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


 

Alfred Eisenstaedt

I was not sure if we could use a film-based photographer, but I wanted to mention Alfred Eisenstaedt. He was born in 1898 and was well-known for capturing spontaneous moments. One of my favorites is "VJ Day" in 1945 where he shot a sailor who was excited running around kissing any woman he came by.

He eventually became one of the original staff photographers for Life Magazine. He is mentioned as the "father of photojournalism" and is considered a master of the candid shot. He even states that he enjoys catching an image of someone without them knowing they are being photographed. "For the kind of photography I do, one has to be very unobtrusive and to blend in with the crowd." You would think that would raise ethical questions, especially if the people ever see an unwanted image of themselves posted, yet that is becoming harder and harder to defend nowadays due to technological advances and the world wide web. He had his first one-man exhibition in 1954 at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York and he was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President George Bush in 1989. He has used a range of simple equipments from an Eastman Kodak folding camera that he received when he was 14 to a 2 1/4" Rolleiflex that he loved to use because he could appear like he was shooting your image because it did not have to be held at eye level.


http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1997/Articles0397/AEisenstaedt.html