David Doubilet

David Doubilet is honored to have his underwater imagery considered to be among the best by editors, peers and colleagues the world over. He has photographed over 60 stories for the National Geographic Magazine where he is currently a Contributing Photographer-in-Residence. David has documented our changing underwater world since his first assignment with the Geographic in 1971. In addition to the Geographic, David’s work continues to appear in countless publications worldwide and he is a contributing editor and feature columnists for the Behind the Shot in Sport Diver Magazine (US) and Seascapes and Dive Magazine (UK).

Born in New York City in 1946, David began shooting underwater at the age of 12 using a Brownie Hawkeye camera in an improvised housing - a rubber anesthesiologist’s bag from his father’s hospital. His teen years found him submerged off the New Jersey coast and in the Caribbean waters surrounding tiny Small Hope Bay, Bahamas. He built a passion for the sea and everything in it. David graduated from Boston University in 1970.

David’s challenge to himself is to redefine photographic boundaries each time he enters the water. His passion is the undersea majesty of light and how to capture it. Completely at home on a coral reef, a World War II wreck, a deep dark fjord or among the great giants in our sea, David has relentlessly pursued the many hidden layers of coral reefs around the globe. His cold water work has immersed him in the rich waters of New Zealand, Tasmania, Scotland, Japan, the Northwest Atlantic and Northeast Pacific. Recent photographic journeys have taken him into some of the largest freshwater systems on our planet such as the great Okavango Delta system in Botswana and the St. Lawrence River.

David has authored seven books on the sea. The most recent are: Fish Face by Phaidon Publishers (2003), The Kingdom of Coral: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef by National Geographic Books (2002) and Water Light and Time by Phaidon Publishers (1999). He is the recipient of the many prestigious awards, including: The Sara Prize, The Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award and the Lennart Nilsson Award in Photography. David is a member of both the Royal Photographic Society and International Diving Hall of fame.

David enjoys life in Clayton, New York, a small river town in the Thousands Islands region of the St. Lawrence River where life is about old wooden boats, an emerald freshwater studio and ships from around the world passing his window. His second home is the small coastal town of DeKelders, South Africa. David has a beautiful, exuberant daughter, Emily Dara Doubilet studying at Oberlin College.