About Me

I learned to scuba dive in the summer of 1991, while still in college, and was certified through the Los Angeles County dive program and the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI).  I immediately fell in love with the the underwater world and took every course I could, all the way through scuba instructor in December 1992.  I started law school in 1993 and taught scuba on evenings and weekends, which I did for many years even after becoming a full-time attorney.  While practicing law and teaching scuba, I continued my training by taking courses and obtaining certifications in many other diving categories, including deep diving, mixed-gas diving, and cave diving.

I first picked up an underwater camera -- a Sea & Sea MX-10 film camera with a strobe built into the handle -- sometime in 1995-1996.  That changed diving for me in a big way because it allowed me to give family and friends a glimpse of what I was seeing beneath the water's surface and why I was so addicted to spending time there.  I wanted to show everyone I knew, especially those who did not dive, what the underwater world had to offer.  

Eventually I graduated to a digital SLR camera in a housing.  My current rig consists of a Nikon D850 in an Aquatica housing with either Sea & Sea YS-D3 strobes and a Nikkor 14-24mm lens (for wide-angle shots) or Backscatter Mini Flash 2 strobes, a Nikkor 105mm lens, and an Aquatica double-flip holder for Nauticam MFO-1 and SMC-3 screw-on lenses (for macro shots).  

It's not often that I dive without my camera.  Even when conditions might not be optimal for photography, I take my rig anyway -- because you just never know what you might see!

I've been fortunate enough to dive in lots of places around the world, from British Columbia all the way down to Antarctica.  The majority of my dives have been along the west coast of the Americas (mostly California but also the Socorro Islands in Mexico, Cocos Island in Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador), followed by dives across the Coral Triangle (including Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines).

While I know that I won't be able to practice law forever, I do hope that I will continue to be able to take photos underwater for as long as I'm lucky enough to be diving.  

The underwater world is a special place.  Check it out if you can.  And whether you do or don't, please join me in doing everything we can to take care of it for all the generations to come. 

P.S. My law firm can be found at www.BriggsLawCorp.com.