Brian Skerry - Ireland 2003

About Brian Skerry

Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in underwater subjects and stories. Since 1998 Brian has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic Magazine covering a wide range of assignments. His images have also been featured in magazines such as People, Sports Illustrated, US News and World Report, National Wildlife, Playboy, Smithsonian, Esquire, Audubon, BBC Wildlife, Outdoor Life, Wildlife Conservation, GEO, Maxim, Men’s Journal and in countless publications worldwide.  Brian is also the Photographic Correspondent for Sport Diver Magazine, which features his monthly column IMAGES. He is the author/photographer of Complete Wreck Diving,A Whale On Her Own – The True Story Of Wilma The Beluga Whale and Successful Underwater Photography (with Howard Hall) and was the principal photographer for Lost Subs. 

Unique within the field of underwater photography is Brian’s ability to pursue subjects of great diversity. His image library includes everything from marlin, tuna and sharks to fleets of deep-water shipwrecks worldwide. Skerry is driven to create images that shed light on a world rarely seen. While on assignment he has lived on the bottom of the sea, spent months aboard fishing boats and traveled in everything from snowmobiles to canoes to helicopters to get the picture. He spends months at a time in the field and in the course of any given year frequently finds himself in environments of extreme contrast from tropical coral reefs to diving beneath Arctic ice.

In addition to his nearly three decades of diving experience, Brian also has the ability to ensure trust among those with whom he works. While shooting a story about Harp Seals, Brian became the first journalist in fifteen years allowed aboard a seal hunting boat. He has been taken to countless secret shipwreck sites by archaeologists and wreck hunters alike and wildlife researchers frequently allow him to document specialized fieldwork. “I often find myself working with people of various cultures and vocations. Gaining their trust is key in being able to make the type of pictures that truly tell a story.” 

An award-winning photographer, Skerry continues to pursue stories that will increase awareness about the sea. “The oceans are in trouble. There are some serious problems out there that I believe are not clear to many people. My hope is to continually find new ways of creating images and stories that both celebrate the sea yet also highlight environmental problems. Photography can be a powerful instrument for change.”

Brian on assignment shooting squid in Venezuela