Birography of Mark Spencer and Becca Saunders

Picture of Becca Saunders Becca Saunders learned to dive in 1975 in a glacier-fed mountain lake in Colorado, USA, but didn't regularly dive until she moved to Australia in 1981.

For several years, she was active in diver training programs, but her interests changed in 1986 when she discovered underwater photography.

Her background is in computer science and mathematics, specialising in Navy and Army defence projects, but her move to Australia saw a
career change to commercial project management, evolving into corporate management.

From 1988 to 1990, Becca was a member of the management team that supervised the design, construction and initial operation of the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Upon completion of the Sydney Aquarium, Becca decided to pursue her interests in journalism, diving and underwater photography full-time. She soon became one Becca Saunders photographs a giant manta ray. of Australia's most published freelance writer / photographers, specialising in marine science/ocean related subjects, adventure travel and technical articles on underwater photography.

Becca is the author of two full-colour books. The first, Ambon Marine Wonderland (1998) depicts the beauty of one of Indonesia's most exciting dive destinations. Her second book, Top Dive Sites of Australia (2001),is a large format colour coffee table book depicting some of Australia's most exciting dive destinations.

Becca Saunders is considered one of the leading underwater photographers in Australia and has won numerous awards in photography competitions, including first place in the Open Division of the coveted South Pacific Divers Australasian Underwater Photographer of the Year competition. She is the only woman ever to win this award during its open international format.

Becca's published magazine articles includes a monthly Becca Saunders swims under Busselton Jetty in Western Australia column on dive travel - 'Travel Chat' - published in DIVE Log, the largest circulating diving publication in Australia, and a column on photography in DIVE Log New Zealand, a bimonthly diving newspaper published in New Zealand.
She was also editor of Scuba Yearbook, an annual diving newspaper published in Australia, for three years, and editor of Travel Bag, a column on dive travel in Sportdiving magazine.

As a trained writer and an accomplished topside photographer, Becca's has also published in non-diving magazines, including BBC Wildlife, Australian Geographic, GEO, Australian Natural History, Living Planet, Boat Directory, Club Marine and many others both in Australia and overseas.

Becca and Mark live in Coffs Harbour, NSW.

Mark and Becca are experienced assignment photographers, and are both certified as commercial / occupational divers through the Federal Government agency ADAS (Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme) to Australian Standards 2815.1. Mark is also a qualified tri-mix rebreather diver and regularly dives to depths in excess of 100 metres.
Becca Saunders learned to dive in 1975 in a glacier-fed mountain lake in Colorado, USA, but didn't regularly dive until she moved to Australia in 1981. For several years, she was active in diver training programs, but her interests changed in 1986 when she discovered underwater photography. Her background is in computer science and mathematics, specialising in Navy and Army defence projects, but her move to Australia saw a career change to commercial project management, evolving into corporate management. From 1988 to 1990, Becca was a member of the management team that supervised the design, construction and initial operation of the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Upon completion of the Sydney Aquarium, Becca decided to pursue her interests in journalism, diving and underwater photography full-time. She soon became one of Australia's most published freelance writer / photographers, specialising in marine science/ocean related subjects, adventure travel and technical articles on underwater photography. Becca is the author of two full-colour books. The first, Ambon Marine Wonderland (1998) depicts the beauty of one of Indonesia's most exciting dive destinations. Her second book, Top Dive Sites of Australia (2001),is a large format colour coffee table book depicting some of Australia's most exciting dive destinations. Becca Saunders is considered one of the leading underwater photographers in Australia and has won numerous awards in photography competitions, including first place in the Open Division of the coveted South Pacific Divers Australasian Underwater Photographer of the Year competition. She is the only woman ever to win this award during its open international format. Becca's published magazine articles includes a monthly column on dive travel - 'Travel Chat' - published in DIVE Log, the largest circulating diving publication in Australia, and a column on photography in DIVE Log New Zealand, a bimonthly diving newspaper published in New Zealand. She was also editor of Scuba Yearbook, an annual diving newspaper published in Australia, for three years, and editor of Travel Bag, a column on dive travel in Sportdiving magazine. As a trained writer and an accomplished topside photographer, Becca's has also published in non-diving magazines, including BBC Wildlife, Australian Geographic, GEO, Australian Natural History, Living Planet, Boat Directory, Club Marine and many others both in Australia and overseas. Becca and Mark live in Coffs Harbour, NSW.		Mark Spencer has been diving since 1975 and taking photographs underwater since 1978. He originally took a camera underwater to identify the strange new creatures he was discovering and to learn more about them. Eventually, he found he could rarely enter the water without his camera, for fear of missing out on that once-in-a-lifetime encounter with some new animal. Mark eventually found that photography was not only a means of sharing his experiences with others, but of conveying his feelings of the sea and our special relationship with it. His interests soon extended to shipwrecks and subterranean caves. Mark used to produce multi-projector audio-visual presentations to enhance the entertainment value of his slide shows. One of his biggest audio-visual presentations utilised 19-projectors and was about his project to photo-document a shipwreck, the S.S. Catterthun, in deep water off Seal Rocks, NSW -- a challenging adventure partly-sponsored by Australian Geographic, and published in their magazine in (July-Sept) 1992. The digital era has seen the end of these expensive and logisitically complicated productions. In 1996 Mark completed a two year documentation of the flooded limestone cave system in Wellington, NSW. This project, also partly sponsored by Australian Geographic, featured as an article in Australian Geographic magazine (Jan-March 1997 issue). He has also explored and photographed the flooded sumps of Jenolan Caves in NSW. A dental practitioner for 25 years, Mark now concentrates full-time on his explorations and underwater photography. He is an assignment photographer for Australian Geographic and was also production photographer for the Adventures of the Quest television series. Mark has been published in many major journals, including Geo, National Geographic, BBC Wildlife and Living Planet magazines. In 1997, he was elected a Fellow International of the Explorers Club, based in New York. He is a frequent speaker at diving congresses, specialty seminars, film festivals and community service groups such as Rotary. In 1997 and 1998, Mark led an Australian contingent on two expeditions to Turkey to examine the alleged discovery of the Australian WW1 submarine AE2. This project received Government imprimatur with some financial assistance from the Royal Australian Navy. In 1998 his team confirmed the wreck as indeed the AE2, and a full report of this project was submitted to appropriate Government and Defence departments, as well as major maritime museums and archaeological establishments. He is now working on a return expedition to Turkey to further explore the AE2 submarine. During this trip, the team plans to undertake scientific investigation of the wreck's condition providing information for future management considerations including raising and conserving the WWI submarine. Another major objective of this expedition is to further document the wreck to inform the world of the AE2's and the Australian Navy's effort during WWI. He is also continuing work on his series of panoramic posters called The Australia Downunder Series. All half-in and half-out of the water, these images depict popular seaside regions of Australia. Mark is also a qualified tri-mix rebreather diver and regularly dives and photographs in depths over 100 metres.