Photo Essay DEEP Blue

Cary Dean

By Chuck Graham

To say Cary Dean has immersed himself in his photography is an understatement, especially when you take into account his extensive diving experience and the images he captures beneath the sea.

Influenced by the late, great ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, Dean has been diving since 1992, exploring extensively the underwater world of the Channel Islands National Park. Classes in undersea photography followed at Brooks Institute of Photography; he traded in his spear gun a long time ago, and has been hunting with a camera ever since.

“Most of my diving is in search of specific photographic subjects worldwide,” said Dean.

Worldwide indeed. After living and photographing in California, Washington, New Mexico and Colorado, Dean is now based in Asia, moving around Southeast Asia, Japan, Indonesia, the South Pacific and Micronesia. For now he’s shooting stock and working on personal projects in Indonesia, another on sharks and an ongoing project in Santa Barbara.

“My favorite subjects are big animals and the adrenaline rush you get when an animal that could have you for lunch chooses not to,” he continued, “also people and various cultures.”

Dean works with Canon cameras and lenses with focal lengths ranging from 8- to 600-millimeters. For his underwater photography, he uses Subal Underwater Housings, Zen Domeports and Inon Underwater Strobes.

It’s a competitive field out there, and Dean understands the most challenging part of photography is the business side of things. He says the biggest secret in photography is that it’s about 10 percent photography; the other 90 percent is business and locating work.

“The hardest part of being a professional photographer is getting and keeping clients and getting them to pay you in a timely manner,” said Dean. “But I do love what I do.”

To see more of Dean’s photography, go to www.carydeanphoto.com.