David Doubilet: Underwater Photography

David Doubilet is an underwater photographer considered to be among the best all over the world. He also works on assignments with National Geographic and has authored many books. David started shooting with a Brownie Hawkeye in an anesthesiologist's rubber bag when he was just 12 years old. He has photographed under the sea areas from New Zealand to Japan to Scotland to Australia. He captures amazing photos of sea turtles and sting rays to Tahitian women in the water to endless possibilities of long-forgotten ship and plane wrecks.

Here is an excerpt of an article that David speaks about his love of underwater photography:

     "For me, underwater photography is the best profession in the world. It is also the only job I could       imagine doing since grade school. I would have been a disastrous pilot, accountant, lawyer, doctor or  baker. Working in the sea is a visual gift that I never take for granted. We have seen great whites materialize out of the blue, squadrons of manta rays feeding at night, and mating congregations of a hundred thousand green sea turtles. We have followed the path of the war in the Pacific, photographing the wreckage and silent memories.

Every day is not just another assignment; it is a small, but contained voyage of discovery. But for all the joy there is a sense of ever-present doom. Humans have approached the ocean as conquistadors, and what we have discovered we have destroyed through over-fishing and destruction of habitat. The only difference is that we have not tried to convert the fish to Catholicism. And of course climate change and global warming is all about water. The rising sea level and elevated temperatures that directly affect the polar regions are only part of the problem. The vast amounts of carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans have changed the chemistry of the ocean making it difficult for reef-building organisms to survive. Sadly, scientists predict that coral reefs may only be a memory by mid-century."

http://www.malibumag.com/site/article/david_doubilet/

http://www.daviddoubilet.com/default.asp