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began my diving career almost 10 years ago, in October of 2003.   It didn’t begin because of a love of the water.  I was actually very scared of going underwater. 

It began because of my husband’s love for the water.  He had gotten certified and desperately wanted me to join in the fun.  I was struggling with worsening chronic pain from an accident that had occurred when I was a teenager.  He thought this would be a great way to reduce my pain and give me a way to exercise without pain.  I was very much against the idea but went along just to get him to leave me alone about it. There were many tears in my pool sessions and even tears in my open water check-outs. 

   
 

Overcoming my fears was difficult but the lack of pain underwater was amazing.  My instructor and I stuck with it and I came out with my certification and a realization that I was completely in love with being underwater.    I did my certification in a quarry, cold water and poor visibility.  But I was so in love with just being underwater that I didn’t care. 

Within 18 months of being certified, I had completed all levels of recreational certification and became an instructor.  Within 3 months of becoming an instructor, my husband and I packed up and moved to Key Largo where I had a job waiting for me.  I worked at several shops for about three and a half years and then became pregnant with our son. 

   
 

I took a year off and then went right back to my beloved diving.  After teaching for a bit longer, I decided I would like to try photography.  My husband is a land photographer so it was an easy switch, get some underwater gear and I was ready to go.  My husband got me all the necessary gear and I took off snapping photos.  There were certain aspects of underwater photography that came easier.  Some things have been more of a challenge.  The more time I spend underwater with my gear , the less challenging those things become.

Most of my photography has been done in South Florida and Bonaire.  South Florida offers a great diversity of photo opportunities and I am lucky to call it home. 

   
 

In the future, I hope to travel and have the privilege of diving and photographing locations around the world.  My ultimate goal with underwater photography is to try to capture the personalities of the undersea creatures.  I love macro work and fish portraits.  I love spending time with my subject and seeing how they interact with me and my camera.  I often snap a photo of a critter and then spend another 10 minutes just watching and smiling.  I try to learn about their environments, habits, movements, and relationships.  I hope that my photography demonstrates these things along with my own personality and love for just being underwater.