It started with Jacques Cousteau. When I was 10 years old, I watched the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau with my Mom and I was totally enthralled by the idea of scuba diving or snorkeling and taking pictures. I also grew up with a photographer, so it was in the blood.

Fast forward to 2021, and I’m a Divemaster, with almost 800 dives, and on my fourth underwater camera set up. I started with a Canon G10 point and shoot camera with no external strobes and now I have a Nikon D500, two external strobes, and lots of other things like spot lights, red lights, diopters, macro and wide-angle lenses. I snorkel and dive freshwater, depending on the situation and waterbody. I have shot thousands of marine pictures, but in the past 3 years I have switched to freshwater in the summer when ocean visibility is not so great to try new techniques.

For me, the best part about taking pictures underwater is when someone says, “I never thought something that cool would live underwater!”. The perfect way to do a little education with a beautiful picture so we have fish forever.