Luck Follows Effort: A Conversation with Underwater Pioneer Marty Snyderman

Marty Snyderman is a living bridge between the analog days of underwater filmmaking and the high-tech digital era of today. At 76, he has an Emmy, a legacy of shark research, and enough stories to fill a dozen logbooks. I sat down with him to discuss his unorthodox start, his close friendship with Howard Hall, and why he’s still a self-proclaimed "animal geek".

Inside Scuba: Marty, you grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas—not exactly a scuba mecca. What was the "spark" for you?

Marty Snyderman: It was The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and Sea Hunt. I was a kid in the 60s, and that show was the accelerant on a spark my Uncle Herb had already started by taking me hunting and fishing. But the real "click" happened at Vanderbilt. I was a history major, hating college, when Stan Waterman came to speak. I was so mesmerized that when he left, I unceremoniously jumped into a cab (uninvited) with a bunch of university administrators to dine with Stan that night. I had the brains of a dinosaur and guts of cat burglar that got me to that dinner. I didn’t have a dime, but I sat there listening to his stories at dinner. That night I realized you didn't need a French Navy ship [referring to Jacques Cousteau]; you could just be a guy with a camera.

IS: Your professional start sounds like something out of a movie—specifically a prison movie?

Marty: [Laughs] Yeah, the Ensenada incident. I was at the NASDS Diving Instructors College in San Diego. During our final week of training in Mexico, the permits got messed up, and the whole class spent a week in a Mexican jail. Somehow, I still graduated first in my class. But get this: I had only done 27 scuba dives in my life at that point. One week later, I was working as an "instructor evaluator." I was sleeping in my car at night and pretending to be a pro by day.

IS: How did you land at the legendary Diving Locker with Chuck Nicklin?

Marty: I was flat broke and desperately needed a job. I was offered a job in Mobile, Alabama but I really wanted a job at the Diving Locker because it had a reputation for being a leader in underwater filmmaking. Lou Fead, who wrote Easy Diver and was a highly regarded educator in the diving world, hired me. At the time, the Diving Locker was the epicenter. Chuck was shooting for National Geographic and Hollywood films. To work there, I had to audit a class first. The instructor I was assigned to shadow? A young guy named Howard Hall.

IS: You and Howard became a legendary duo. How did that partnership start?

Marty: Our first "bonding" moment was a midnight dive at La Jolla Cove after a scuba class. We swam a half-mile out to a buoy and dropped to 160 feet. When we got out, Howard asked how I liked it. I told him “I didn’t know you could see that far at night” to which he responded “how many night dives have you made” to which I replied “one now!” He just shook his head. From there, we were inseparable.

Inside Scuba: You and Howard Hall weren’t just diving together; you were essentially pioneering open-ocean shark photography off San Diego. Tell me about those first "home movies."

Marty: Diving in the open ocean was really was unknown back then; very few people were diving in the open sea. Howard and I would get the same days off from the Diving Locker (along with a diving buddy named Larry Cochrane), and we’d head out 10-20 miles off-shore, stop the boat and see what there was to see. We realized that its a big ocean and big animals don’t just swim up to your boat and hang out, so we started baiting which changed the game. We began attracting big numbers of blue sharks and mako sharks. We weren't just "taking pictures"; we were experimenting. We actually built our own shark cages and eventually learned that we could swim outside of the cage with the help of a safety diver. Years later we were among the first to test out the "Neptunic" chainmail suits invented by Jeremiah Sullivan and Ron and Valerie Taylor which allowed us to work outside the cage safely without a safety diver. This saved us money and made us less intrusive.

At the time, we were just three guys with a Super 8mm film camera. We’d chum them up, get in the water, and film the action just for the pure fun of it. We didn't have a budget or a contract; we just had a fascination with these animals that everyone else was terrified of. We made a little "home movie" of our encounters—nothing fancy, just raw footage of us in the water with these predators.

IS: How did that Super 8 movie lead to a seat at the table with your hero, Stan Waterman?

Marty: It was one of those "luck follows effort" moments. Howard had worked as a shark wrangler on the Hollywood film The Deep, so he had a connection to Stan. Around that same time, Stan had been hired by Survival Anglia Ltd. to produce a primetime television special about sharks.

The story goes that Stan was running low on funds and was struggling to fill his storyboards with fresh, exciting concepts. He needed something new. Howard showed him our Super 8 shark film, and Stan was impressed. He saw these kids from San Diego getting footage of blue sharks and makos that nobody else was getting.

That was the turning point. One day I was behind the counter at the Diving Locker selling snorkels, and the next, I was being hired for a primetime television gig. That break set me on a path that eventually led to me being a cameraman and producer for roughly 20 episodes of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. It all started because we decided to take a small camera and some "what if" curiosity into the water.

IS: …and you eventually won an Emmy for Expedition Earth.

Marty: Yes, I was a cinematographer on a film at Cocos Island with Stan Waterman and Peter Benchley. I actually gave the Emmy to my mother.

IS: It sounds like that moment brought your journey full circle—from the kid jumping into Stan's taxi at Vanderbilt to actually working for him.

Marty: It really did. And it taught me that you have to have something to say. We had something unique to show the world about sharks, and we knocked on the right doors until someone listened. That’s why I tell young shooters today: don't just do what everyone else is doing. Tell your story and film it in a way no one has seen before.

IS: You often tell students that you don’t "take" pictures, you "make" them. What do you mean by that?

Marty: Professional photographers don't just swim around looking for anything with gills to snap. You research. You talk to scientists and dive guides to find a "target image". You decide the purpose of the dive before you get in. If you just click away, you don't really know the photograph you made.

IS: Dive Training magazine was your home for over 20 years, but that chapter has closed. Where is your focus now?

Marty: Dive Training was family, but as things change, you move on. These days, I’m the Photography Ambassador for Atlantis Dive Resorts and Liveaboards in the Philippines. I spend my time at their resorts in Puerto Galera and Dumaguete, leading groups and help represent us in the United States.

IS: The industry has changed so much with digital gear and AI. What’s your advice for a young person starting today?

Marty: You have to be entrepreneurial. Don't see yourself as a "freelance" person bouncing from job to job; see yourself as an entity. Your work has value—don't give it away. I’d also suggest getting a science background or some educational specialty. Today, you need that "card" to open doors that used to open just with a good shark photo.

IS: Looking back, how do you want to be remembered?

Marty: I just stand on the shoulders of giants like Stan and Jack McKenney. The only way to repay them is to pay it forward to young people who are starting on their own path. Luck follows effort, and I’ve been extraordinarily fortunate to spend my life in the ocean.