The "Photo Lama" ~ all work & no play?

Local legends persist in British Columbia about the persuasive powers of the "Photo Lama". As this picture will confirm, he once convinced two lovely woman from aboard Clavella, one of the province's bygone scuba diving liveaboards, to leave their drysuits on the boat and plunge into the 47 degree waters surrounding the Queen Charlotte Islands in their bathing suits! From left to right, Chris Humphries, Jett "Photo Lama" Britnell, Anissa Reed...and a very young Captain John deBoeck (Browning Pass HideAway Lodge) leaning over backwards by the outboard. Cool shades, John.

Diving Pioneers - Hans and Lotte Hass

Dr. Hans Hass is one of the true pioneers of recreational diving and one of the earliest practitioners of underwater still photography and cinematography. Hass acquired a secretary in 1943, a beautiful young girl of seventeen, Lotte Baierl, who soon established herself as an accomplished underwater photographer in her own right. They later married and were inseparable.

Lotte wowed the world more than 50 years ago with her diving exploits alongside husband Hans Hass. "I was originally given a job as his secretary, and I went off and learned to dive secretly," Lotte once explained, "Then, when the opportunity arose, I revealed that I could dive." Together, Hans and Lotte cast the mode for what to this day is the archetypal underwater photographer/model team.

Sport Diver Magazine Cold Water Cover First!

In the April 1996 issue of Sport Diver (USA), I wrote the feature article. The icing on the cake for me was one of my pictures of a female diver with a Giant Pacific Octopus appeared on the cover of the magazine. The editor told me that at the time it was the first cold water diving picture that ever appeared on their magazine's cover. Cool!