Articles

By Joseph Tepper

Growing up in the far north of Wisconsin, Brandi Mueller found her passion for diving the ocean’s furthest reaches rather hard to explain to family and friends.

Brandi’s obsession with the sea began at age 15 when she explored diving for the first time as an exchange student in New Zealand, and culminated when she became an instructor at age 21 after studying seagrass in Florida. She picked up a point-and-shoot waterproof camera to show the folks back in Wisconsin just what exactly she was doing underwater. 

Unlike the super-steep learning curve experienced by most underwater shooters, Brandi found herself in an incredible learning environment—working as an instructor on the Kona Aggressor with the access to some of the best diving in the world. She would eventually work her way up to being the liveaboard’s photo-pro, and along the way has garnered international awards and being published in countless magazines. 

But beyond the awards and clips, Brandi is a traveler at heart: She has visited 50 countries, diving in 26 of them. We are proud to present her photography from some of those 26 countries and look forward to the next 26. 

Anemonefish in Papua New Guinea

Emperor angelfish on the deck of the Giannis D wreck, Red Sea

Nudibranch, Papua New Guinea

Juvenile catfish, Lembeh, Indonesia

Helfrich’s Dartfish, Marshall Islands

Mantas, Kona, Hawaii

Moorish Idol on the deck of the Fujikawa Maru, Truk Lagoon

Anthia, Red Sea

Young fisherman with his dug-out canoe, Lake Malawi

Pygmy seahorse, Papua New Guinea

Jellyfish Lake, Palau