Featured Underwater Photographer – Stephen Wolborsky

One of the best ways to learn photography is to see other photographers’ work. Mozaik looks for some of the best underwater photographers in the world, and showcase their work, along with the gear they use, to help other aspiring photographers improve, learn new skills and get inspired.

This week we will feature the talented Stephen Wolborsky!

About Stephen

Steve Wolborsky has lived in the US territory of Guam since 2004. A retired member of both the US military and civil service, Steve learned to dive shortly after being assigned to Guam: “I loved it from the first time in the pool and have never looked back.” Thousands of dives and 30+ dive trips later, he is passionate about the ocean, diving, and all things underwater photography.

Steve says, “Like many new divers, I was eager to share the experience with friends and family, so in 2004 I bought a housing for my Canon ‘point and shoot’. I was truly horrible at it, not willing to work to improve my skills, and, after flubbing all my photos on a dream trip to Borneo in 2008, I gave it up as something for which I just had no aptitude. Fast forward to 2013, and my wife encouraged me to buy a better camera setup. I got a Sony RX-100 Mk 1, with a decent housing and two small strobes. And, I started to get some OK results. I upgraded to a Nikon full-frame DSLR (D800 and now D810) in 2015 and set about learning this in earnest.”

While the Nikons are great for wide angle, I particularly like macro/ supermacro, especially finding and imaging nudibranchs. I taught my wife to shoot (and she is better than me at it, by the way), and we are blessed to live in a place where we can dive most days. The three aspects of macro that I enjoy are: 1) the challenge of finding subjects; 2) capturing them in interesting compositions; and 3) processing these into the best possible images.

Steve’s advice to new underwater photographers is to first make sure their dive skills are locked in, things like buoyancy control, underwater navigation, and air consumption. Then, shoot as often as you can. For macro, go (very) slow and remember the elements of a great photo: interesting subject, doing something interesting or in an interesting composition, and captured technically well.