BERND MEIER

Born in Berlin, Germany, eons ago, I was drawn to the water at an early age. Having read several books of the German Seven Seas explorer Hans Hass, an early inventor of camera housings and rebreathers (an equivalent to Jaques Costeau), I grew fascinated with the idea of diving.

Not until many years later did I have an opportunity to witness the richness of the sea when I moved from Canada to the southern Caribbean in Venezuela. At the time pristine ocean conditions still existed. Large schools of big snappers, groupers and barracudas as well as sharks were abundant and common around the small offshore islands.

Having no certifying diving agency in the country, we dove on our own with equipment purchased in Miami. Visits to Bonaire were frequent at the time when Capt. Don initiated the first buoy system for dive boats, later imitated in other places. A Hugofoot Film Housing imported from Germany was my first exposure to underwater photography.

About a decade later when I came to Florida, I bought my first Nikonos to shoot stills and join the USA Dive Club for local and international dive trips. After several business stints in different states and countries I came back to Florida in 1999 to pursue my hobby of diving and underwater photography in earnest. Once I joined SFUPS I was able to significantly improve my understanding and execution of the craft. And I’m still learning.

I currently own a Canon 70D with a Sea and Sea Housing, 2 Retra Strobes as well as 2 Inons 240Z.