Mike Veitch

Mike Veitch is a professional underwater photographer/videographer originally from Vancouver, BC, Canada. Not long after graduating from the University of British Columbia, Mike embarked on a long exploration of the SE Asia and Australia. Finding that lifestyle to agree with his cold Canadian blood, he made a permanent move to the tropical Pacific in 1999. Mike has a broad library of images of many of the Pacific regions from the Philippines in the west to the Galapagos Islands in the east and many areas in between. Mike's images and articles have appeared in many international publications and his credits include magazine covers in 3 different continents. Mike has also won various awards for his still photography. He is represented by stock photography agencies in both Canada and the U.S.A. Currently residing in Yap, Micronesia as the in house photo/video pro at the Manta Ray Bay Hotel, Mike continues to photograph the rich underwater life of the Pacific on an almost daily basis.

As someone who has worked extensively in the resort and liveaboard industry, I have a certain set of standards that I expect when I am a guest on a liveaboard or at a dive resort. The first is a reasonable dive time and a mature attitude about buddy diving. I am not interested in diving with a company that expects me to stay within touching distance of the group, this is simply not conducive to serious photography. I appreciate extra towels on the dive boat to cover my housing from the sun on long boat rides. A large amount of personal work space on camera tables both on liveaboards and in diveshops is also a must. Large rinse tanks, extra shelves, power/charging outlets, and extra storage space are all big pluses for any dedicated photographer. I would prefer to leave my housing in the diveshop as opposed to my air conditioned room (to avoid condensation issues) and therefore locking cabinets are another consideration. In this day and age of digital photography a growing concern is to have a computer or local photo pro available for backing up images and burning them to cd for those who don't like to bring a laptop.