Scott Cormack Photography

Scott Cormack Biography

My passion for photography developed much later in life than most photographers I know.  It wasn't until I began scuba diving at the age of 36 that my interests in photography became impassioned.

I began capturing underwater images with digital video so that I could share the underwater world with my topside friends and family. I moved to digital photography in 2006. In underwater photography, the photographer faces challenges unique to this environment where buoyancy, breathing control, and managing strong currents and surge are essential for ensuring focused images and for ensuring that the aquatic life are not destroyed in the process of capturing an image.  As is true in nature photography, many subjects also tend to be difficult to approach and so new techniques to approach underwater life are required to enable close-up shots.

By far the most challenging aspect of the underwater environment is the lack of ambient light.  Shooting through a column of water not only destroys image quality, but lighting the image can be extremely challenging. Imagine a topside world that was virtually dark and all you had to capture your images was a flashlight and flash. I continuously strive to capture compelling images in the most trying lighting conditions that are inherent to the dark waters of British Columbia. To do this, I shoot all of my images, underwater and topside, by manually controlling all aspects of my camera to balance the available ambient light with strobe light and positioning to best capture the depth of field, perception of motion and generally create the mood for each image.

On my website I share with you an array of animal life, geometric shapes and the shear wonder of the oceans through my underwater gallery. Also available on the website are my wildlife, flowers, landscape, artist's and portrait galleries.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the images!

Scott Cormack