US Diving
PENNSYLVANIA OHIO TENNESSEE
Learning to love nudibranchs in the kelp forests of southern California
CALIFORNIA
An old Windjammer, just like the one in Bonaire!
Ice diving in Lake Wilson
n 2010, I saw the Gulf of Mexico burning as part of the effort to contain the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This emotional moment compelled me to consider how I could help.
I was flying back home from
Tobago in a commercial jet at 30,000 feet. As an underwater photographer, I felt the urge to grab my camera while I passed by this monumental event. But instead of taking the photo, I took in the sight below. A photo could not communicate the impact of the disaster. Even though the skies were clear, the scene below seemed small from my vantage point. Yet I knew what I saw was huge because I knew the scale of the oil tankers that were trying to contain the spill. I returned from my trip and
told my colleagues at a design conference what I had observed.
20 Magazine
Martha’s Quarry in Athens, home to prehistoric looking paddlefish
They could not understand the scale or the effect the disaster would have on life underwater. Most of the oil that spilled in the Gulf of Mexico sank. When objects sink, people seem to think they disappear from existence. Wrecks vanish. Trash collects. The oil moves along the bottom. Divers understand and know otherwise, because we see the underwater realm. This spill affected people and
wildlife, including sea turtles, dolphins, crabs, shrimp and plankton. Compelled to reveal these hidden depths, I set out on a journey to document my local waters. I share Jean-Michel Cousteau’s belief that we protect what we love. I hope to help others love local waters by showing that every nation’s underwater world is a treasure that needs our protection.
KENTUCKY
I purchased a new car that would be reliable… I spent every spare penny I earned on my quest
Top left: Jennifer
stands in the San Marcos River, between two of
her favorite sites, Spring Lake and the Comal River
Starting a quest Every journey needs a plan and a first step. When I began my quest to dive 50 states, I worked as Senior Designer for the Texas Association of Realtors. I planned dives by dividing my limited vacation days so that they combined with weekends. While I would need to drive up to 16 hours in a day to reach my destination, this was a workable method, but it meant that I could only dive one or two days in most locations. This was a significant challenge for creating quality images. Undertaking this photo expedition
Photo: Aaron Bates
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