Hello and welcome to my website.   Thanks for looking and I hope that you enjoy it.   Multi award-winning underwater photographer and award-winning author, Maria Munn is the first person in the world to design tailor-made, underwater photography courses for all makes of compact cameras.   Since launching PADI's Digital Underwater Photography Speciality at the London Dive Show in March 2006,  she is the leader in teaching underwater photography using these cameras. Thousands of guests have seen a complete transformation of their photographs in just a few hours.  Many have gone on to be published and are journalists in their own right.   Maria's own achievements in the past few years have been phenomenal.  Her own work has been featured in 18 publications in the last five years including Mexico, Costa Rica and has even appeared on TV in Chile, South America.  She has a Licenciateship with the Royal Photographic Society, won BSAC's Travel Photographer of the Year 2008 and has won a Bronze Medal with Underwater Photography's Annual Competition as well as being a Runner-Up this year.   She has written articles for The Sunday Times, Underwater Photography Magazine, Amateur Photographer, Travellers Tales as well as Wanderlust and is currently a regular contributor for Blue, the magazine of Egypt's Chamber Diving and Watersports Assocation and Sport Diver UK.  She has also contributed to DivePhotoGuide.  She also wrote, produced and published the first book completely dedicated to getting the most out of your compact camera underwater which has just won DIVER Magazine's "Book of the Year 2010". Furthermore, her guests have gone on to win wonderful prizes, two have been published in Sport Diver, another was a finalist in BSAC's Travel Photographer of the Year in 2008, one has won an international competition in Bonaire and another is a journalist with Diver Magazine.  She was really proud to have helped Daniel Norwood to scoop Sport Diver's Photo of the Month and the prestigous British Society of Underwater Photographer's Best Beginner Award in 2009 after attending a one day course. As well as being an inspirational underwater photography teacher, Maria has a keen interest in conservation, setting up a reef environmental foundation in Mexico, launching shark conservation campaigns and giving talks to raise money for charities including The Shark Trust and The Scuba Trust.

Story Behind the Smile

 

Before and After Shots. Turtle Looking Rather Blue! Turtle with Lots of Colours!

So what is my background?

I was inspired to dive after watching a programme (in hopsital recovering from being hit by a lorry and suffering 15 fractures to everywhere) called the Aquanauts following whale sharks in Honduras with the Shark Research Institute.  A chance encounter with the BBC's Natural History Unit whilst studying Blue Whales at Monterey Bay, California, led to me being invited to film the whales with them and an invitation to go to South Africa with one of the team to photograph and learn about the shark population in Aliwal Shoal with Mark Addison.  It was in Sodwana Bay that I finally got certified and the real underwater adventure was about to begin.

Everyone with an underwater camera had a large SLR camera to take their photos, and although I dreamed of having this one day, there was no way that I could afford it and backpacked around the world with just a Sony Cybershot, a Red Filter and a Sea & Sea Wide Angle Lens to capture my underwater memories to share with local children as to how to protect our sharks, whales and dolphins back in 2001.

Whilst in the Pacific side of Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, I decided to set up the first ever dedicated Reef Environmental Education Foundation Field Station in not just Mexico, but in Latin America.  It was a complete success and it was great to get the American and Canadian Visitors there interested in learning about the protected sanctuary of the Marietas Islands there as well as begin to photo id the manta ray population.  Sadly, I had to come back in 2004 and handed over the project to another dive centre to take over.  There are so many beautiful ocean encounters to be had on the Pacific Side of Latin America and indeed my travels took me to the Galapagos, Costa Rica and Guadelupe Island off Mexico as well as my beloved second home of the Sea of Cortez.

I came back to England in April 2005 and started designing the courses the same year.  I had a collection of wonderful underwater photographs with my beloved Sony and Olympus Compacts and was so happy with them.  I felt the need to open up the world of underwater photography to anyone who had a compact camera and to show them that they too, could take wonderful photographs.

I linked up with PADI and launched the first ever PADI Underwater Photo Digital Speciality with the great team of Emperor Divers in February 2006 and the guests came back with absolutely amazing shots.  Even Martin Edge said that he was flabberghasted at the results these compacts could give.  The first courses were launched five years ago and guests are going on to be published in magazines, win prizes worldwide and all email me constantly or text me to tell me how well they are doing. 

 

My work has been featured in the UK's Professional Photographer, Mexico, Costa Rica, the front cover of the Royal Photographic Society, the Traveller's Handbook, Sport Diver UK, H2O magazine, Women's Magazine Real, Outdoor Enthusiast, Wanderlust, Diver Magazine, the Bromley Times, Newsshopper, The Guide and Underwater Photography Magazine. I have also launched shark conservation campaigns with The Shark Trust with the late Peter Benchley as well as John Prescott and have been voted as Extraordinary Person by my local paper, the Kentish Times in Bromley, Kent. I am a member and sponsor of the British Society of Underwater Photographers and received a Distinction for my underwater photographic work with both compacts and SLR systems last year.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I do hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them and I look forward to hearing about your very own photographic adventures very soon.

A special thanks to all the numerous guests who I have met on my journey over the past 8 years and look forward to helping you with your underwater adventures very soon.

Very Best Fishes,

Maria