Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Damselfish and sunset wrasses Near Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia
Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, 1996
Lemon sharks on patrol below surface at dusk in Bahamas a shark sanctuary
Kimbe Bay, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea
Humphead wrasse Near Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia
with nearly seventy stories to his credit, david doubilet is one of national geographic’s most prolific living contributors. considered a master of water and light, his signature is the half and half image that relates the surface to the hidden world below. (and it’s worth noting these photos were taken with roll camera, prior to the digital age).
notes david, “that cartier-bresson moment that is hard to achieve on land is ten times harder to achieve underwater, because you’re swimming around with a large housing with arms 24 inches long and attached to the end of the arms are your strobes. sometimes you’re using six or seven strobes or large surface powered hmi movie lights.”
using photography to lend a visual voice to the oceans and express their beauty, and in doing foster concern for their care, david explains that “we [as underwater photographers] are making pictures that have to astound, that have to open people’s eyes, that have to stop people. …we may be taking picture of a time and a place that in the next two generations might not exist anymore. and that’s frightening.”