Doubilet takes this picture as the crocodile swims past him.


Diving In Being chased by a shark might seem dangerous. It’s just another day at the office for Doubilet. He spends more time in the water than on land. Aſt er taking millions of pictures, he’s used to underwater danger. He started swimming when he was 8 years


old. Growing up with asthma, he didn’t play a lot of sports. But he did swim. T e ocean fascinated him. When he was 12, Doubilet took his first pictures underwater. He used a small camera. His father helped him wrap it in a clear rubber bag to keep it dry. His cameras are much fancier now. He dives


with two or more digital cameras. He also sets up a camp of cameras on the sea bottom. Each camera is in a case bigger than a shoebox. Each case has two long arms with lights at the end.


From a distance, his camera cases look


like giant spider crabs. On dives, he doesn’t always just bring these cameras. Sometimes he needs brighter lights and special lenses. A dive can last a few hours. He usually dives with a partner, oſt en his wife. T ey sometimes work back-to-back while taking photos. T at way, nothing can sneak up on them. “If the action gets intense, we get out of the water,” he says. You might think that meeting a shark was


his most dangerous moment. Yet Doubilet says sharks aren’t the scariest creatures. Crocodiles are. Doubilet says that crocodiles have good memories. “We’d go back, and there would be a crocodile waiting to ambush us,” he says. So he has a rule when he takes photos of them. Never dive in the same place twice.


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