Inside Scuba Issue #54

AuthorAuthor

Andy Deitsch & Byron Conroy
February 22, 2026

Welcome to Issue #54 of Inside Scuba

Welcome to Issue #54 of Inside Scuba! We have a packed edition for you this week. We’re thrilled to feature an exclusive interview with Emmy-winning cinematographer Cristian Dimitrius, who shares his journey from feeding sharks in the Bahamas to filming for National Geographic. If you’ve ever wondered how to turn your own underwater adventures into published stories, don't miss our article on the "storyteller’s mindset." Plus, we tackle one of the oldest technical arguments in the book: the TTL vs. Manual debate, with insights from Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan. Grab a coffee, settle in, and let’s dive into the latest from the blue.

What’s happening in this edition?

Chasing Nature: An Interview with Emmy-Winning Cinematographer Cristian Dimitrius

Photo courtesy of Cristian Dimitrius.

From Brazil to Hollywood: The Early Years

Inside Scuba: Let’s start at the beginning. Did you find photography through diving, or was it the other way around?

Cristian Dimitrius: It actually started with nature itself. Even as a young kid in Brazil, I was always in the mountains, rivers, or at the beach. While my friends were playing sports, I was hiking and camping. I discovered diving as a teenager and was immediately inspired by documentaries from people like Jacques Cousteau and Howard Hall.

I eventually studied biology and became a dive instructor, working across Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and The Bahamas. My first foray into filming was actually shooting my students and clients during their dives so they could take the memory home. It was always a way to share my passion for nature.

Inside Scuba: You spent a significant amount of time in The Bahamas. How did that lead to working on major film productions?

Cristian Dimitrius: I spent three years at Stuart Cove’s in The Bahamas, where I did everything—I was a boat captain, a shark feeder, an instructor, and a cinematographer. Stuart worked on a lot of big films, including James Bond movies. That gave me the opportunity to work as a safety diver and assistant on Hollywood sets, which opened my eyes to the world of professional filming and documentaries.

In each issue of our newsletter, we will curate some top dive news from around the world. Links to each of the original articles are available.

Divernet: “Tiger shark bit Backscatter owner White by mistake. A scuba diver working at the Nassau Grouper Spawning Aggregation site off Little Cayman after sunset on 6 February was bitten on the thigh by a juvenile tiger shark – in an incident that the Cayman Islands’ government was quick to declare a mistake on the shark’s part. The diver was later named by the Cayman Compass as Berkley White, a California-based underwater photographer who had been recording grouper activity using a video camera mounted on his DPV when the encounter occurred. The Department of Environment (DoE) said that he was working at the site as part of its partner research team.”

Dive Magazine: “Student diver dies during training dive in Golfo Nuevo, Argentina. Argentine authorities have recovered the body of a 23-year-old diver who went missing during a training dive at an artificial reef off Puerto Madryn in southern Argentina. Sofía Devries, from Villa Ballester in Buenos Aires province, went missing on 16 February 2026 while diving at the Parque Submarino Hu Shun Yu 809 in Golfo Nuevo, off the coast of Puerto Madryn. The dive site is a former Chinese fishing vessel deliberately sunk in 2017 as an artificial reef. The wreck lies approximately 900m offshore at a depth between 30 and 34 metres, depending on tide, and is regularly used for ‘advanced’ level training dives.”

Divernet: “Elderly scuba instructor sexually assaulted teenage trainees. An 85-year-old man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two girls aged 13 and 16 while working as a scuba-diving instructor at a training pool, though because of his medical condition he has avoided facing a punitive sentence.”

Mote Marine Research Lab: “Breakthrough for Fishers & Sharks: Mote Marine Laboratory Researchers Demonstrate Shark Deterrent Success. Mote Marine Laboratory scientists have published new research demonstrating that an electronic pulse device (EPD) can effectively deter and delay sharks from taking fish off fishing lines — a breakthrough that could help reduce shark depredation, the loss of catch or gear to marine animal encounters.”

Divernet: “World’s rarest sea turtles get hearing tested. Kemp’s ridley turtles might not understand why scientists are so keen to test their hearing, but they might benefit from the experience over time. The sea turtle species is among the most endangered on Earth, living mainly on the eastern and Gulf coasts of North America alongside some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.“

Deeper Blue: “Second North Atlantic Right Whale In 2 Weeks Found Dead Off US East Coast. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated the whale was discovered on a remote barrier island off the state of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. This whale was identified as a 3-year-old female and the calf of “Porcia” (#3293).”

Dive Magazine: “First ever recording of shark in Antarctic waters. Researchers from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre have captured what appears to be the first confirmed footage of a shark in Antarctic waters. The sighting was made at a depth of approximately 490 metres (1,608ft) by a baited deep-sea camera in a January 2025 expedition to the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula.”

Divernet: “Brazilian divers ID shipwreck as U-boat victim Tutoya. World War Two U-boat victim the British-built merchant ship Tutoya has been identified south of São Paulo by diver-researchers belonging to the Shipwrecks in Brazil group. The vessel, which was torpedoed by U‑513 on the night of 1 July, 1943, lies broken in two off the town of Iguape. Built in 1913 as the Mitcham by William Dobson & Co in Newcastle, the 67m steel-hulled cargo ship was powered by twin triple-expansion steam engines.”

Dive Magazine: “Argentina’s deep sea revealed as biodiversity hotspot after landmark expedition. Adeep-sea research expedition led by Argentine researchers aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) has found that the waters off Argentina support far richer and more complex ecosystems than previously thought.”

USA Today: “Luxury steamer sank in Lake Michigan 153 years ago. It was just found. One of the most popular and luxurious passenger steamers of its day has been found in Lake Michigan's deep waters, searchers announced last week, more than 150 years after it sank stern-first about 20 miles off Racine, Wisconsin. Lac La Belle, originally registered in Cleveland but later moved to Milwaukee for its home port, carried 53 passengers and crew when it encountered a fierce storm in mid-October 1872. Eight people died. The ship was discovered by Paul Ehorn, an Elgin, Illinois, shipwreck hunter who has found several wrecks, most notably the SS Senator, which he located in 2005. The steel-hulled freighter sank off Port Washington, taking nine lives and 268 Nash automobiles on Halloween 1929.”

Divernet: “Clough & Carruthers: Divers nail two more Lakes wrecks. David VanZandt died in June 2024 while scuba diving to identify a newly discovered Lake Erie wreck, and now the formal confirmation that it was the 19th-century bark 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 has been made in tribute to the diver’s dedication to maritime archaeology.”

X-Ray Mag: “Tiger Shark Mating Site Found in Hawaii. After six years of tracking tiger sharks around Hawaii, scientists have identified what appears to be the first known group mating site for the species. The discovery could transform how we understand tiger shark life cycles—and how we protect them.”

Divernet: “Australian cave-divers complete fatality probe. An Australian cave-diver who died last year after becoming separated from his two buddies had fully functioning equipment and the cause of his death remains a mystery, according to a just-completed investigation by the Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA). Gary Gibson, 65, an experienced cave-diver from Victoria, died during an incident in Tank Cave, near Tantanoola in South Australia, in late November, 2025, as reported on Divernet. He was said to have completed as many as 70 previous dives in the system.”

How to Get Your Underwater Photography Published: From Captures to Cover Stories

Getting your work published as an underwater photographer is a milestone that can be incredibly rewarding. While many photographers believe publication is reserved for a small circle of established names, the reality is much more encouraging. Editors are always looking for new voices, new perspectives, and new stories.

The challenge is that strong images alone are not enough. You are not simply submitting photographs; you are presenting ideas, experiences, and narratives that will resonate with readers. Publication becomes far more achievable once you begin to think like a storyteller rather than just a photographer.

My first ever front cover came as a surprise, but meant an awful lot to me

The Missing Link: Why Editors Value Storytelling Over Snapshots

One of the biggest mindset shifts is accepting that being published almost always involves writing. Images may draw attention, but words provide context, emotion, and meaning. Editors need captions, introductions, and complete articles that guide readers through the experience behind the photographs. Writing does not need to be elaborate or overly technical; it needs to be clear, personal, and honest. Readers want to understand what it felt like to be there, what challenges you faced, and why the subject matters. The more comfortable you become at expressing your thoughts, the more valuable you become to publications. A photographer who can deliver both images and text is far easier to commission than one who only submits files without a story attached.

When I got my first assignment, it was not the photography that made me nervous. I had already gained enough confidence to know I could get the shots if the opportunity arose, but writing was a whole new ball game. What I learned, however, is that magazine editors are incredibly good at what they do and highly professional. They can always help fine-tune the text as long as the sentiment is authentic and the story is there. Even today, I still don’t call myself a writer. Instead, I consider myself someone who shares his experiences with others. I write often, but Andy is always the editor of my articles and the one giving my thoughts the finishing touch. Can I write? Sure. Am I a writer? Definitely not.

The TTL Debate: Why We Still Choose Manual (And When You Shouldn’t)

By Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan

In the world of underwater photography, the initials TTL—which stand for "Through-The-Lens"—refer to the camera’s ability to control your strobe output automatically, judging the flash exposure through the lens. While it sounds like a dream for simplifying your photography, as soon as you truly want to nail your pictures in camera, like we (Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan) do, it is just faster and easier not to use it.

How TTL Works: The Pre-Flash Dance

Underwater, TTL doesn't actually happen during the exposure. Instead, it happens in a split second before the shutter fully opens, so fast we photographers cannot discern it:

  1. The Pre-Flash: The camera triggers a weak "test" flash from your strobes.

  2. The Measurement: The camera’s sensor looks through the lens to see how much light is reflected back from the subject.

  3. The Calculation: It calculates the exact power needed and sends a second signal.

  4. The Main Flash: Microseconds later, the strobe fires the "correct" amount of power for the final image.

To make this work, you generally need two things: a TTL-enabled strobe and a specific TTL flash trigger board inside your housing to translate the camera’s signal.

We often talk about "expanding our limits," but cave diving is where those limits are strictly defined by training and discipline. This short documentary follows a seasoned instructor as he becomes a student again, navigating the steep learning curve of cave environments in Mexico.

Beyond the great cinematography, Into Earth offers a transparent look at hazard mitigation and the technical precision required for overhead diving. It’s a masterclass in why we never stop learning—and a reminder of the breathtaking rewards that come with the right preparation.

Summary

That brings us to the end of Issue #54. From the high-end production world of Cristian Dimitrius to the technical nuances of manual strobe control, the common thread this week is intentionality. Whether you are aiming for a magazine cover or simply trying to master your exposure, the best results come from a blend of persistence and a willingness to share your perspective. We hope these insights help you refine your next project.

As always, thank you for being part of the Inside Scuba community. If you found this issue valuable, feel free to forward it to your dive buddy.

See you in the water,

Andy & Byron

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