Levenson, Jake

Jake Levenson is a Communications Officer at the International Fund for Animal Welfare where he works to protect the world’s whales. His career travels have taken him from studying french fry eating fish, collecting exhibit creatures in Maine, to coral reef surveys throughout the Caribbean and Red Sea.

Michael Salvarezza – Christopher Weaver

Michael Salvarezza and Christopher Weaver have been diving the waters of the world since 1978. In that time, they have spent hundreds of hours underwater and have accumulated a large and varied library of photographic images. They have presented their work in many multi-media slide presentations, and have appeared previously at Beneath the Sea, the Boston Sea Rovers Underwater Clinic, Our World Underwater and the Long Island Divers Association Film Festival. Mike and Chris have been published in numerous magazines, including National Geographic Adventure, and have authored many articles for the majority of the dive publications the world over. Their work has also been used to support a number of research and educational programs, including the Jason Project for Education, the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in New York and the Cambridge University and the University of Groningen Arctic Centre work on monitoring the transformation of historic features in Antarctica and Svalbard.

Lasselin, Nathalie

Nathalie Lasselin is an internationally award winning underwater cinematographer and producer. As a cave and technical instructor, she travels the world to document and share her love of the underwater and underground world. Her latest film: Heen taak has been seen on TV in 10 countries. She is also the president of ASTEX ( Aqua Sub Terra Exploration)

Lombardi, Michael

Michael has been living the life aquatic since age 16. He is the Diving Safety Office for the American Museum of Natural History, the co-Chair of the Diving Committee for the Marine Technology Society, and the recent proprietor of the ‘Lombardi Undersea Resource Center’, a Rhode Island based R&D facility emphasizing advancement in diving technology for science. His recent work on mesophotic coral ecosystems has been supported by multiple awards from the National Geographic Society. Michael is among the first trained in the Exosuit ADS and is developing programs to put the system to work for scientific purposes.

Rioux, Terry & Maggie

Terry Rioux has been Diving Safety Officer at WHOI since 1980 and a frequent speaker at Sea Rovers. Maggie Rioux has been a WHOI diver since 1985 and is Systems Librarian of the MBLWHOI Library.

Brooks, Ernie

Ernie Brooks is frequently referred to as the Ansel Adams of the Underwater World for the breathtaking, timeless black and white images that he has captured on film. As a noted professional photographer, educator and ambassador to the industry, Mr. Brooks has won international acclaim for underwater photography and audio/visual presentation. He is a member of the Professional Photographers of America and is one of forty photographers in the world admitted to the prestigious Camera Craftsmen of America. Mr. Brooks has been a trailblazer in the development of underwater photographic equipment and technique, and has witnessed great industry advances. And though he has harnessed and implemented much of that new technology, at a time when a plethora of color underwater photographs illustrate magazines and glossy brochures, he, perhaps surprisingly, favors black and white. In the pursuit of dramatic marine images, he has descended into the fascinating waters beneath the polar icecaps as well as into the depths of almost every ocean on Earth. His photographic legacy is the evidence that has illustrated changes in our environment, while he himself remains a tremendous voice in our need to witness the effect of that change.

Ortins, Faith

Faith has spent most of her adult life in the ocean. Starting as a scientific diver and volunteering for public safety diving operations in the 1980’s, Faith became a technical diver and divemaster and has thousands of dives over her 34 year diving career. She worked with DUI to develop some of the first women’s drysuits and now leads DUI’s sales team worldwide. She created the DUI DOG Rally and Demo Days program which promotes local diving facilities while divers demo DUI products. She has led expeditions around the world including many to the most remote places on Earth. A frequent presenter at dive shows and conferences, she is a 2010 inductee into the Women Divers Hall of Fame and a member of the Boston Sea Rovers.

Deaton, Paul Cater

Filming on six continents over a 35-year career, Paul Cater Deaton is a multiple award-winning, documentary filmmaker whose work has been televised the world over. He is also a major content provider for Ocean in Google Earth. His critically-acclaimed “Lionfish, The Beautiful Outlaw” recently aired on PBS.

Zaferes, Andrea

Andrea began teaching diving with Dr. Lee Somers and Karl Huggins at the University of Michigan’s Scientific Diving Program. She served as a Diving Safety Officer for the American Museum of Natural History’s Animal Behavior Research Department, and had three research papers published by the age of 22. She took her first diving rescue course at age 16 with Walt Butch Hendrick. Since that time she has become Vice President of Lifeguard Systems Inc. and RIPTIDE Inc, a course director and instructor trainer, a well published author, a noted public speaker, an award winner, a program designer, and is one of the leading trainers in the international water rescue and recovery industries today. Andrea teaches over hundreds of police, fire, EMS, military, and USCG personnel annually throughout the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Caribbean.

Malkoski, Kimberly

Kimberly Malkoski is the 2008 Sea Rover Frank Scalli Intern. She is majoring in marine biology at the University of New England and is a member of the UNE Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center. In high school, Kim was awarded the Ruth Turner Scholarship and completed the Ocean Environments class at Harvard University. A New England diver since the age of thirteen, Kim is president of the UNE SCUBA club.

Capone, Vincent J.

Sonar Search expert Vince Capone has spent most of his life searching the world’s oceans for shipwrecks, hazardous waste drums and anything else lost at sea. An avid diver for over 30 years he located the Lake George Radeau in 1990 and assisted the US Navy with search operations after space shuttle Columbia crash. He has a master’s degree in Marine science and is president of Black Laser Learning.

Joe Romeiro

Growing up in and around the water, Joe Romeiro developed a love for the ocean at a young age. After seeing his first shark when he was just 5 years old, he has been captivated by them ever since. A self-taught filmmaker, Joe founded 333 Productions in 2007 with fellow producer & shark conservationist Bill Fisher. Since then, 333 Productions has produced several award-winning films, including “Silent Requiem”, “Death of A Deity”, “A Lateral Line” and “Shark Culture”. Joe Romeiro is a member of the Explorers Club, his cinematography has been featured on Discovery Networks, National Geographic, Shark Week, Fox, and various other programs, productions, and publications.

Skomal, Gregory

Dr. Gregory Skomal is an accomplished marine biologist, underwater explorer, photographer, and author. As the principal investigator of the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, he has been studying and diving with sharks for almost 30 years. He has written numerous scientific research papers and has appeared in a number of film and television documentaries, including programs for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and PBS. His most recent book, The Shark Handbook, explores the world of sharks.

Waterman, Stan

Stan Waterman is one of America’s pioneer divers. He has worked in the sea with a camera for over fifty years and in that time has received every major award in the diving field. As an underwater cameraman, director, producer, he has made films for all three major networks, PBS, cable television and for Hollywood as well. He has received five Emmys, was the first induction into the International Scuba Divers Hall of Fame and elected Honorary President of the Antibe International Underwater Film Festival in 1999. He and his family were the subjects of a two hour documentary by the Discovery Channel.

Sloss, Doug

Doug Sloss is an award-winning underwater photographer, scuba diver instructor, and producer of the Underwater Photo Workshop DVD, the definitive instructional DVD on editing underwater images. He has taught hundreds of people how to scuba dive, shoot photography, and enhance underwater images using Adobe Photoshop.

Allan, Marshall

Marshall Allan is an avid great lakes wreck diver. He has filmed the “time capsule” shipwrecks like the Gunilda and others resting in over 200 ft of water. His video’s have been shown at a number of well known dive shows.

Tinsley, Woodrow

Woodrow has been diving for almost ten years. He has been diving up and down the East coast and the Caribbean. Woodrow has been to three underwater fossil beds in three states and one surface one. He is an active member of the Gillmen dive club, as well as the Innerspace Explorers. As a police officer in East Hartford, CT., he is currently the “CSI” guy for the city. His diving interests include fossils, wrecks, and night diving and is currently testing the effects of forensic lights on coral reefs.

Martinez, Andrew

Andy Martinez specializes in images of the natural world. He has traveled and photographed in many of the world’s beautiful tropical islands from the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. He has led many trips to Galapagos, St. Vincent, and other Caribbean islands. This year Andy is leading a group to the Philippines in 2014 and Raja Ampat in 2015.
His book Marine Life of the North Atlantic is considered the best guide to this region. The new 4th edition has 60 more creatures, more than 200 new photos, and an expanded range. He will be available to sign copies of the book after this presentation.

Maney, Ted

Ted Maney is a biology instructor and underwater researcher at Salem State University.  He is a NAUI/DAN/ASHI Instructor and was previously the Diving Safety Officer at Northeastern University. He was a past President of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS).  Ted has been training scientific divers and conducting underwater research for over 25 years.

Asseer, Rudi

Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Rudi Asseer has been diving professionally since 1999 and is currently the President of Farallon USA, the world leader in Diver Propulsion Vehicles. Rudi has grown a passion for underwater photography and enjoys nothing more than exploring the unknown. Rudi has been a dive safety officer, videographer, photographer, rebreather technician, safety diver for numerous world class expeditions. The following is a recount of notable projects and expeditions with which he has participated.

• 2002 St. Lawrence Greenland Whale Shark
• 2003 Galapagos SRI Whale Shark DNA
• 2004 Tanya Streeter World Record Team
• 2004 Empress of Ireland Discovery Team
• 2005 Truck Lagoon
• 2006 Bikini Atoll.

Dion, Fred

The owner and founder of Underwater Photo-Tech located in Derry, New Hampshire, Fred is an accomplished underwater photographer and a past president of the Boston Sea Rovers.

Maas, Terry

Terry Maas, a retired Oral Surgeon is a National Freediving Champion (4x individual, 12x team), current and former world record holder for bluefin and yellowfin tuna, author, co-inventor of the freediver’s safety vest. He is an accomplished u/w photographer and Chairman of the International Bluewater Spearfishing Records Committee.

Ogilve, Anne T.

Anne Ogilvie is the International Director of Field Management at Earthwatch Institute, where she oversees operations and field management for international scientific research expeditions for volunteer participants. Prior to joining Earthwatch, Anne worked for the Sea Education Association, the New England Aquarium, Shoals Marine Lab, and Catalina Island Marine Institute.

Lawrence, Matthew

Matthew Lawrence is a maritime archaeologist working for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary headquartered in Scituate, Massachusetts. He has a M. A. in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies. In addition to the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary, he has conducted archaeological fieldwork at the Olympic Coast, Channel Islands, Thunder Bay, and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries.

Roach, Tom

Tom Roach started diving in the mid-1960s; diving exclusively on East Coast shipwrecks. Tom headed an early dive organization. He has appeared in various History Channel specials and his articles, drawings and photographs have appeared in many magazines and books, worldwide.

Wilk, Kris

Kris Wilk is an award winning underwater videographer, marine life expert, and CEO of ReefNet, Inc. As a co-author of the interactive field guide “Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas” Kris spent almost 20 years documenting the world’s rarest marine life. Between expeditions, Kris and the rest of the ReefNet team develop innovative products for recreational, commercial, and scientific divers.

Tysal, Terrence – Giannotti, Amy

Terrence Tysall and Amy Giannotti lead the Cambrian Foundation (Orlando, FL). Tysall is an accomplished technical diver and a graduate student at Texas A&M University in subaquatic biospeleology. Giannotti is an environmental scientist with a focus in marine ecology. Together, they organize underwater research expeditions worldwide and offer unique educational twists!

Freiberger, John J.

Dr. John J. Freiberger is currently an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and, Assistant Medical Director of the Divers Alert Network. He is extensively involved with educational endeavors such as directing the HBO grand rounds and Director of DAN CME courses. As a Texas native, he spread his medical education between Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is an avid diver, a DAN medical hotline physician and has lectured extensively in both the medical and diving communities.

Chalk, Jack

Jack Chalk is currently General Manager of Captain Don’s Habitat in Bonaire. Jack is currently on the Board of Directors of STINAPA Bonaire, the private NGO that oversees the management of the Bonaire National Marine Park, Washington Slagbaai National Park, Lac Bay and Klein Bonaire and has held the position of President of STINAPA Bonaire twice. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Bonaire Hotel & Tourism Association (BONHATA) and held the President’s position of that organization from 2002 until 2006. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association for the past 6 years serving on the Membership Committee and the Constitution & By-laws Revision Sub-Committee. He is also a founding board member and Chairman of the Board of EarthEcho International, an organization founded by Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau in honor of their father Philippe Cousteau Sr. Jack is a regular guest lecturer on managing coral reefs at the Harvard University Extension School Ocean Environments Course and has lectured on environmental sustainability of coral reefs around the world. He is a PADI Master Instructor, NAUI Instructor, SDI/TDI Instructor Trainer and an SSI Referral Instructor.

White, Berkley

Berkley White’s passion for the ocean and diving led him to establish Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo in 1994. Backscatter has grown to be one of the largest underwater photographic equipment suppliers in the world with two locations in the US and is a great resource for technical support related to underwater imaging. Berkley’s images and technical articles are published in US and international dive magazines and he regularly serves as a photographic judge or technical editor on publications. Berkley runs a full schedule of exotic underwater photo safaris each year and training events such as the Digital Shootout. His portfolio and presentation schedule can be found at www.backscatter.com.

Rotman, Jeff

Jeff Rotman is one of the world’s leading u/w photographers. Born in Boston in 1949, he learned to dive and began shooting underwater more than 30 years ago in the north Atlantic. Relentless in his pursuit of perfection, he combines an artist’s eye with a naturalist knowledge of his subjects. The result is a unique and inimitable assortment of images that blur the lines between art and science. A recent review of his work noted, “Among fellow photographers, naturalists and divers, Jeffrey Rotman is widely regarded with awe, so difficult is his specialty, so great is his mastery of it.” His work has been featured on television and in books and magazines worldwide, including Life, Time, Smithsonian, Natural History, National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Geo and La Figaro. Jeff is also the author of sixteen successful books. Among recent honors, Jeff was recognized as the BBC Underwater Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Danielle Alary – Michel Gilbert

Award-winning, lecturers, photography and multimedia producers, Michel and Danielle have been “at sea” for over 25 years. Authors of more than 900 articles related to diving, travel and sailing, they are underwater photography columnists for Diver and En Profondeur (Into the Depths) magazines. Danielle and Michel were honored during the 37th edition of Our World Underwater in Chicago in 2007, in recognition for their contribution to the diving community and to the show for many years.

 

Foley, Brendan

Cr. Brendan Foley is an underwater archaeologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Deep Submergence Laboratory. He also teaches at MIT. For the past several years, he has been working in Greece, Sweden, Italy, and the Black Sea.

Munro, Mark

Since 1988, Mark Munro has been actively diving on or searching for New England Shipwreck. Instilled with a passion for discovering previously unknown shipwrecks, he has sought out and located many using Side Scan Sonar and Magnetometers.

Stayer, Jim & Pat

For 38 years Jim & Pat Stayer have been diving in the Great Lakes and around the world. Pat is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame and Jim is a Licensed Captain for 29 year. They have co-authored three books and produced 26 DVDs and their footage has appeared on several major networks.

Roller, DJ

Cinematographer DJ Roller is home-based in Atlanta, GA, but his work with his company Liquid Pictures keeps him busy traveling around the globe just about year round. He has been diving for over twenty years, and has logged over 5,000 dives. DJ has traveled to all seven continents for clients ranging from NOVA to Discovery Channel, from National Geographic to PBS/Nature. Shooting outdoors and underwater in nearly all formats of film and high-definition video, Roller has trekked through the mountains of Patagonia, dove miles into massive underwater cave systems, and explored beneath the ice of Antarctica. He’s filmed the Monitor off NC, the wrecks of Pearl Harbor, episodes of Deep Sea Detectives around the world, and several Eco-Challenge programs for Discovery in Argentina, Morocco, and Australia. Liquid Pictures is one of the most experienced production companies currently working in 3D films and television, producing and collaborating on projects for many of the world’s leading media companies.The proprietary 4K 3D Digital Cinema Camera System that DJ and his partner recently developed is the world’s first all-in-one 3D system, uniquely built with an unprecedented range of acquisition options, capable of shooting in any environment: studio, location, and underwater.Built with beam splitter technology and a highly advanced housing, this ground breaking system is the first to capture 3D macro cinematography above or underwater, removing old barriers to bringing the most ambitious cinematic visions to the screen. In short, it can capture the grandest vista in Antarctica, action sequences on a Hollywood set, or a fingernail-sized creature at the bottom of the ocean. DJ has contributed to several landmark 3D films, including Ghosts of the Abyss 3D, U2 3D, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Wild Ocean 3D. He has been able to arrange a special showing of Wild Ocean 3D in conjunction with this film festival,and as an added bonus, he’s going to be sharing an intro to his latest 3D IMAX project, yet to be released.

Skiles, Wes

Wes Skiles has a wealth of exploration, photography and cinematography credits to his name.His work has spanned the globe, from the world’s deepest caves, to the largest glacier everrecorded, and from the deep ocean depths of the Pacific Northwest, to the wilds of the AfricanSavanah. His photos have been published in National Geographic, Scientific American, andhundreds of other publications. Scanning the television, views will find his work on all the majornetworks, as well as Discovery, and A&E. As an expedition cameraman, Skiles specializes incapturing images of people and wildlife on the edge of extreme frontiers. His visual imageryprovides the viewer with an intimate understanding and unique perspective of his subjects.Skiles works on assignment as a freelance photographer for National Geographic magazine.His work has also been featured in Outside and numerous diving publications. Skiles is equallyskilled in the art of telling stories though moving pictures. He has produced, directed, andfilmed over a hundred television films, many of which have won international awards and acclaim.As a native Floridian, Wes was one of the first humans to explore, map, and documentmany of North Florida’s most treasured springs. Over his lifetime he has explored over 300,000feet of previously unexplored passages within the Florida Aquifer. These unique experiencesexploring the state’s drinking water, combined with a deep love for his native state, have drivenhim to be one of the most vocal advocates for preserving and protecting Florida’s preciouswater resources. Wes has worked on challenging IMAX productions, and was the Director ofUnderwater Photography for the MacGilliveray/Freeman production “Journey Into AmazingCaves”. A partial list if his film and video credits include: Producer & Director of Photographywith the PBS television series New Explorers, winning eight awards in seven years; Producer,Director, Writer and Cameraman for the one hour adventure education special Ocean Spirit;producer, writer and cameraman for A&E’s “New Explorers, Polluting the Fountain of Youth”.Last year, he was Director of Photography for PBS’s Time Warp, where he and his team tackledthe formidable task of lighting and capturing images filmed at speeds up to 250,000 frames persecond! One of his most recent projects saw him filming blue hole caves in the Bahamas forWGBH’s “Extreme Cave Diving”, a project that follows a fearless team of scientists as theyventure into blue holes—underwater caves that formed during the last ice age, when sea levelwas nearly 400 feet below what it is today.

Scoones, Peter

Peter Scoones is a legend in the rarified world of underwater cinematographers. An Emmyaward winning underwater photographer (The Great White Shark and Blue Planet) and a threetimewinner of the Palm D’or at the Antibes Film Festival, Peter’s incredible career as an underwaterphotographer, film maker, and equipment designer began when he learned to dive offSingapore while serving in the Royal Air Force. He maintains that his first dive in 1959 was hisbest, and it inspired him to construct both his own aqua lungs and his first underwater housing.His first feature film “Breathless Moments” won a gold medal at the first Brighton Film Festivalin 1965 and shortly thereafter, he and Colin Doeg cofounded the renowned British Society ofUnderwater Photographers. Building on his rare ability to both visualize the images he wants toshare and construct the technology to make those images, Peter co-founded a production companyand developed low-light inspection cameras for the offshore oil industry. This experiencebrought him a “knock on the door” from Sir David Attenborough who wanted for the first time tofilm a live coelacanth in the deep waters off Comoros Island for the BBCs ‘Life on Earth’ series.Since then, Peter and his partner Georgette Douwma have worked extensively with the BBCNatural History Unit, making both the images and the equipment for films such as ‘Antarctica:Life in the Freezer’, ‘The Great White Shark’, and‘Blue Planet’. He also developed the HDsystems used for ‘Planet Earth’, ‘Galapagos’, and ‘Life’. Fifty-one years after that first dive in theFar East, Peter retains his passion for diving and film-making and is actively pursuing newprojects in the Red Sea, Maldives, and Indonesia. We’re honored to have him join us in one ofhis rare U.S. appearances, and we are fortunate that his schedule permitted him a brief breakfrom his demanding film projects.

Earle, Sylvia

Dr. Sylvia Earle has been at the frontier of deep ocean exploration for four decades. She hasled more than 70 expeditions worldwide, involving more than 6,000 hours underwater. As captainof the first all-female team to live underwater in the Tektite Project in 1970, she and herfellow scientists received a ticker-tape parade and White House reception upon their return tothe surface. In 1979, Sylvia Earle walked untethered on the sea floor at 1250’, a deeper depththan any other woman before or since. She also holds the women’s record for a solo dive in adeep submersible (3280 feet, 1000m). At the bottom, she detached from the vessel and exploredthe depths for two and a half hours with only a communication line connecting her to thesubmersible, and nothing at all connecting her to the world above. In the ‘80s she started thecompanies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies with engineer GrahamHawkes to design and build undersea vehicles that allow scientists to work at previously inaccessibledepths. In the early 1990s, Dr. Earle served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographicand Atmospheric Administration. Sylvia is president of Deep Search International andchair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. Shehas a B.S. from Florida State University, an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Duke University, and 15honorary degrees. She has authored more than 150 scientific, technical, and popular publications,lectured in more than 60 countries, and appeared in hundreds of television productions.Earle is the author of many books on the ocean, including Sea Change: A Message of theOceans and, most recently, Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas. At present she is explorer-in-residenceat the National Geographic Society, and she most recently won a TED award, and has planneda global summit in Galapogos Island to address concerns most dear to her heart. Sylvia Earleis a dedicated advocate for the world’s oceans and the creatures that live in them. Her voicespeaks with wonder and amazement at the glory of the oceans and with urgency to awaken thepublic from its ignorance about the role the oceans plays in all of our lives and the importance ofmaintaining their health. “We’ve got to somehow stabilize our connection to nature so that in 50years from now, 500 years, 5,000 years from now there will still be a wild system and respect forwhat it takes to sustain us.”

Gordon, Ethan

Ethan has worked as a photojournalist in the dive industry since 1996. His photography and writing have appeared internationally in numerous magazines and books, including: National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Sport Diver, Scuba Diving, Skin Diver, Fathoms, Saltwater Sportsman, and Sport Fishing to name a few.