The cover of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt, published in 2006, features an image by Aurora photographer Jonathan Kingston. The photograph is an underwater shot looking up at an elephant swimming in the Andaman Sea in India with his  trainer on its back. Jonathan tells us that when people see the image they often think it is digitally manipulated, however the image was captured on film and other than some basic tonal correction and dust removal, is a straight shot.

Jonathan was inspired to take the shot by some documentary footage of the elephants by Jacques Cousteau.  Thinking it would be a relatively easy feat to find elephants swimming, he was surprised by the difficulty he encountered arranging government permission to shoot the elephants.  On his second attempt, he was able to get his shot.  “Seeing the underwater view of an elephant swimming in the crystal blue waters of the Andaman sea was was one of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever witnessed.  When the elephant is swimming, its entire body slips below the surface of the water, save the top of its head and its trunk that is raised up like a snorkel.  The frustration of two trips and nearly two years of planning were instantly forgotten in that moment.”

Aurora photographer Jonathan Kingston captured this image of a golden Buddha statue at the Wat Arun Temple in Bangkok, which appears in the January 2009 issue of Geo Saison,while on a 100-day assignment for a semester-at-sea program.  Traveling around the globe to document the trip, he was able to observe changing cultures in Thailand and other Asian countries.

“Like much of south Asia, Bangkok is a city of extremes between the ultra modern and ancient world, its residents walking with a foot in both.  The best part of an assignment like this was the chance to compare so many different cultures undergoing rapid change in a short period of time and seeing how each culture chooses to hold fast to their roots while expanding rapidly towards the future.”

To view more work by Jonathan Kingston, please visit Aurora Photos.

The December issue of Columbia Magazine, published in the Netherlands, features two images by Jonathan Kingston of the idyllic Hawaiian landscape.  After teaching an annual photography workshop on the unspoiled island of Molokai, he was able to spend some time shooting at the Kamakou Nature Preserve, which he says can only be described as “otherworldly”. Here, he witnessed the phenomenon of the “Brocken Bow”, or “mountain spectre”, in which a person’s shadow is seen as being magnified upon the clouds opposite of the peak on which they stand.

Jonathan describes the scene at the top of Kaleleolehuaula Peak. “I arrived at the overlook in a dense fog that suddenly cleared.  The sun was behind me and when I looked down the steep moss covered cliff, my shadow was visible in the rising mist and was surrounded by a Brocken Bow.  I can’t articulate the thrill of seeing this phenomenon for the first time in my life, but managed to click off a few frames before the sun fell behind the ridge and the specter disappeared. When the rainbow surrounded my shadow I thought to myself – this is it!  I’ve reached enlightenment!”

To view more work by Jonathan Kingston, please visit Aurora Photos.

Work by Aurora photographer, Jonathan Kingston, appears in the August 2008 issue of National Geographic Adventure Magazine. The image depicts participants of Centurion’s Hostile Environments and Emergency First Aid Training or HEFAT course discussing an unexploded mortar round during a larger examination of artillery and land mine safety. The 1 week course is designed to teach people how to identify and correctly assess risks to safety and security while living and working in volatile areas.

“When I was given this assignment, the preconception was that the participants of the course would all be NGO workers preparing for life in an unstable country,” recalls Kingston. “The morning of the shoot, I discovered all the participants were either members of the BBC, the AP or from a US daily paper who were heading to Iraq or Afghanistan to report. I was intimidated by the thought of having to photograph people used to being on the other side of the lens. Then I realized these were the best possible subjects in the world, as they would understand exactly what I was trying to do.”

To see more from Aurora photographer, Jonathan Kingston, click HERE.