David Doubilet
Encyclopedia
David Doubilet is a well known underwater photographer known primarily for his work published in National Geographic Magazine. He was born in New York
and started taking photos underwater at the young age of 12. He started with a Brownie
Hawkeye in a rubber anesthesiologist's bag to keep the water out of the camera. During his summer holidays, he spent his time along the New Jersey
coast. He later worked as a diver and photographer for the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratories in New Jersey. He also spent much time in the Caribbean
. While a dive instructor in the Bahamas he found his motivation to capture the beauty of the sea and everything in it.
is the impossibility of changing lenses or film underwater.
Doubilet’s ingenuity lead him to the invention of the split lens camera. This allowed him to take pictures above and below water simultaneously. This worked by having a separate focus point
on the top half and bottom half of the scene. When the picture is taken, it is recorded onto the same negative
.
He has shot well over sixty stories for National Geographic and published numerous books on his own. His most recent was a photo shot in Cuban waters entitled "The Last Caribbean Refuge."
Doubilet graduated from Boston University
College of Communication in 1970.
He is well known for his reports on the sea and has written many books in recent years, one of which includes Australia’s Great Barrier Reef by National Geographic. He has received many awards for his works, such as The Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas
Awards and the Lennart Nilsson Award
for scientific photography (2001)http://www.lennartnilssonaward.org/past_winners.html.
Doubilet lives in Clayton, New York
. Life in this small town near the St. Lawrence River is about old wooden boats, a nature studio to further his passion of the water. His second home is the small coastal town of Dekolder, South Africa
.
Doubilet is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and started taking photos underwater at the young age of 12. He started with a Brownie
Brownie (camera)
Brownie is the name of a long-running and extremely popular series of simple and inexpensive cameras made by Eastman Kodak. The Brownie popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot. The first Brownie, introduced in February, 1900, was a very basic cardboard box camera...
Hawkeye in a rubber anesthesiologist's bag to keep the water out of the camera. During his summer holidays, he spent his time along the New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
coast. He later worked as a diver and photographer for the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratories in New Jersey. He also spent much time in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. While a dive instructor in the Bahamas he found his motivation to capture the beauty of the sea and everything in it.
Photographic Career
His goal as a photographer is to "redefine photographic boundaries" every time he enters the water. This has helped him achieve some of his greatest shots. In order to capture all the underwater wildlife, he takes several cameras with him on each of his trips. The main obstacle in underwater photographyUnderwater photography
Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while snorkeling or swimming.-Overview:...
is the impossibility of changing lenses or film underwater.
Doubilet’s ingenuity lead him to the invention of the split lens camera. This allowed him to take pictures above and below water simultaneously. This worked by having a separate focus point
Focus (optics)
In geometrical optics, a focus, also called an image point, is the point where light rays originating from a point on the object converge. Although the focus is conceptually a point, physically the focus has a spatial extent, called the blur circle. This non-ideal focusing may be caused by...
on the top half and bottom half of the scene. When the picture is taken, it is recorded onto the same negative
Negative (photography)
In photography, a negative may refer to three different things, although they are all related.-A negative:Film for 35 mm cameras comes in long narrow strips of chemical-coated plastic or cellulose acetate. As each image is captured by the camera onto the film strip, the film strip advances so that...
.
He has shot well over sixty stories for National Geographic and published numerous books on his own. His most recent was a photo shot in Cuban waters entitled "The Last Caribbean Refuge."
Doubilet graduated from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
College of Communication in 1970.
He is well known for his reports on the sea and has written many books in recent years, one of which includes Australia’s Great Barrier Reef by National Geographic. He has received many awards for his works, such as The Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...
Awards and the Lennart Nilsson Award
Lennart Nilsson Award
The Lennart Nilsson Award recognizes outstanding contributions to scientific photography. It is administered by the Lennart Nilsson Foundation and awarded annually by Karolinska Institutet. The award sum is SEK 100,000...
for scientific photography (2001)http://www.lennartnilssonaward.org/past_winners.html.
Doubilet lives in Clayton, New York
Clayton, New York
The term Clayton, New York could refer to either of two locations on St. Lawrence River:* Clayton , New York* Clayton , New York...
. Life in this small town near the St. Lawrence River is about old wooden boats, a nature studio to further his passion of the water. His second home is the small coastal town of Dekolder, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Doubilet is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers
International League of Conservation Photographers
The International League of Conservation Photographers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography...