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Douglas David Seifert on a lifetime of underwater photography

17 June 2022
4 minutes

The poison ocellate octopus, also known as a mototi octopus (Amphioctopus mototi) possesses a venom and displays two large blue ocellates or ‘eyespots’ when stimulated or alarmed. Mototi means poison in the Polynesian language; the first specimen identified came from near the island of Rapa, French Polynesia

Underwater photographer Douglas David Seifert reflects on documenting a life beneath the waves


By Katie Burton

Underwater photographer Douglas Seifert has been taking photos beneath the waves for 40 years, ever since a childhood spent on Florida’s beaches encouraged him into the water. But even after all this time, getting the perfect shot is rarely easy. ‘I’ve had a lot of close calls,’ he says. ‘Honestly, I usually spend about ten months a year out in the field – at least I did pre-pandemic – and I’m nearly killed at least once a month. I would be in a dodgy anti-shark cage with a great white shark outside and it would come barrelling into the bars. The bars would break at the weld and I’d have the nose of a shark pushing me against the back of the cage!

‘I’m not really a risk taker,’ he adds, ‘but sometimes there’s a balance between risk and reward. I’m very determined that I’m going to capture the animal’s presence – I don’t want to use the term personality, because they’re not people – but they do have their own innate qualities that are unique to each individual and trying to capture that is a matter of observation.’

For Seifert, this trick of careful observation applies to any underwater creature, all of which can captivate. ‘At the beginning of my career, I was known for photographing sharks and whales, and I was very happy doing that – it’s very exciting,’ he says. ‘But there are so many other things in the ocean and my interests are with everything. I don’t care if I’m looking at a blue whale, or if I’m looking at a nudibranch, or a seahorse, I’m 100 per cent there – I’m living in the moment, I have no sense of time. I don’t feel any different about the things in the ocean than I felt about them when I was 12 years old or eight years old.’

This sense of wonder keeps Seifert in the water and provides the ultimate purpose for his photography at a time when all environments face huge threats. He has been World Editor of DIVE magazine for more than 20 years.

‘There can be no absolute purity,’ he says. ‘Let’s face it, all wildlife photographers are burning fossil fuels to get wherever they’re going. That’s why we really need to be good photographers and get our images out there – so we can keep people focused on the fact that nature is spectacular and worth preserving for itself. It doesn’t have to have an economic value; it has an intrinsic value that makes life worth living.’

Manta rays feeding on plankton in the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific
A giant pacific octopus in the cold waters off Vancouver Island, Canada
Blacktip reef sharks gathering in a channel through a coral reef, French Polynesia
Atlantic spotted dolphins hunting at night using echolocation to seek their prey, The Bahamas
Sperm whales gather together near Sri Lanka to socialise in the afternoons
Whale sharks provide a free ride for hitchhiking shark suckers in Raja Ampat, Indonesia
A hard-to-spot camouflaged leopard anemone shrimp on a gorgonian wrapper anemone, Triton Bay, Indonesia 

Inspiration

As a child, I watched The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and then there was a milestone movie called Blue Water White Death that came out when I was about eight or nine years old. When it comes to photography, there’s an incredible photographer called Chris Nubert who did the first really great book of underwater photography. Everybody that was a diver just thought this was the most amazing book, and it still holds up to this day.

Purpose

 I do it because, to me, it’s the most beautiful, fascinating part of life. I like to share that wonder with people that haven’t had the good fortune to go to these places and see these things. It’s about sharing this place I love the best with humanity, in the hope that humanity will see its value and protect it.

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Advice

 Anybody interested in underwater photography should develop really good skills at being a diver or snorkeler first so they’re not a risk to themselves and others, and so they’re not injurious to the marine life, or the environment. Only then should you take a camera because people put a viewfinder in front of their face and they lose all sense of where they are and what they’re doing. The animals and nature have to come first. Otherwise you’re doing it for the wrong reason and maybe you should play tennis instead. 


Read more…

  • How to perfect underwater photography
  • Inside the Terror – life on board Sir John Franklin’s lost ships
  • How to photograph Iceland, land of fire and ice
  • Photographing Poland’s changing landscapes from the sky
  • The photography of Captain William Shakespear
  • About
  • Latest Posts
Katie Burton
Katie Burton
Katie is the editor of Geographical and can be found commissioning, editing and often writing content for the monthly print magazine and website.
Katie Burton
Latest posts by Katie Burton (see all)
  • Review: Ritual by Dimitris Xygalatas - 25 June 2022
  • Douglas David Seifert on a lifetime of underwater photography - 17 June 2022
  • Review: Inside Qatar by John McManus - 17 May 2022
Subscribe to our monthly print magazine!

Subscribe to Geographical today from just £3.40 per month. Our monthly print magazine is packed full of cutting-edge stories and stunning photography, perfect for anyone fascinated by the world, its landscapes, people and cultures. From climate change and the environment, to scientific developments and global health, we cover a huge range of topics that span the globe. Plus, every issue includes book recommendations, infographics, maps and more!

Filed Under: Wildlife Tagged With: June 22, Magazine, Marine wildlife, Oceans, Photography

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  • About
  • Latest Posts
Katie Burton
Katie Burton
Katie is the editor of Geographical and can be found commissioning, editing and often writing content for the monthly print magazine and website.
Katie Burton
Latest posts by Katie Burton (see all)
  • Review: Ritual by Dimitris Xygalatas - 25 June 2022
  • Douglas David Seifert on a lifetime of underwater photography - 17 June 2022
  • Review: Inside Qatar by John McManus - 17 May 2022
Subscribe to our monthly print magazine!

Subscribe to Geographical today from just £3.40 per month. Our monthly print magazine is packed full of cutting-edge stories and stunning photography, perfect for anyone fascinated by the world, its landscapes, people and cultures. From climate change and the environment, to scientific developments and global health, we cover a huge range of topics that span the globe. Plus, every issue includes book recommendations, infographics, maps and more!

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