![]() ![]() Each strobe has slightly different color temperature, and when shooting through the blue filtration of the ocean it makes a difference how close you are likely to be to any given subject and also how diffuse you would prefer the light to be. Also, Sea and Sea YS-250 when rapid recycle is needed, and Ikelite DS161 for purity of color when working really close for macro subjects. For strobes I use the Seacam Seaflash, both 150 and 160, as they render slightly different light characteristics. Now I’ve moved on to my first mirrorless system, the Canon R5. From a Nikon to Canon migration and from film to digital SLR cameras. I have been using Seacam housings for a long time, so while I have migrated through a number of film and digital systems over the years, I still use the same Seacam ports and viewfinders from that old Nikon F100 film system. Manatee sunburst, Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida That was over 40 years ago, and I’ve been on the road as a dive photojournalist ever since. They liked the shoot and asked me if I wanted to go to the Caymans for them the next month. So, I borrowed a Seacor 21mm lens for my Nikonos and took a model with me to photograph the Middle Keys. I’d never shot wide angle and I’d never shot divers underwater, but I saw from the dive magazines of the day that’s what was being published. ![]() Perhaps they found me in the yellow pages, and called to ask if I could shoot it for them. Their photographer got blown out on a Florida Keys shoot and they needed coverage from Marathon. I got my first photo assignment from the old Sport Diver magazine when they were based in Miami. I did buy a Subsea MK150 strobe and finally started to get some color in my underwater photos. It only had a flat port, so I was restricted to fish photographs, no wide angle and no macro with that system. By then I was shooting a lot of topside medium format slides so the first pro series housed system I ever bought was a Sea and Sea housing for a Bronica C, a 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ camera for 12 frames per dive. I still had that Nikonos II but by then I had opened a small studio to rent underwater cameras and process E-6 slide film for the tourists coming to dive Pennekamp Park. I didn’t really shoot anything of significance until I moved to Key Largo, Florida Keys in 1978. Then I moved to Kona, Hawaii for a while and did more crappy available light photos from the shore, but at least the viz was better. My available light photos from beach dives in Laguna Beach didn’t amount to much. I was in graduate school at nearby California State University in Long Beach and I took some photo classes for fun while working on my thesis for my Masters in experimental psychology. I got my first underwater camera, a Nikonos II with a 35mm lens, second hand from a surfer in Seal Beach, CA. This seems to be a two-part question … when did I start and when did they begin to be meaningful. How and when did you start taking photographs underwater? Stephen’s daughter, Alexa Frink, uses a GoPro to photograph crocodiles in Jardines de la Reina, Cubaġ. Still a prolific image maker to this day, his portfolio is packed with iconic and groundbreaking underwater photographs from all over the planet, so we are delighted to share with you some of his favorite images and learn more about his illustrious career in the dive industry. For many years Stephen served as the North American distributor for Seacam housings and strobes, and remains involved as a brand ambassador. Stephen teaches Masters level courses of Stephen Frink School of Underwater Digital Imaging each summer in his home waters off Key Largo, Florida and offers dive excursions emphasizing underwater photography through his travel company, WaterHouse Tours. For the past 10 years Stephen has been the publisher of Alert Diver Magazine, a beautiful coffee-table collectible magazine for the members of the Divers Alert Network. Subsequently he worked as the Director of Photography for Scuba Diving magazine. He worked as a photojournalist for Skin Diver magazine for 17-years, covering much of the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Florida Keys for the publication. He arrived in Key Largo in 1978 to open a small studio dedicated to underwater photo services, primarily renting cameras and processing E-6 slide film, but he soon began to receive assignments to photograph and write articles for the consumer dive publications of the day. Stephen Frink is among the world’s most frequently published underwater photographers, with a career spanning four decades. ![]()
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