Scuba Diving – September 2019

40 / SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 SCUBADIVING.COM

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AWARDS:

2019

1st Place, Small Exotic

Creatures, Ocean Geo-

graphic Society

2018

1st Place, Nudibranch

category, “Deep Visions”

contest, Scubashooters

2018

1st Place, Macro,

University of Miami

2017

1st Place, Macro,

University of Miami

What’s your favorite

place to shoot

underwater?

There is no place like

home in Florida to prac-

tice and hone my skills.

What’s your most

unforgettable moment

underwater?

My first whale shark off-

shore in Belize. I shook so

much that I didn’t think I

could take a picture.

What inspires your

photography?

Seeing what others are

doing, replicating it and

creating unique photo-

graphs of my own.

How would you describe

your photography

style? How did you

develop it?

Eclectic. I like wide-angle

and macro, night and day,

large apertures and small,

various light sources and

rear-curtain lighting.

What's your No. 1 bucket-

list dive destination?

I’m no spring chicken,

so I’m hitting bucket-list

destinations now. Ambon

is in my sights.

What underwater

shooter do you most

admire and why?

My mentor, Yury Ivanov,

a world-renowned nudi-

branch photographer who

gave me one solid piece

of advice: “Push the

button.”

Grand Prize Winner

JACK ISRAEL

AGE: 63 HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A SHOOTER: I started shooting seriously in 2016. HOW LONG

DIVING: About 25 years DAY JOB: Former chief technology officer at the FBI; now retired FAVORITE

CAMERA: Nikon full-frame cameras like my D750, because you can choose among three frame sizes

for shooting large and small scenes.

From left: a colorful blenny and a candy crab