Rick Allen

Based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Rick is cofounder of Nautilus Productions. He is a broadcast video producer and videographer and has been diving the oceans of the world and shooting video since 1983. As a video producer, director and videographer his work has appeared on ABC, A&E, BBC, CBS, Discovery, The Learning Channel, 48 Hours, ESPN, Lifetime and more. He has followed SWAT teams through the door on drug busts, traveled from Cuba to Kazakhstan with the 82nd Airborne, weathered live broadcasts during hurricanes and been side by side with 9 foot Sand Tiger sharks during underwater expeditions. After 12 years in broadcast television Allen opened his own video production company in 1997 focused on documentary production and providing freelance videography and underwater video services to broadcast clients. Allen is an avid wreck diver and shark lover and can be found most weekends diving the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Email Rick

Hans Christian Andersen

Based in Skagen, Denmark, Hans specializes in underwater film production, filming, editing and distributing on VHS, DVD and for the Internet.
He also does website programming primarily for the diving industry. Hans started scuba diving when he was 15 years old, more than 24 years ago. In 1994 he began doing underwater still photography. That year Hans won the Danish championship for underwater photography in a competition organized annually by the Danish Sportdiving Association. Currently, his work is primarily underwater and "topside" digital video. Hans is presently working on several film projects. Certified as CMAS ** diver, CMAS Basic nitrox, PADI nitrox and PADI Semi Closed Rebreather diver. He currently dives a Dräger Dolphin mrk4 rebreather. Check out his website, Skawdiver.dk .

Perry Armor

Certified as a SCUBA Instructor in 1991. After teaching for several local shops, Perry went on to get more advanced training in cave diving & Mixed Gas diving. He now mainly focuses on underwater video production, working on his own projects and as a freelance underwater cameraman. His videos have appeared on several national cable channel broadcasts, network TV, and local television. He is a founding member of the San Diego Technical/Recreational "DIR" dive club, San Diego Underwater Explorers (SDUE). Check out his work at DiveGeeks.com. Email Perry

Photo ©  Chris Grossman

Bob Bayer

A Midwest transplant, Bob has been diving since moving to San Diego in 1984. He started doing underwater videography in 1994. He enjoys filming big animals in such places as the Galapagos and Cocos, as well as local attractions such as squid and nudibranchs in southern California. Current video gear includes a Sony TRV-900 in a Gates housing, and he edits on a Mac with Adobe Premier. E-mail Bob

Leandro Blanco

Born in Spain, Leandro moved to New York with his family. During his High School years he joined a vocal group; and when he turned fourteen won first prize at a musical festival at the New York world fair. The Tokens, who by then had a number one hit on the charts (“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”), became their producer. Leandro recorded several records with them, and spent most of his time then promoting and touring the states with his group.

He took up flying as a hobby and earned his private pilots license at the age of nineteen.

In 1970 he returned to Spain, where he recorded several records, including a double LP (“The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi ) and also wrote several music scores for various motion pictures.

In 1973 Leandro decided to turn his hobby into a career and became an airline pilot. Today he’s an Airbus 340 captain flying for a major international airline company.
It was back in the 80s when the first music videos came out, that got him started in filming. It was the magic of the music, moving along with the fast cutting images that caught his eye. Read More About Leandro...

Mike Boom

Mike bought a camcorder and housing in the fall of 2001 and has used it to annoy fish, crustaceans, nudibranchs, cephalopods, his fellow divers, and any other taxa of plants or animals that happen to find themselves in front of the lens port. Mike lives in Oakland, California, where he photographs mushrooms and teaches beginning mycology courses. He writes geeky computer books for a living and goes diving with his wife Lynn in warm tropical waters and the cold green waters of California. Visit Mike's website for more of his video.

Richard Brooks

Richard operates out of Palau, Micronesia and runs an underwater imaging concession with a dive shop there providing him with lots of opportunities to film at some of the best dive sites in the world. A keen photographer too, Richard enjoys opening up the incredible underwater world to people through his images and footage. Email Richard at photoshop@fishnfins.com.

Guille Cervera

Guille is currently based in Spain. He began underwater work as a scuba instructor in Jamaica and Miami for dive centers and charter companies in the early 80s where he discovered the amazing underwater world. His video work includes the production of local tv documentaries and advertisements. Guille is currently working at the El Rei del Mar diving center in L’Estartit, Costa Brava, Spain as an instructor teaching underwater videography as well as doing trip videos for guest divers in the Illes Medes Marine Reserve and in Sharm-El-Sheikh in the Egyptian Red Sea. He uses Mangrove Housings & Lighting by Aditech. Visit Guille's website. Email Guille

Yener Celtikci

Yener is currently based in Turkiye, has a degree in Economics and has worked as an IT expert since 1995. He started diving in 1989, and is a certified CMAS Scuba Instructor with many diving specialties, including enriched air, wreck, u/w videography, deep diving, etc. Yener has been shooting underwater video since 2003. His work includes several short films, a documentary on the Red Sea, and a short film about a mermaid. This short film was awarded 1st Place in a local short film contest. He has also won several underwater videography awards. He is now working on a number of documentaries about ship wrecks and underwater wildlife around Turkiye. Email Yener

Kevin Daily

An avid diver, Kevin Daily has been diving since 1972. He is very knowledgeable about the ocean and marine life, especially that of Southern California. In 1995, he began capturing images of sea life on video using Hi 8 equipment and a Gates underwater housing. Kevin uses Videonics editing equipment, as well as a nonlinear computer editing system with a DC30 video capture card and Adobe Premier editing software. His work has been featured in local television newscasts, and is available through Merrow Video Productions. Email Kevin

Matthew D'Avella

Beginning his diving career in 1989, Matthew purchased his first video camera and underwater housing in the spring of 1990 and began filming shipwrecks along the New Jersey coast. Moving to Kona Hawaii in 1994, he began his love affair with warm water reef animals, especially filming their behavioral patterns such as hunting, mating, and color changing. In February of 2000 he found a new obsession with black water diving and filming pelagic gelatinous animals.
 
During the daylight hours Matthew can be found in his woodworking studio where he builds one-of-a-kind custom furniture. Most nights he works as a boat captain and dive guide at the world famous Manta Ray Night Dive. A firm believer that sleep is over rated, he makes time to guest speak and showcase his video work for school students to promote an educational understanding of the aquatic world around us. More information about Matthew and his passion for woodworking can be found on his website at www.mdavella.com.  Email Matthew

Pablo del Barco & Deborah Wilson

Deborah and Pablo left the UK and Argentina, respectively, to follow their passion for underwater video. They formed their independent company, FishEyeFilms, in Cozumel, Mexico ten years ago, and have been filming there year round ever since. See their work at: http://www.oceanfootage.com/sellers/pbarco. Email Pablo and Deborah.

Steve Douglas

Steve is a certified Apple Pro in Final Cut Pro 6 and an underwater videographer. He was winner of the 1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition, 2003 IVIE competition, 2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic competition, and the prestigious 2005 International Beneath the Sea Film Competition, where he received the Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater Videography and 'Diver of the Year' award. Steve worked as a safety diver on the feature film, "The Deep Blue Sea," and has contributed footage to Seaworld Park's Atlantis production, the History Channel's MegaDisaster show and other networks. Steve is one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition and leads both underwater filming expeditions and African safaris. Steve's work is available through Shark's Delight Productions. Email Steve (Visit Steve's World Film and Travel Website)

Joe Dovala

Joe started blowing bubbles in 1967 at the age of ten when his father rented a two-hose regulator and tank from a gas station/diveshop in the small town of Yucaipa, CA. The influence of Sea Hunt’s Mike Nelson and The Silent World of Jacques Cousteau were just too much to ignore. Over the years he’s been involved with many types of diving, including instruction, research, and technical sport diving. Somewhere along the line the idea of taking expensive cameras and immersing them in saltwater seemed like a good idea. He’s been professionally making images and writing articles since 1999.

J.D. Duff

J.D. graduated from Florida Tech with a degree in commercial diving in 1978. Shortly thereafter he received a call from The Scuba Club, Inc. in West Palm Beach, Florida with a job offer. That was June 1980 and he has been there ever since. He is a USCG licensed captain and a YMCA, SDI and TDI scuba instructor. He has been shooting video underwater since 1987. In addition to running daily dive trips in West Palm Beach, he takes groups of divers to many dive destinations around the world. JD's photographs have appeared in publications such as Ocean Realm, National Geographic World, Sea Frontiers, Outdoor Explorer, Skin Diver, Scuba Times, Underwater USA, the Palm Beach Post and the Sun-Sentinel. Besides the local networks, JD's video work has also been seen on National Geographic Television, the Travel Channel and the Animal Planet. Visit J.D. Duff's website. Email JD.

Mike & Jody Elliott

Based in the Bay Area of California, Mike Elliott is an award-winning underwater filmmaker based in Monterey, California. He and his wife, award-winning underwater photograper Jody Elliott, have been diving since 2004. Their underwater imaging work takes them all over the world, yet they also enjoy diving right in their own waters off the coast of Northern California. Mike is filming in HD video using a Sony FX1 in a Light & Motion housing, and editing in Final Cut Pro. Visit their Website.

Christian & Diana Fries

Based in Germany, Diana and Christian Fries are avid divers who want to share their passion with the world. Christian started out with digital photography some years ago and made the switch to HD Video in 2007. They are active members in the communities at wetpixel.com and digideep.com. The two travel all over the world and enjoy all kinds of dive spots like British Columbia, Bali and the Red Sea. Christian is now shooting high definition video with the dSLR Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Visit Their Website.

Bob Gladden

Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Bob Gladden is a very accomplished diver and underwater photographer and filmmaker. Since his dive certification in 1963, Bob's diving activities have included commercial and research diving. He has logged over 5,000 dives. An underwater photographer for 17 years, his work has been recognized with numerous awards, and has appeared in publications such as California Diving News, Discover Diving and Skin Diver. His films have been featured in local TV newscasts, TV specials and at numerous film festivals. Bob also contributed a segment to Discovery Channel's "Incredible Vacation Videos." He is currently using Sony VX-1000 and PC-7 digital cameras and Gates underwater housings, with nonlinear editing in Adobe Premier. He is one of the founders and organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. Bob's work is available through OceanVisions Productions. Visit Bob's website. Email Bob.

Bryce & Jen Groark

Bryce Groark is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, TDI Semi-Closed Circuit Rebreather Instructor as well as a DAN and PADI Oxygen Instructor. His passion for the ocean grew even stronger when he started shooting underwater video in 2001. He strives to document every aspect of the ecology associated with coral reefs, although sharks and pelagics are his favorite subjects. Jen Groark too loves the elasmobranchs, but her real passion lies with the small, strange, creatures disguised amongst the reef, which she has a unique talent for finding. Today, you can find Jen and Bryce shooting video and taking pictures underwater almost everyday, documenting the local fish behaviors on the Hawaiian reef and teaching Coral Reef Ecology classes to visitors aboard the FairWind II in Kealakekua Bay. Visit their website, LivingOceanProductions.com.

Eric Hanauer

Eric Hanauer is a widely published writer and photographer specializing in the underwater world. Author of three books and over 500 articles, his work has appeared in posters, magazines, books, and CDs. Hanauer is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Kinesiology Division at California State University, Fullerton. An aquatics specialist, he trained over 2500 scuba students, and introduced the grab start to competitive swimming while coaching in the 1960s. He recently dived into underwater video. Eric is one of the organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. Visit Eric's Website.

Shawn Heinrichs

Shawn Heinrichs is an independent videographer and filmmaker based in Boulder, Colorado who specializes underwater and adventure travel. His work includes projects for both broadcast and corporate customers. Shawn began diving in 1990 while attending university and immediately fell in love with the sport. In the late 90’s he entered the world of underwater still photography and realized that underwater imagery would become a life long passion. It didn’t take long for the desire to “tell the story” vs. “capture the moment” to take hold of him. He invested in a Light & Motion underwater video set up and never looked back. Last year Shawn made the switch to HD. This has opened a whole new world of opportunity and challenge, and the results have been exciting. His specialty is capturing wide angle footage of large pelagics such as sharks, mantas, game fish and marine mammals. Shawn is also dedicated to marine conservation and is active in a number of conservation initiatives. His video offers a perfect medium to capture the majesty of underwater realm and communicate it to the world in hopes of gaining better appreciation, understanding, and action. Visit Shawn’s website, Blue Sphere Media.

Shannon Hull

Born and raised in Sandusky, Ohio, Shannon grew up on the Great Lakes and fell in love with the water as a little girl.  She went to Ohio Sate Univeristy and graduated in 2000 with a B.A. in Communications.  After traking a video production class in college she was hooked and loved the idea of telling a story though video. She started working in news and became a Photojournalist working at network affiliates in Columbus, Ohio, Savannah, Georgia and now in San Diego, CA. Shortly after she moved to San Diego she became certified to dive and fell  in love with the underwater world.  Shannon began applying her passion for video to her new passion for diving and shot her first underwater piece called "Wreck Diving" for FOX 6 San Diego.  She is now hooked on underwater videography! Email Shannon

Mick Hutchins

An active member of the San Diego community since 1972, Mick is no stranger to filmmaking and editing. He has shot film segments for inclusion in real estate marketing campaigns, a documentary for a TV promo for the Scottish Highlands Games and a documentary for the San Diego city council on swimsuit optional beach use, among others. Taking a video camera underwater for the first time in the spring of 1999, Mick is now irrevocably hooked. He is one of the organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. Mick edits on MediaStudio Pro.

Vincent Hyland

Based in Ireland, Vincent has been diving since 1972, and filming underwater since 1987.
Qualified as a Geologist in 1983, he eventually migrated into computers, programming and digital graphics, working for Microsoft for 12 years.
Vincent set up Wild Ireland on-line and print Magazine. The on-line magazine won an award for Best Website of the year in 2000, while the print version won a PPA Best Consumer Specialist Magazine of the Year Award in 2002. In 2000, he filmed, photographed, wrote and web broadcast the natural history of nesting Jackdaws which won a Prix D'Europe award. A documentary of the production appeared on RTE Television. In 2001 the 2nd series of Jackie and Daw appeared on UTV.
In 2002 Vincent took 46 Irish people to Antarctica and made a film which appeared on TV3. In 2003 he began filming, photographing and painting marine Wildlife fulltime. Together with Patrick Kavanagh he made a 2 hour DVD on Ireland's Marine Wildlife "Ireland - Seabirds and Marine Life."
In 2006, they filmed with the BBC's Blue Planet Team documenting "The Search for Ireland's Giant Turtles". This was broadcast on BBC2 in February 2007. Vincent is an accomplished wildlife illustrator. To learn more about Vicent diverse work, please visit his website, www.VincentHyland.com. Email Vincent.

Ray Izumi

Ray works as a network engineering consultant these days. In former lives he was a roofer, a rock climbing bum, and an analytical chemist. He now lives in Redmond, Washington, near the murky waters of Puget Sound. Certified in Utah in 1987, Ray did his qualifying dives in a hot water spring in the desert near Wendover, Nevada, that was once used as a target for bombing practice by the Air Force. Since then he's lived and dived all over the world, yet has never seen an area he could say was more beautiful than the waters around Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. "Diving in those cold waters is not for everybody, but somehow you forget how darn cold you are when you see the overwhelming beauty of 'outside' Barkley Sound." Ray admits, though, that given a choice, he'd choose Indonesia over Canada any day. He's done 35 mm underwater photography almost since he was certified, but was never very good at it. When he finally flooded his Nikonos V, he decided to try video. Ray enjoys shooting video underwater a lot more, and has never looked back. Email Ray.

Mark Leichnitz

Mark started diving in 1986 in the cold waters of British Columbia. Over the years, business travel enabled him to explore the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef, the Philippines and the Caribbean. His love for the underwater world led him to get serious about diving in 2004, eventually attaining instructor status. Mark teaches and
shoots video mostly in BC waters, using a Sony Handicam inside a Gates housing. Check out more of his video work on his website at coralreeffilms.com.  Email Mark.

Terry Maas

Dr. Terry Maas is a veteran freediver and award-winning underwater filmmaker. He started diving when he was 14 years old and has been freediving steadily for the last 47 years. He holds numerous spearfishing records and championships. His 1992 video Bluewater Hunters for PBS has been viewed by over 25 million people. His diving has been featured in such publications as Sports Illustrated, American Airlines magazine, The Miami Herald and the Los Angeles Times. He lectures nationally using his slides and video presentations to educate those interested in the adventure of bluewater hunting and marine resource conservation. While Terry remains an avid hunter, he is very selective in his take and is deeply concerned with conservation of the ocean’s marine life. He shares his underwater images of sea creatures captured in commercial poaching nets and on hooks with many environmental organizations. He is an active supporter of Sea Watch an organization dedicated to the preservation of the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. In California, he is a member of the committee to form Marine Protected Areas off the coastline. Learn more about Terry and his work on his website at freedive.net.

Walter Marti

Walter Marti first donned dive gear in 1974, and has been actively diving since. He submerged himself with camera in hand almost immediately. In 1979, he fell in love with underwater video. Now, he’s rarely seen underwater without his video camera in hand. His digital films have placed in many underwater photo/video contests. He received an Honorable Mention in Cinematography at the 2003 International Wildlife Film Festival. He has been a regular contributor in the Long Beach Scuba Show’s Film Festival and the San Diego Undersea Film Exhibition. His films were a special presentation at the 2005 Aquarium of the Pacific’s Diver’s Day. Walter is an active member in both the Orange County and the Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society. He’s traveled to many places in the world, but continues to love diving in California. He has recently upgraded to a High Definition Camera and is looking forward in filming his extensive library all over again. Email Walter

Nick Martorano

Nick Martorano was born in Italy and moved to the United States in 1993. From an early age he was interested in the ocean and its creatures, as well as photography.
In 1998 Nick became Scuba certified, and soon after he started shooting still photos with an underwater camera. After two years of underwater still photography, in 2000 he picked up an underwater video system, and has been passionate about underwater filmmaking ever since. He enjoys filming a wide range of marine subjects, from sharks and mantas to itty-bitty stuff, like nudibranchs and blennies. Nick has contributed to (and occasionaly won) many international competitions such as the Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society Competition,  the World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Antibes, France, the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society Competition, and the San Diego Undersea Film Exhibition. He uses a Sony PD100  in a Light & Motion Bluefin 900 housing, with Sunray Pro HID lights. Nick edits on a Mac with Final Cut pro, Livetype, Motion, and authors to DVD with DVD Studio Pro. Visit Nick's website.

Richard Morris

During the early 1990s Rick became a Scuba Diving Instructor and ultimately began working as an underwater camera man when he was able to
package a segment of the PBS Series, "Secrets of the Sequence," shot on location at the Lizard Island Research Station off the coast of Australia.
Rick has continued pursuing his passions for diving and the environment offering his services as a broadcast technician and producer and has recently completed projects for The Nature Conservancy, The New England Aquarium, International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW), University of Connecticut, The Conservation Law Foundation, Cape Cod Commercial Fisherman's Assoc., The Gulf of Maine Research Inst, and many others. Visit Rick's website. Email Rick.

Michael Myers

Diving since 1984, Michael has been an active member of the Underwater Photographic Society since 1987 and active in the film festival, as well . He started underwater video in 1995 and travels frequently to Mexico and the Philippines. Michael is currently using a Sony VX-1000 and a Sony PC-7 with Gates underwater housings.

Chuck Nicklin

Emmy Award-winning Chuck Nicklin has filmmaking experience in Imax, Omnimax, Circlevision, 70mm, 35mm, 16mm, Panavision, digital film and video formats. Feature film credits include The Abyss, The Deep, Never Say Never, For Your Eyes Only, and Love Is Forever. Nicklin's numerous documentaries include "Gentle Giants of the Pacific, ""Behind the Scenes of The Abyss," Nomads of the Deep," and "In the Company of Whales." Truly one of the pioneers of underwater cinematography, Nicklin is actively involved in the diving and underwater filmmaking community. He continues to work hard at his art, while putting much time and energy into encouraging and assisting newcomers to the field. In addition to his filmmaking work, he leads dive tours around the world, and is always willing to take time on his trips to help out the newer underwater filmmaker. Chuck is one of the founders and organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. View Chuck's new Dive Travel Website.

Mary Lynn Price

A video journalist and adventure travel video producer, Mary Lynn was first handed a video camera underwater on a shark dive in the Bahamas in 1995. Working in high definition video, she produces films for news and travel organizations, film festivals, art galleries, and educational institutions. Her work has appeared in nationally broadcast documentaries, award-winning news productions and educational projects. Mary Lynn founded DiveFilm.com in early 2000 as one of the first websites dedicated to showcasing underwater video on the internet. She is one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. Mary Lynn is the executive producer of DiveFilm HD Video Podcast and the original DiveFilm Podcast Video, both available for free at iTunes. In 2008, Mary Lynn deployed to Antarctica as part of a National Science Foundation grant to produce short video portraits of some of the amazing Women Working in Antarctica. She is an Apple-certified Pro in Final Cut Pro 7, and teaches video editing on land and at sea. Visit Mary Lynn's Travel Video website. Email Mary Lynn

Bruce Robison

A still photographer until his first of five trips to Cocos Island, Bruce became interested in portraying underwater action through video. A Master Diver and Instructor, Bruce took early retirement from Environmental Restoration work in order to pursue his love of the underwater world and his quest for filming different kinds of animal life. His travels have allowed him to do both topside as well as underwater digital filming all around the world. He has acquired footage of some very strange and unusual macro creatures. Bruce is currently using Sony VX-2000 and Sony DCR-SC100 digital cameras, and Light & Motion Blue Fin and Mako housings. His nonlinear editing is in NT with DV-Rex and Adobe Premier. Email Bruce (Click Here For Bruce and Steve's World Films and Travel Website)

Richard Ross

A diver since 1998, Rich purchased his first underwater video housing in 2001 after literally bumping into two whale sharks off Bida Nok Island in Thailand.  Moments like that, he reasoned, simply had to be caught on film. Shortly thereafter he realized that hours of unedited footage wasn’t really that fun to watch, so immersed himself in digital editing and began making films.  Using music as the underlying structure for his films, Rich strives to create films that are enjoyable to divers and non-divers alike, and yet still communicate the rush of underwater flying.  Rich currently lives in Alameda, California with his wife, his daughter, his 200 gallon coral reef aquarium (www.stickycricket.com/aquarium) and his breeding colony of Sepia bandensis cuttlefish (www.stickycricket.com/aquarium/cuttle).

Roger Roth

Roger has been diving and filming underwater since 1988 and has earned dozens of national and international awards for his underwater productions. Many of these are requested annually from numerous underwater film festivals around the United States, and are also used as marine educational outreach tools by a number of organizations. Besides his educational productions, Roger develops promotional videos for a number of dive destinations and liveaboards all over the world. His footage has been incorporated in programs for the Discovery Channel, the U.S. Navy, and Jean-Michel Cousteau's Sea Scope series, to name a few. Roger has hundreds of hours of cataloged footage that was shot with either the Sony VX-3 in an Ikelite housing, or the Sony VX-1000 in a Light & Motion Stingray housing. Email Roger

Mark Santa-Maria

Mark is an experienced traveler and instructor/diver who has led expeditions from Africa to Chuuk Lagoon and from the cold waters of Nova Scotia to the tropical magnificence of Palau. If you don't find him the open blue waters, he is probably squeezing through a cave restriction in the Yucatan. His certs include full cave, trimix, SCR, and SSI open water instructor. He is passionate about filming majestic images in harmony with the sounds of the experience. In addition to being an underwater filmmaker, he is an accomplished audio recording engineer. He recently joined the production crew of liquidassets.tv as a sound engineer and cameraman where he will be working on two upcoming television pilots.
Underwater, Mark shoots with a Sony EX1 in a Gates housing. He uses Dolphin Ear and Cetacean Research Technology hydrophones underwater and Schoeps and Sennheiser microphones for audio topside. He edits in Final Cut Pro and Vegas 8 for video and uses ProTools for audio. Email Mark

Kathy & Mike Schnetzer

Kathy and Mike have been active divers since 1991.  Mike is a PADI Dive Master.  They bought their first video housing in 1991 and have been filming around the world ever since.  Their favorite destinations include Indonesia, Fiji, Cocos Island, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Australia and, of course, San Diego.  Their special interests are animal behaviors.  Lionfish Films, LLC is their underwater video company and they are currently shooting in the HDV format. Email Kathy • Email Mike • Visit Their Website  

Jerry Seawell

Jerry began scuba diving in 1969 in the cold waters of Northern California. In the mid 70s he became a commercial diver working in the offshore oil industry, harbor construction, and sea urchin harvesting. Later he took up u/w photography and published numerous u/w photos and articles. Since then he began motion picture and video taping underwater and that is where his interest remains today. Among his credits include SKIN DIVER MAGAZINE and ABC NEWS. Besides his commercial diving experience, Jerry is a certified rescue diver and dive master. Specializing in the Northern California coastal region, Jerry enjoys producing videos for the Internet. Visit Jerry's website • Email Jerry

Jon Shaw

UK born Jon Shaw became a diver when he was thirteen, became commercially trained at 19, and became a PADI instructor at 20. He is a PADI MI, HSE part IV and also TDI instructor. Also in that year he completed his BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology in England. He has supplied footage for Channel 10 in Australia, Total travel channel in the UK and also Dive Zero HD magazine. Jon has been based in Sydney since 2001and has set up ginclearfilm, a video production business specialising in allowing small businesses to promote themselves via video, on DVD, web or television. Currently shooting with a Canon XH A1 in a Gates housing, he continues seeking to finetune his skills to better capture stunning underwater images. Visit Jon's website • Email Jon

Edward Snijders

A few years ago Edward Snijders changed his life by getting into underwater filming after a long - but uneventful - career in air traffic control. Be it air or water, it is the 3 dimensional environment where he feels most at ease. For many years he spent his time underwater just taking pictures. Then some time ago Edward changed to video never to look back. Some successful productions over the years include Reefstory, Seals for Real, Sanganeb and most recently Eau de Bretagne. They screened - and were sometimes awarded prizes - at major film festivals such as the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival, Antibes (France), Belgrade (Serbia), Moscow, Birmingham (UK), Düsseldorf (Germany), Vaasa (Finland) and Seychelles, to name a few. On his website, www.submarines.nl, Edward tries to keep a wetlog, and also presents some of his short films. Edward is founder and director of the annual North Sea Film Festival for underwater movies in the Netherlands, which started in 2007. Though he loves organizing the festival, filmmaking is his priority. Visit Edward's website.

Gyula "Jules" Somogyi

Based in Hungary, but often found in distant waters all over the world, Gyula is an award-winning underwater filmmaker whose creative works have garnered film festival prizes in countries such as France, the United States, Spain, Italy and Russia. His work include films ranging from technical diving exploration to creative artistic interpretation. Gyula is a regular contributor on the forums at Wetpixel.com, and can often be found staffing the DivePhotoGuide/Wetpixel booths at international underwater film fests all over the world. Gyula has authored and produced the DVD, "Ships of Darkness," based on his award-winning film of the same name. To learn more about his new DVD and his work, Visit Gyula's website

Simon Spear

After years of snorkelling, Simon finally took the plunge and learned to Scuba Dive in 2001. Based in London, UK, he has been lucky enough to travel with his wife Zoe to many parts of the world to experience the amazing diversity that exists beneath our water planet’s surface. Simon’s biggest fear is that our Seas and Oceans could be in terminal decline, and through his films he hopes to raise awareness of their plight and at the same time show their beauty, majesty and wonder to a wider audience than those lucky enough to experience it first hand. Visit Simon's website • Subscribe to Simon's Podcast • Email Simon

Mark Thorpe

Originally hailing from England, Mark set out some 15 years ago on a career path that has thus far taken him to many of the world's pristine dive areas. Recenty based on the island of Palau, Mark spent his time there running his own underwater imaging concession at the Fish 'n Fins dive shop. His professional clients to date include NGTV&Film, YLE - Finland, SBS - Korea, GMA - Philippines and many others. He now works for National Geographic, and also produces his own short films and products. Email Mark

Vidar Johannes Vedaa

Based in Bergen, Norway, Vidar is a wildlife videographer whose interests range from the high mountains to the deep fjord. While he is relatively new to underwater imaging, he has been producing topside wildlife videos since the late 1980s. His underwater imaging is accomplished strictly through free-diving. His wildlife videos have appeared in television broadcasts and on the internet. Please visit Vidar's website to see more of his wonderful work. Email Vidar

Stephie Vierkotter

Trained as a research scientist, Stephie moved to San Diego, CA in 1997. She became a certified diver in December of 1997, and joined Catalina Divers soon thereafter. She is an active member of the Dive Animals Club in San Diego, and an avid diver at the local shores. Stephie did her first underwater filming during a dive trip to San Clemente Island, California in 1999.

Paul Wags

Paul Wags is based on the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. He has been diving since 1990 and held both Padi and SSI Scuba instructor ratings and personally introduced over 1200 people to the world of scuba diving and guided many many more. Filming underwater is now what he does best, and he continues to capture the magical underwater world for all to see.

He has done so many dives, he is now officially a fish and has worked with many TV productions over the years both local and international. Paul shoots with the FX1 in the Amphibico Phenom housing with Aqua Sea HID lights. Stills are with the NIkon D70 in a Sea & Sea SLR housing. Check out his website.

Champ Williams

A graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography and the marine science program of California State University, Northridge, Emmy® award-winning producer Champ Williams has dedicated his career to the art and craft of underwater natural history filmmaking. Visit his website. Email Champ.

John Williams

John F. Williams, founder of Still Hope Productions Inc., began in 2000 to create underwater videos to introduce Pacific Northwest residents to their underwater neighbors. During eighteen years as a sea-going scientific technician, John visited most of the world’s oceans and developed a deep concern for their stewardship. John filmed & edited the educational DVD "Return of the Plankton." It shows the seasons underwater in Puget Sound and how they affect the critters living there. He has videotaped underwater events and critter behavior for a number of broadcast TV productions and short films. John also produces the only TV series to focus on what goes on underwater in the Pacific Northwest. That bi-monthly series, "SEA-Inside: Pacific Northwest," brings the magic, the mystery, and the beauty of the underwater world into currently over 1.5 million homes. It also provides a wide audience for local underwater filmmakers, photographers, artists, musicians and writers. Visit his website. Email John.

Tony Wu

Tony Wu is one of Asia's leading underwater photographers. He has won a number of awards, including the Grand Prize for Best Book of the Year at the World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Antibes for his first book, Silent Symphony. In recent years, Tony has been at the forefront of experimenting with new equipment and techniques associated with the crossover from analog to digital technology. The primary theme in his work is storytelling, and he is particularly keen on exploring the unique possibilities opened up by the use of multi-media formats. In addition to his online portfolio, Tony also maintains a blog, where he shares images, video and thoughts from his travels. You can also follow Tony on Twitter.