the opening were selected by a jury from 500 submissions. Come to the opening to meet the artists, or come whenever it’s convenient – even in the middle of the night – to tour the gallery from outside.

BREAKWATER COLLECTIVE opening night takes place 6-9pm Friday, Nov. 21. 201 Cannery Row, Monterey. More at breakwaterartcollective.com. View and buy pieces at bradleyphotographic.com/backscatter.