Photographer of the Week – Douglas Klug

California’s state fish, the Garibaldi, admiring its reflection in Doug’s dome, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA. This picture was lately awarded within the Underwater Photographer of the Yr 2023

Our newest Photographer of the Week, Douglas Klug, is a scuba teacher, underwater photographer, and diving author primarily based in Santa Barbara, California. Since taking his first underwater breaths on certification dives on the Monterey breakwater over 35 years in the past, Doug has continued to discover California’s waters in addition to many tropical locations. He fell in love with the Channel Islands when he moved to Santa Barbara for school, and a few years later, he has by no means left. His favourite diving vacation spot is Southern California’s Channel Islands, the place he enjoys photographing the majestic kelp forests, curious marine mammals, and tiny, colourful nudibranchs.

Whereas his portfolio right here is essentially centered on the Channel Islands, Doug’s underwater adventures have taken him overseas to quite a few far-flung areas. From the ocean turtles of the Hawaiian Islands and the good white sharks of Guadalupe Island, to the gorgeous partitions of the Cayman Islands, the coral reefs of Fiji, and even the humpback whales of French Polynesia, Doug has photographs from everywhere in the world.

Doug’s picture essays have been revealed in print worldwide, whereas his photographs have been utilized in quite a few print and digital codecs by the likes of the US Nationwide Park Service, US Nationwide Marine Sanctuary, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Google, and Microsoft. You may also see Doug current dwell talks on underwater pictures for dive golf equipment and museums in Southern California. When he’s not taking underwater pictures, Doug remains to be lively as an underwater information for divers not aware of Southern California diving. He additionally nonetheless teaches personal scuba classes, underwater pictures expertise, and even wrote a NAUI certification course for divers on Southern California nudibranch identification. If you wish to take photographs like these, you recognize who to get in contact with!

Hermissenda nudibranch, Monterey Bay, California, USA

A pair of inexperienced sea turtles hanging out within the blue waters of Hawaii, USA

A Garibaldi framed by kelp and solar rays, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA

A charismatic little yellowfin fringehead, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA

Usually fairly shy, this harbor seal got here proper as much as examine the photographer, Anacapa, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA

California sealion trio at play, Santa Barbara Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA

A Garibaldi cruising over the rocky reef, Anacapa Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA

A male orangethroat pikeblenny displaying, Anacapa Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA

A mom humpback and her calf slowly cruise the shallow waters off Moorea, French Polynesia

An oceanic whitetip within the foreground and pilot whales behind, Hawaii, USA

California’s most iconic nudibranch, the Spanish scarf, about to chow down on some hydroids, Anacapa Island, Channel Islands Nationwide Park, California, USA