Celebrated underwater photographer Bob Halstead has been diving and taking underwater images since the late 1960s. Halstead has won many awards, including the 1983 Australasia Underwater Photographer of the Year. He was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2008. We recently had the chance to chat with him.

Sport Diver Asia Pacific: When and where did you learn to dive?

Bob Halstead: I escaped England and set out to explore the world in 1968. I got a teaching post as Head of the Physics Department at Queen’s College in Nassau, Bahamas, and the first thing I did was learn to dive. In 1970, I was certified as a NAUI instructor (#2000), and in 1977, my wife Dinah and I formed Papua New Guinea’s first full-time sport-diving business, Tropical Diving Adventures, based in Port Moresby. I haven’t wasted a minute since.

SDAP: Where do you live now?

BH: In Cairns, Australia, which is a terrific base from which to dive my favourite areas - PNG, Coral Sea and GBR, and Indonesia.

SDAP: Did you start shooting underwater as soon as you got certified?

BH: Almost. I’ve always been fascinated by fish, so I bought a tiny Ricoh windup half-frame automatic camera in a round housing first, but when I realised how much I was enjoying myself taking pictures underwater, I bought a Nikonos 2 with 28mm lens and bulb flash.

_**SDAP: **_What camera system do you use now?

BH:_ _I now shoot with a Nikon D7000 in a Nauticam Housing and Inon strobes.

SDAP: You've been at this a long time. Does one single moment stand out?

BH:_ When I was deep diving with Dr. Eugenie Clark, and we were studying tilefish. I dived to 75 metres and realised I was looking at a tilefish nobody had seen before. At the end of the dive, I was hanging on an oxygen line beneath the boat decompressing with Genie and trying to explain on a slate what I had seen. I photographed it (on film of course), and persuaded Genie to stay on the site for another day so she could see it herself. It was eventually named after my colleague John Pohle, who had discovered the mounds that the fish live in, though he never saw the fish. It is named _Hoplolatilus pohle, and still only a handful of divers have ever seen it.

SDAP: You’re also credited with discovering muck diving. Tell us about that.

BH: Muck diving is what I started calling the diving we did on black sand beaches in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. My divers would say, “We paid a lot of money — we don’t want to dive there,” but I promised them that we’d be searching for exotic creatures. And now of course, people pay a lot of money to do muck diving! A sanddiver fish, Trichonotus halstead, was named after Dinah and me in 1996, and in 2002, a goby, Lubricogobius dinah, was named after Dinah, and a new species of razorfish was named after me, Xyrichtys halsteadi.

SDAP: Is that the photography you prefer — shooting macro?

BH: Actually, I love wide-angle, and I am shooting with a model mostly these days, but I still put a semi-macro fish lens on now and then. I'll leave the super-macro to those with better eyes than mine! Model photography is challenging — you have four elements — the marine subject; the model; the environment and of course the photographer. When perfect, they come together like the most exquisite musical form — the String Quartet.

SDAP: With as much time as you have spent in the water, have you ever had a scary moment?

BH: Only one ever scary moment — when a bull shark had a go at me after I speared a lobster while skindiving. I'm lucky I get thrilled, not scared. But I've had lots of funny moments underwater — usually featuring divers with equipment or, particularly, "apparel" mishaps revealing more than desired.

SDAP: You've been widely published — do you enjoy that aspect of your work?

BH: Oh, yes. I've published eight books and hundreds of articles for magazines such as Dive UK, SportDiving Australasia, Action Asia, Asian Diver, EZDive, Dive Pacific, the old U.S. Skin Diver and many others.

SDAP: You've also won numerous awards through the years, but is there one that you're especially proud of?

BH: Being inducted, in 2008, into the International Scubas Diving Hall of Fame is my greatest honor and one that I am very proud of, and grateful for. This recognised my pioneering work in Papua New Guinea's Dive Tourism industry as well as my photography and writings.

_SDAP: _You have been at this a long time! Who has inspired you the most?

BH: David Andrews was my first mentor in the Bahamas, but since then I have been enormously indebted to David Doubilet, who has been inspirational, as well as a friend and mentor.

SDAP: What advice do you have for beginning photographers?

BH: The usual — learn to dive without your hands and GET CLOSE!

SDAP: Where are you going next?

**BH: **Off to PNG to dive the coral sea aeefs out of Port Moresby — Eastern Fields, Boot and Ashmore Reefs. Beautiful reefs that are in wonderful pristine condition. I love it!