Christopher Guglielmo has seen — and snapped — it all. After spending years in tropical waters diving in places on most underwater photographers’ bucket lists — he’s taken images in more than 40 countries and lived in the Caribbean and South Pacific — Gug, as he’s known, wanted something different.

“Day boats, liveaboards and resorts are all great, and I’ll still use them to get my shots for the rest of my life,” says Gug, “but deep down at heart, I crave real adventure, solitude and blazing a new trail.”

He got just that in the form of a residency at Glacier National Park. But Gug wasn’t looking for the typical mountain scenes that paint the sky at GNP. He relished the view from underwater.

“In the past year, I’ve been working on a new portfolio that I’m calling ‘The Americana Collection,’ where I’m revisiting places around the country where everyone since Ansel Adams has shot the great American landscape and looking for opportunities to put a new twist on classic images by shooting them from half underwater,” says Gug, who spent a month at the national park with his gallery manager, Suzanne Bushnell, last fall.

Gug returned to form in his remote office.

“On most days, we wouldn’t see another soul. Then, and only then, can I really focus,” says Gug. “Not just on getting back in touch with the water and the wilderness, but also really getting back in touch with my photo mojo and creating some shots using techniques that I don’t think anyone has ever attempted.”

Gug and Bushnell did, however, have to make sure they were really alone.

“With an extreme shortage of mulberries and other bear food this year, the warnings about grizzlies were much more stern than normal,” says Gug. “We were forced to make constant noise and have the bear spray ready at all times in the remote wilderness. Fortunately, and unfortunately, we never had a close encounter.”

To see Gug’s work, visit gugunderwater.com.

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