About
Hi, I’m James
Underwater photographer, tour guide, marine biologist and overall shark nerd — sharing the ocean the way I see it.
I’ve been falling for the sea for about 23 years now. My mum first took me out on a boat when I was five, and somewhere between my dad’s little boat on the river and half a year sailing the coasts of Spain and Portugal as a kid — dolphins riding the bow, and a first shark I was probably too young to recognise — the ocean got under my skin and never left.
How I ended up in the water
That fascination, sharks especially, carried me through a degree in marine vertebrate zoology and then properly out into the water. I trained up through my PADI tickets all the way to divemaster in Exmouth, on Australia’s Ningaloo Coast — the turning point — and spent a season as a deckhand and dive guide on the whale shark boats, seeing sharks, orcas and manta rays almost every day. It’s also where I met Sara, my partner in crime.
Picking up a camera
Photography came about because, well, scuba diving wasn’t expensive enough. I started with a little Olympus TG-6 that I’ve dropped more times than I can count, and worked my way up to a Canon R10 in an Ikelite housing. I’m still learning on the job — and honestly, some of my favourite shots aren’t my best ones technically. They’re the ones from the first time I ever saw something. That’s really why I do this: to hold onto those moments and share them with the people I care about.
Where I am now
Right now I’m home, guiding for a small boat-tour company in Northern Ireland and photographing puffins, seals and dolphins from the shore. It’s a little too chilly to get in at the moment — I’ll admit I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to cold water. But if a basking shark turns up this year, I’ll be over the side with a GoPro between my teeth before I’ve even finished pulling my mask on.
Where this is heading
The plan is simple: put some good back into the ocean. I want to keep building this into something that works alongside ocean charities, supports real shark science, and one day becomes a charity of my own. Chasing profit on its own was never going to make the world better — so this is me trying to do it a little differently.