Jeff Rotman puts on a suit every morning to go to work. A wet suit, that is. His briefcase is a camera bag filled with special waterproof equipment and rolls of color film. Rotman is one of the world's best underwater photographers. He spends his days--and nights--shooting the ocean's most spectacular sights.
Rotman learned to scuba dive when he was 23. He began taking pictures underwater as a hobby. He worked in Massachusetts as a science teacher, but as his photos improved, he found he could earn a living by selling them for use in magazines and books. Says he: "I loved teaching, but my hobby was my passion!"
Rotman has photographed marine life from the Red Sea to the Galapagos Islands. He dives down to the ocean floor and spends up to three hours to get the perfect shot. The best time to photograph colorful coral reefs and fish, he says, is at night: "The cover of darkness allows you to get very close to your subjects, because they are either sleeping or not able to see you."
Sharks are Rotman's specialty. To shoot them, he wears armor and swims in a cage. One of his five books for kids offers close-ups of their terrifying jaws. His new book on dolphins will arrive in bookstores this spring.
Rotman now lives in Israel, but his favorite spots are the chilly Atlantic waters where he first learned to dive. "Some environments are very cold, dark and gloomy," he says, "but filled with wonderful, bizarre critters!"