<p>Whether she's battling ocean currents or layers of floating trash and debris, Lia Barrett never turns away from the challenges posed by underwater photography. She made it her life's goal to capture view of a world most never see, and has inspired more people to look differently at what lies beneath the surface.</p><p>"The whole message of putting freedivers down with clothes on and with sharks is that we're all interconnected," Barrett said of her latest photo series in an interview with weather.com.</p><p>"We may be walking around up here, but there's a whole ocean down there that we depend on and that depends on us."</p><p>Barrett, who has traveled the world to shoot everything from sting rays to coral reefs, recently turned her attention to freediving. The sport has exploded in recent years to become the fastest growing segment of the diving industry, reported the AP. With the increase in popularity has come a surge in deaths -- around 70 freedivers died around the world last year, many from spearfishing, although Brooklyn-based Nicholas Mevoli died at a championship event in the Bahamas.</p><p><a href="http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/underwater-walkers-surreal-freedivers-beneath-sea-photos-20131230">Keep reading...</a></p>