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 Can you imagine the house shape formed by the retracting tentacles of this anemone? Can you hear the anemonefish shouting, “Hey you kids, get off my lawn!” as he pokes his head out the front door?
 

In a DPG first, we’re bringing you a Photographer of the Week in two parts. It’s only fair to split up the dynamic duo of Mike Mesgleski and Mike Haber of the Jim Church School of Digital Underwater Photography. They’re just too much awesome to fit in a single week—seriously, their podcast is as hilarious as it is informative. 

Mike Mesgleski began teaching underwater photography alongside legendary shooter Jim Church back in 1988. After Jim passed away in 2002, Mike teamed up with his fellow Mike (Haber) to continue Jim’s legacy of teaching underwater photography through trips on the Aggressor liveaboards. He and Mike Haber conduct eight workshops on various Aggressors annually.

Such a demanding dive schedule has earned Mike a SSI Platinum Pro certification—joining the inaugurating class of recipients with more than 5,000 lifetime dives. When not teaching or being the world’s best dive model for his students, Mike says he finds the thrill of the hunt more satisfying than the final image.
 

It’s frustrating when a great subject is in a location that’s hard to light the way you normally would. Mike was forced to get creative and light the yellow seahorse from beneath
 

 Mike loves these guys!
 

It’s always nice to get a cooperative turtle as a subject. A little patience and a lot of non-threatening gestures might encourage the turtle to pose in front of a beautiful background
 

Skeleton shrimp are Mike’s self-described “white whale.” He has thousands of pictures of them—most of which are out of focus. “Hey, can you see me? I’m right here,” this shrimp taunts
 

There are times when Mike hears yellow-headed jawfish seemingly talking aloud: “I’m not bad. I was just drawn that way”
 

There is safety in numbers and it makes for a great photo opportunity. These grunts and snappers found refuge on the Sugar Wreck in the Bahamas, which provides a beautifully colored background
 

  When diving, it is always better to look up and see your boat than to look down and see your boat
 

Sharks are cool. But sometimes shark photos look too much alike—shark, blue water, done. Mike prefers to see them in more interesting surroundings, such as this lemon cruising above turtlegrass in the Bahamas
 

Swimming back to the Turks & Caicos Aggressor, Mike happened to look down and see this bristle worm working his way up a fire coral stalk
 

At this point, some photographers would have their head buried in the back of their camera reviewing what they just shot. There is plenty of time for that on the surface. Pay attention to your subject. Sometimes the shot is of the whale shark heading away from you
 

Mike is a model both above and below the waves. Well, mostly below
 

Learn more about Mike Mesgleski’s work and workshops on the Jim Church School of Digital Underwater Photography website.