As a kid, I dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and living my life by the sea. Since I grew up in a landlocked suburb of Atlanta, I lived out this fantasy by setting up aquariums at home. At 14, I started working at my neighborhood aquarium shop. By 16, I had seven fish tanks at home. Then, at 20, I was introduced to photographer David Liittschwager, who hired me to help him with a National Geographic magazine assignment on marine life.
We spent 10 days aboard the Oscar Elton Sette, a 224-foot NOAA research vessel sailing off the Kona coast of Hawaii. David’s assignment was to document the astounding biodiversity found at the surface of the ocean. My role was to collect specimens for him to photograph.
(See the microscopic universe that lives in a single drop of water.)
Every night after the Sette had completed its scientific mission, I would cast a floating lamp off the port…
