A couple of years ago, someone asked photographer David Alan Harvey, now 70 and something of a legend, how he feels about the digital age. Here’s how Harvey responded: “The new technology doesn’t phase me a bit. A picture is a picture is a picture, whether it’s on film or digital,” he said. “I had to learn how to use [digital], and the new platforms of online social media…. I’m very comfortable with Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, all that stuff, and the digital age is fine.”

Harvey might have added Instagram to his social media list. In 2011 he joined the mobile photo-sharing site (think Facebook, but picture-centric) and started sharing his images. A prolific and passionate photographer well known for his work with National Geographic and Magnum – two of his photos were sent into space aboard Voyager – he uses Instagram to start conversations about his projects.

This month, Harvey has been making Instagram waves with his latest project – a black-and-white photo essay on the Haenyeo, a group of female free divers in Jeju Island, South Korea who since childhood have been deep diving for seafood, using no scuba equipment. Most of the Haenyeo are over 60; some are in their 80s.

You can follow Harvey’s story with the Haenyo via his Instagram posts from the past week in Jeju. (Click on Comments under each caption to read the conversations.)

The now famous Haenyeo from Jeju Island, S Korea get ready to jump from a fast moving boat into the sea and free dive down perhaps 50 ft in search of a variety of delicacy shellfish. These 60-80 year old women have been working together like this since they were teenagers and can hold their breath in the deep for around two minutes. I am amazed every morning these days more and more at these strong women and the boat disembarking resembles a precision military SEAL operation! It’s clearly hard physical work and yet the women seem happy and are constantly joking and laughing with each other. They are highly respected in their communities. This will be the last generation of Haenyeo. The young now seek another life. I am honored to be in their presence.

A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:34am PST

Jumping from a fast moving boat, one of 20 women free divers takes the plunge. Some Haenyeo go from boats, some off the rocky beaches on Jeju Island, S Korea. After today the women take a break for a week. They need one. In the next days I will focus on their family lives, geography shots etc. #Haenyeo #SouthKorea #freediving A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 6:39am PST

84 year old Chunsong Kang came out of the water this afternoon after 5 hours of scrambling 15 feet under water in a free dive in strong currents searching for abalone along the often treacherous rocky Korean coast. Jeju Island, long known for #women #wind, and #stones, has an austere beauty of landscape and people.

A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:57am PST

  Mother and daughter free diving Haenyeo team. Kisoon Kim,65, gets an affectionate kiss from her daughter Kyungyok Kang, 35, who is by far the youngest Haenyeo I have come across. Mom has been diving for 50 years and daughter only 4. Kyungyok moved with her husband and 3 sons back to Jeju Island after living in Busan where she worked and was married. She came back to Jeju for a quieter simpler lifestyle to raise her sons and follow in her mother’s steps. I will go in the water with these women when they resume diving in a few days. I think I will be in good hands. #SouthKorea #Haenyeo #Jeju   A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 7:19pm PST

Choonhwa Ko, 67, has been free diving for 50 years in the waters of Jeju Island, S Korea. She can even now hold her breath for over two minutes and go 30 feet down in search of abalone, squid, and conch. It’s a dangerous job. Two Haenyeo died yesterday at sea in the area where I am shooting. Still the Haenyeo are a lively cheerful bunch where a sense of destiny prevails. #SouthKorea #Haenyeo

A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:14am PST

One swim fin kick and a Haenyeo heads for the bottom. I am now starting to get into the water with these women free divers. In water and underwater photography is not my thing, yet I just cannot finish this essay without a few symbolic water shots. So with a too tight wetsuit, mask, and fins down I will go into the rocky depths with the mother & daughter from yesterday’s Instagram. I will use a scuba tank so I can stay down awhile and attempt what I generally leave for my underwater expert buddies at NatGeo to do. The ladies will be after octopus and abalone. I will mostly be in survival mode and trying to get a meaningful picture at the same time. That’s often the photographers life. I know I am in good hands.#SouthKorea #Haenyeo #Jeju A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 4:20am PST

Group shots. Who doesn’t take them? Who isn’t in them? We know they are never “good pictures” yet we often treasure them above all else. I will certainly keep this. A small group of Haenyeo from Udo island who were so kind to me. I did drink too much soju at lunch but here in Korea “too much” is expected for the respected. #Haenyeo #SouthKorea

A photo posted by David Alan Harvey (@davidalanharvey) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:02pm PST

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• Read more about the Haenyeo