JEFFREY HAINES
I was inspired to learn how to scuba dive while snorkeling in the Dominican Republic in 2001. As I floated on the surface, three divers swam below me on the reef. One of them had a camera and took a photo of the other two with the reef as a background. How cool is that, I thought to myself!
Many years prior to that experience I had dabbled in nature photography with a Minolta 35mm film camera, no auto anything, and later with a Nikon Coolpix, mostly landscape and vacation photos.
It was not until 2006 that I was able to fulfill my goal of scuba diving, beginning with the PADI Discover Scuba Diver. Since then diving has been my life’s passion and I have spent as much time underwater, camera in hand, as I can.
I started my UW photography in 2007 with a Sealife DC500 and one strobe. Moved up to an Olympus E-620 with 2 UFL-2 Olympus strobes, 14-40mm, 50mm macro and 9-18mm lenses in 2010 and switched to a Nikon D7000 in a Nauticam housing with 2 Sea & Sea YD-D1 strobes in 2012. My choice of lenses in order of acquisition are: Sigma 17-70 macro, Tokina 10-17 fisheye, Nikon 105 macro with Nauticam SMC-1, Nikon 10-24 wide angle and just recently a Nikon 60mm macro because the 105 was way to frustrating for blackwater dives.
