Matt Oldfield

Matt Oldfield is part of the growing Scubazoo team, based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, and runs the publications side of all things Scubazoo - writing articles, working on books and attempting to sort out the ever-growing collection of images. His passion for the natural world initially led him to study Biology at Oxford University, but after graduating he decided that academia was not for him and started out as a picture researcher for photo agencies in London. But after several years selling other photographer\'s work, the call of the underwater world proved too strong and he left to work as a DM on Sipadan, Sabah, in 1997. There he bought his first housing, met the rest of the Scubazoo crew and the rest is history. Matt\'s work has appeared in magazines such as Dive UK, Asian Diver, FiNS and Scuba Diver Australasia, and he has recently written two books - Scubazoo\'s \'Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai - Sabah\'s Underwater Treasure\' and the forthcoming \'Reef\' to be published in September \'07. All the images in his portfolio are taken from this new book.

The most important things I look for in a dive operator are professionalism, knowledge of the local environment and the flexibility to deal with a photographer\'s needs. I normally travel to a destination with a specific subject in mind so it helps a great deal if the operator and their guides understand that I might end up sitting in the same spot for as many dives as it takes to get the shot I am after. And knowing the local area is incredibly important - there is nothing worse than a guide who can\'t even answer the most basic questions about things like currents and inhabitants. Fortunately, I\'ve been lucky enough to dive with some fantastic operators over the years, ones that are willing to bend over backwards to help you