Articles

Lemon goby in its bottle home, Anilao, Philippines
 

Jim Garber’s passion for photography and the ocean both started early and came from his father. During his summer breaks from college, he was a photographer for the Lancaster Sunday News in Pennsylvania. When he was a teen, Jim and his father built a darkroom in the basement, and his photographic journey began. His dad taught him black-and-white film processing, and Jim spent many hours honing his skills long before the advent of digital photography. His love of the ocean also started at an early age. His family spent summers at the New Jersey shore, where every minute was spent either in or on the ocean. Later, Jim and his wife Deb, another talented photographer, traveled frequently to the Caribbean, and after taking part in a Discover Scuba diving course in Turks and Caicos, they were hooked. They both got dive certified and never looked back.

Jim’s primary focus now is underwater photography, but he still loves black-and-white imagery as well as landscape photography. Having lived close to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania for over 20 years, Jim couldn’t help but also develop a love for flower photography, and he says that shooting flowers has helped his underwater macro photography immensely. In 2014, he retired from a career in banking and in 2020 moved to Jupiter, Florida. The region provides many diverse underwater opportunities, from reefs, to sharks, to blackwater dives, and especially the Blue Heron Bridge provides endless imaging possibilities.

While most of his recent work comes from Florida, Jim has enjoyed diving in Anilao, Raja Ampat, Cozumel and Bonaire. In collaboration with Deb, Jim has had several articles published about diving in southeast Florida, including a recent feature in Alert Diver. The variety and beauty of marine life in our oceans keeps Jim constantly going out to explore and there is always a new story to tell. Each new image encourages him to learn more about our fragile oceans, and Jim doesn’t plan to stop making underwater images anytime soon.
 

Coconut octopus with its shell home, Anilao, Philippines
 

Goliath grouper and photographer, Florida, USA
 

Jellyfish in a freshwater lake, Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
 

Nudibranchs devouring eggs, Anilao, Philippines
 

Yellowhead jawfish, Florida, USA
 

Hawksbill turtle on the reef, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
 

Male banded jawfish mouth-brooding eggs, Florida, USA
 

Mangrove sunbeams, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
 

Striated frogfish, Florida, USA
 

Squid display on a blackwater dive, Florida, USA
 

Raja Ampat reef scene, Indonesia
 

Seaweed blenny smiling from a bottle, Florida, USA
 

Tripodfish during a blackwater dive, Florida, USA
 

For more of Jim’s excellent images, check out his website, www.jimgarberphoto.com, or head over to his Instagram page.