David Doubilet

The underwater photographer’s new book showcases his stunning ‘half and half’ images. Steve Fairclough dives in…

Underwater photographer

As his new book Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea is released, we catch up with David to find out more about his career and creative vision, on

For 50 years, the cameras and lenses of David Doubilet have been trained on an underwater world that covers approximately 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. In 1971, he joined the National Geographic ranks, with an assignment to shoot garden eels in Israel. Since then his groundbreaking underwater work has been published in 75 National Geographic stories, as well as in 12 books.

A collection of Doubilet’s work features in the new Phaidon book TwoWorlds:AboveandBelowtheSea. It includes over 60 of Doubilet’s signature ‘half and half’ images, where the bottom part of the images are shot below the water level, while the top parts of them show what’s happening on or above the oceans.

Digital Camera caught up with David Doubilet via Zoom at his home in Clayton, New York, to discuss TwoWorlds, his career, and the major changes he has encountered during half a century of shooting.

What drove your initial interest in photography?

I wanted to be a diver first. For a short period I spearfished, and was not comfortable killing beautiful creatures. I was interested in, and moved on to dreaming about, making pictures. My father helped me build a housing out of an anaesthesiologist bag from his hospital. It made pictures that you could almost tell what they were… almost!

What motivated you to start shooting in the sea?

I had asthma, and hated sports that other kids loved. I went to summer camp in the Adirondacks

Above: Chinstrap and gentoo penguins. Danco Island, Antarctica, 2011. David Doubilet says: “Both species feed on declining populations of shrimp-like krill, but the gentoo have adapted to a more diverse diet, allowing their numbers to expand as chinstrap densities decline.”