Where are you from?
Oviedo, Florida
How long have you been practicing photography?
45 years
How long have you been diving?
53 years, PADI Open Water Instructor
Is photography your full-time job?
I'm retired but I work for Bluewater Dive Travel as a photo instructor/trip leader and also for the Aggressor Fleet as a photojournalist.
What’s your favorite camera?
Nikon D850, my current camera in a SEACAM housing
Have you won any awards before?
Ocean Geographic Pictures of the Year Competition 2024, Winner, OG Photo Journalist Award Award of Excellence: Finalist, 2024 Ocean Geographic Pictures of the Year, Portfolio Category: Third Place, 2024 Video Short Category, Ocean Geographic Blue Carbon Photo/Video Competition: First Place, 2018 Sigma Photo Competition, Macro Image Category
How did you get started in underwater photography?
When I was in grade school, there was an article in National Geographic on Alligator Reef in the Florida Keys; even as a kid, the images stunned me and I knew I wanted to eventually shoot underwater photography
Favorite place to shoot underwater?
Anywhere there are subjects to shoot.
Related Reading: How to Care for Your Underwater Camera Housing
What's your most unforgettable moment underwater?
Shooting in 28 degrees Fahrenheit water in Antarctica!
What inspires your photography?
My lifelong passion for the ocean environment
How would you describe your photography style?
I think very selectively about what I want to shoot and how I want to shoot it before hitting the water. I try to achieve a single image as close to perfect in artistic content as I can capture it on each dive versus surfacing with 100 snapshots of 100 different subjects. I think my learning to shoot using film before the advent of digital systems, where I was limited to just 36 shots at best, helped develop my strategy.
What's your #1 bucket-list dive destination?
The Eastern Fields in the Northern Coral Sea between Papua New Guinea and Australia.
What's your advice for underwater shooters entering their first photo contest?
Look at past category winners and see what the judges found in the image (artistic value, technical difficulty, novelty, super rare subject matter, unusual animal behavior, etc.) that made it a winner. Use that information to find and shoot your subjects going forward. If you can hit one of the above content buttons on a subject that is fresh and new, without replicating what has already won a competition, you will have a winning image.
Where can we follow your work?
Instagram markbhatter
www.markbhatterphotography.com
Related Reading: Swimming With Whale and Basking Sharks
Mark HatterLocation: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
Behind the Shot I was on a 10-day exploratory dive trip to the Marshall Islands a few years ago that eight close photography friends and I pulled together. Before venturing to the outer atolls, our checkout dive was on the captured World War II German ship, the Prinz Eugen, which was towed to Bikini Atoll after the war to see the effects of nuclear testing on its hull. Ironically, like the famous Russian mystic Rasputin, the ship refused to die. It was towed to Kwajalein, where it eventually sunk, belly up, in the shallow lagoon, making for great split images.
Location of Photo Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
Camera Gear Nikon D800 with Nikon 8–15mm fisheye lens; Subal housing; Zen 9-inch dome port; twin Inon Z-240 strobes
Settings f/22; 1/160; ISO 400
Prize Cayman Aggressor IV
