Inspiring Underwater Photographer & Director – Nays Baghai

4 hours ago

7 min read

When I first met Nays at the Australian Go Diving Show, we instantly bonded over our shared love of underwater photography. Nays very quickly became one of my favourite tech-divers in our underwater world! He is extremely knowledgable about equipment, photography and his work in AI, and despite his experience, he is always very happy to share what he knows and help others to learn more. I'm really excited to introduce him to you guys, and hope you can gather some of his tips and tricks from this interview!

Giant Australian Cuttlefish – By Nays Baghai

Hey Nays! Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m a professional filmmaker and underwater creative based in Sydney, Australia. Being an

underwater creative means incorporating multiple disciplines (photography, cinematography, writing, directing, speaking, etc) into your own versatile personal brand. Since starting out on this journey at age 18, I’ve been fortunate to have my work featured by Apple, Amazon, SBS, Sony, Rolex, Tourism Australia, SanDisk, Shearwater and Scuba Diver Magazine. I hold a variety of qualifications in technical diving, recreational diving and freediving in order to bring a versatile skillset to any project I’m working on.

My background is in the film industry, which gave me the experience needed to direct, produce, and edit two feature documentary films about two female divers at the top of their game -Descent (2020) and Diving Into The Darkness (2024). Both of them won Best Documentary awards at Academy Award-qualifying film festivals, and are now available to rent and buy on Apple TV and Amazon. Two and a half years ago, I decided to shift gears as a professional filmmaker, and now serve as the Senior Director of Brand Strategy & Digital Media for Future Secure AI.

What inspired you to first start your journey as an underwater photographer?

I grew up snorkelling on the east coast of Australia and reading dozens of books about marine biology (both of which I still do to this day). As a birthday present, my grandmother gifted me the DVD set for The Blue Planet, which instantly blew my mind. The behind-the-scenes documentaries in particular installed a desire to be an underwater cameraman, so I patiently waited until I was legally of age to take my first open water course so I could learn to dive and get started.

In the meantime, I became obsessed with filmmaking, and during my first year as a student at Australia’s national film school, I ended up working on a classmate’s film project, which ended up being my first ever underwater cinematography assignment. It was a pretty gnarly shoot in the surf during wintertime, but I can clearly remember realising I’d found what I was passionate about (and good at) as we were filming. In addition to progressing through dozens of diving courses, I also decided to pursue photography in tandem with cinematography. At the time, I wasn’t sure which one I would gravitate to more, but wanted to do both so I could learn more and increase my

dexterity.

Can you share one of your most memorable experiences while diving?

The all-time most memorable experience for me was unexpectedly coming across a huge school of scalloped hammerhead sharks in Cabo Douglas, in the Galapagos Islands. Not only did the encounter take place in a location where the hammerheads are less commonly sighted, but for me, it was the ultimate full circle moment, considering it was literally a dream come true. Going back to watching Blue Planet as a kid, I vowed to follow the footsteps of the series’ underwater cameramen did, and to one day go to Galapagos and film hammerhead sharks. Lo and behold, that is exactly what I was doing right there and then as an adult.

I’ve had several subsequent experiences where my mind has been completely blown underwater by the marine life or scenery, but very few have come close to being as intrinsically and emotionally satisfying as that one, considering the personal, contextual significance it had for me. However, if I had to nominate a close runner-up, it would probably be cave diving with the legendary Jill Heinerth in the caves of Mexico and New Zealand while we were shooting Diving Into The Darkness.

What challenges do you face as an underwater photographer, and how do you overcome them?

The better question is what challenges I don’t face as an underwater photographer! [laughs]

Sometimes I tend to get bored working with the same subjects and sites repeatedly, especially if the visibility is not great. My solution is to try to jot down ideas for new shots and compositions to go after, as well as spots within the site I haven’t shot at before.

Depth is also a fun nemesis to contend with. If you’re diving on a single tank, you’re quite limited by how long you can stay down there and get the shot. If you’re skilled (and patient) enough to do a trimix rebreather dive to go deeper, then you have to bring a lot more gear and deal with a lot more that can go wrong. None of these are insurmountable challenges however, so the real question is - what’s the risk to reward ratio of the dive in question?

From an extrinsic perspective, while social media does have advantages for sharing the

underwater world, there is a dark side to it that can be frustrating to deal with in the best of times. For starters, the unwanted attention it can bring to certain locations can result in a cascade of effects caused by over-tourism. Moreover, the way tech companies like Meta and Google train their large language models to scrape underwater photographers’ work without their consent is essentially copyright infringement disguised as technological advancement. As a result, I’ve tried to direct my audience away from social media towards alternative platforms to view my work, and while that definitely poses its own set of challenges, for me it’s ultimately a case of quality over quantity.

How do you stay updated on the latest techniques in underwater photography?

I try not to get distracted by hot new gadgets or hot new presets/tricks floating around social

media. Instead, I try to look for compositions, lighting setups, and colour combinations that I’ve never seen before. I actually find that the editing process is where new techniques naturally manifest themselves more regularly than whilst shooting underwater. For me, this is especially true with Lightroom Classic’s new masking capabilities, which I have found to be really helpful for me as a storyteller trying to figure out which components of the image you want to subconsciously draw the audience towards.

Another habit I abide by is to approach the older, more experienced photographers whilst at dive trade shows & conferences. The vibe of these shows is already a very gregarious, communal one where we exchange stories and ideas, which makes it easier to ask questions and deepen your knowledge.

Can you share any tips or advice for aspiring underwater photographers?

Start off with a smaller setup first, and focus on learning the theory first and foremost. It doesn’t take long for underwater photography to reveal itself as the polar opposite of topside photography, and the rules are the same, whether you’re shooting with a cheap point and shoot or an expensive IMAX camera. If you can get your hands on a good underwater photography book (Martin Edge’s The Underwater Photographer is my personal recommendation), you’ll definitely be ahead of the curve.

In addition to investing time to master the basics, it is also extremely worthwhile investing time in scuba diving (and freediving) education. Having immaculate control of your buoyancy, form, situational awareness and mindset underwater is the most important thing you can focus on before touching a camera. Your instructor should be a role model for you not just as a diver, but as a person as well.

Having a marine biology degree isn’t a prerequisite for being an underwater photographer, but an understanding of the fundamentals is essential if you want to photograph the behaviour of animals. It’s fairly easy to get ahold of books (and videos) that outline behavioural traits of marine life. Also - if you try to furiously chase after an animal, 99.9% of the time they will swim away, but if you hold back and are patient, you’ll get much better results.

What are your favourite locations/dive sites and why?

That’s a really hard one, because I have different types of favourite dive sites. There are certain places that are undisputed top contenders for certain specific categories - Galapagos

(biodiversity), the SS Coolidge (wreck diving), the Yucatan Peninsula (cave diving), and the Bligh Waters (soft corals). But for overall versatility where you can experience an enormous variety of marine life and dive sites, combined with proximity and reliability, it’s a close tie between Palau and the East Coast of Australia.

Have you encountered any unexpected or dangerous situations while diving?

I’ve had a variety of close calls over the years. As far as dangerous animals go, I have had some scary run-ins with titan triggerfish, bull sharks, numb rays and box jellyfish, but fortunately, none of those encounters resulted in any injuries. One of the worst dives I’ve ever experienced was a trimix rebreather wreck dive in Sydney, where I ended up experiencing a full-on CO2 hit whilst swimming against a vicious current. The dive was made significantly worse by an inattentive, apathetic buddy who disregarded my signal to abort the dive, and the long decompression ascent in the dark, murky, violent water was as miserable as could be. As traumatic as that dive was, it did force me to fine-tune aspects with my gear, fitness and technique, which have since been incorporated into both technical and recreational dives.

How do you think underwater photography can contribute to marine conservation efforts?

Underwater photography is easily the most powerful tool we can use to advance marine

conservation efforts. Equally important as any given image, in my opinion, is the written caption accompanying the photograph. If there’s a particular story behind the image, it engages a part of us as humans where we are captivated by the story. Recently, I’ve started incorporating the scientific information about the behaviour of various species, and rewriting it in a way where it almost anthropomorphises the marine life and makes it more relatable to the human audience, but not to the point of infantilising it.

Most people are scared of the ocean, but if you can answer their anxieties with shots that are

filled with colour and creatures that don’t appear ominous, that certainly helps too. When people understand through these images that the ocean is a beautiful place that directly relates to their daily existence, that can make a difference. I try to make sure that the eyes of the animals are visible enough in the photographs of photos, so that the audience can make an emotional connection the same way we do with people.