A traditional fisherman and his son in the waters of Kimbe Bay in Papua New Guinea - David Doubilet

Join David Doubilet in an amazing underwater world

The legendary photographer and Water Light Time author surfaces for a National Geographic talks tour

“During the summers in New Jersey, when I was growing up, I would sometimes lie on the bottoms of swimming pools and, looking up, photograph swimmers coursing overhead," The acclaimed underwater photographer David Doubilet remembers. "The best, the most athletic, looked like tin toys compared to sea lions, sharks, manta rays or turtles. Humans swim with individual movements, as if governed by primitive clockwork mechanisms. Sea lions, however, flow and shift with weightless grace. Their bodies follow their eyes. Stingrays fly. Then can beat their wings to accelerate, or ripple them to hover.”

 

David Doubilet, Stingray in the late afternoon (1990), North Sound, Grand Cayman, West Indies
David Doubilet, Stingray in the late afternoon (1990), North Sound, Grand Cayman, West Indies

The legend goes that Doubilet has spent more of his waking hours under water than above. Flicking through the photographs in Water, Light, Time (the perfect title for a perfect book) it’s almost possible to believe the legend. Born in 1948, the New York-born photographer began snorkeling at the age of eight and by the age of 13 he was taking his first underwater photographs in the green sea off the New Jersey coast. He published his first photos in National Geographic in 1972 and has since become one of the venerable magazine’s most prolific photographers.

 

David Doubilet, Cerianthid anemone (1989), Suruga Bay, Japan
David Doubilet, Cerianthid anemone (1989), Suruga Bay, Japan

 

Now, with his wife and photographic partner, the aquatic biologist Jennifer Hayes, he’s hosting a series of National Geographic talks - Coral, Fire, and Ice: Exploring Secret Underwater Worlds  - about three of his latest projects. 

 

David Doubilet, Corals, which fluoresce under ultra-violet light (1996), Eilat, Israel
David Doubilet, Corals, which fluoresce under ultra-violet light (1996), Eilat, Israel

 

The talks will centre on his experiences on the frigid but life-filled waters of Antarctica, Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, where harp seals struggle for survival amidst disappearing sea ice and the coral paradise of Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, which he regards as "a world more alien than the edges of space.” 

 

David Doubilet, Galapagos sea lion feed on striped salemas (1997), Cousin's Rock, Galapagos, Equador
David Doubilet, Galapagos sea lion feed on striped salemas (1997), Cousin's Rock, Galapagos, Equador

The next talk is in Chicago at the Goodman Theatre on February 9 with further talks to follow in Los Angeles, Seattle, Calgary and Kansas to come  throughout 2015. Check National Geographic’s events site here for more details

 

David Doubilet, Clingfish in pink sea-tulip, Jervis Bay, Australian Capital Territory (1985)
David Doubilet, Clingfish in pink sea-tulip, Jervis Bay, Australian Capital Territory (1985)

David is a really engaging speaker who brings a fascinating world to life without the need to don flippers or fins. So if you can, we urge you to attend one of the talks. If you can’t make them however, his Phaidon book, Water Light Time book has some mesmerizing stories to accompany the evocative images Doubilet has shot throughout his career. From the waters of the Galapagos to the Red Sea, from the Pacific shores to the to the fresh waters of of North America, the book features over 25 years of his work and reveals the exquisite beauty of the sea, its life forms and landscapes. There's also an accompanying postcard box.