David Fleetham is one of the most published underwater photographers in the world. He began diving and photographing underwater in 1976. For the first ten years he photographed in the cold, but rich waters of British Columbia, Canada from Seattle to the Queen Charlotte Islands. In Hawaii from 1986 to 2024, he worked as a PADI Instructor and USCG Certified boat captain in various dive businesses. In 2024 he joined his life partner, Jennifer Ross in Guam where they live. When not traveling they explore the reefs of Guam with the Micronesian Divers Association.

David has been on assignments to, Indonesia, The Galapagos Islands, South Africa, The Bahamas, The Philippines, Micronesia, Australia, Sri Lanka, the Sea of Cortez, China, the Red Sea, the Socorro Islands, numerous locations in the South Pacific and Caribbean, and back to the cold waters of British Columbia.

David’s photographs have been published around the globe, with over two hundred magazine covers to date. In 1991 his photograph of a sandbar shark appeared on the cover of LIFE. It is the only underwater image to ever be published on the cover. His award winning work has been published by National Geographic (he has done several assignments for The NGS), The BBC, The World Wildlife Fund, The Cousteau Society, and every North American diving publication. In 2010 David’s image of a manatee was selected from 50,000 entries as the grand prizewinner in the professional division of the National Wildlife Federation’s photography contest. He again received the grand prize in the 2021 Colorado Environmental Film Festival Photo Contest. In 2024 his image of a green sea turtle was published by the USPS in a group of stamps to encourage conservation.

David has given classes on underwater photography techniques and digital editing with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop at various events and on live-aboard vessels around the world including Bonaire, Indonesia, The Philippines, Yap and Guam Micronesia and Hawaii. He was a guest speaker at ADIM 2016 an Adobe live event in Adobe headquarters in San Jose, CA. USA.

David has done product shots and worked with many diving manufacturers including Oceanic, Bare, Zeagle, Ikelite, Stahlsac, Suunto, Atomic and Hollis. He is an ambassador for both Ikelite and Huish Outdoors. Galleries and agents in over 50 countries reproduce David’s images thousands and thousands of times each year. The American Museum of Natural History, The Smithsonian Museum, The North Carolina Museum of Natural History, The National Museum of Qatar, The London Zoo, Hong Kong Museum, The Maui Ocean Center, The Waikiki, Vancouver, Monterey Bay, New Jersey State, Ripley’s and the Aquarium of the Americas all display his work.

David is a founding member of The Ocean Artists Society, who’s members include James Cameron, Wyland, David Doubilet and Al Giddings.

David photographs exclusively with Canon EOS Mirrorless Digital camera’s, in Ikelite housings, with twin Ikelite strobes and flies DJI Drones. He edits his images using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

David has been diving the oceans of Yap for years and has been a presenter for our annual MantaFest Photography School & Contest (www.mantafest.com ) numerous times. Some of David’s images from Yap may be seen below and for more information on him and his work, please visit www.davdfleetham.com