Bill Curtsinger

Bill Curtsinger is an American photographer and writer who publishes on underwater photography and natural history subjects. Curtsinger has photographed thirty-five articles, including six cover stories for National Geographic and a cover story for Life. His photos have also appeared in Smithsonian, Natural History, various scientific journals, and a number of books worldwide.

Early life and education Curtsinger was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1946 and grew up in Mount Holly, New Jersey

As a teenager, Curtsinger was inspired to photograph the underwater arena by reading Jacques Cousteau's book The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure. Cousteau was an award-winning underwater diver who captured exotic underwater videos and photos. Curtsinger also read his grandfather's National Geographic magazines for additional inspiration. |author=Robinson Jeffers |text=...Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe. Love that...

At the age of 16, Curtsinger bought his first camera, a Kodak Retinette 1A 35mm rangefinder. The first image he took was a Northern red-bellied turtle at Pine Barrens.

Due to his interest in photography, the Navy excepted Curtsinger into the elite Navy Photo Unit, Atlantic Fleet Combat Camera Group based at Naval Station Norfolk. The camera unit was disestablished in 2018.

Curtsinger spent most of his Navy career covering the United States Navy carrier air operations. He qualified to fly in the F-4 Phantom and A-6 Intruder to carry out his photo missions. He was made an honorary member of the Red Rippers, U.S. Navy Fighter Squadron VF-11, and is credited as having the first color front and back covers in Naval Aviation News (1968). and in 1969 to Palmer Station, for which he was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal.

After six months in the Antarctic, Curtsinger approached Admiral George J. Dufek (Ret.), who at the time was the director of the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and knew of his work with Naval Aviation News and Antarctic Science. Curtsinger has stated that during a conversation with Dufek, he made a call to Gilbert M. Grosvenor, President of the National Geographic Society to set up a meeting to meet with Curtsinger.

In 1970 Curtsinger was transferred to the United States Navy Reserve as a Petty officer second class, where he served until 1973, resigning to pursue freelance photography for National Geographic.

Curtsinger's work also includes numerous textbooks, journals and aquarium displays and he has been a contributor to Gulf of Maine Research Institute publications and website.

Curtsinger has stated that he pitched his first assignment with National Geographic to Bob Gilka because he knew the magazine had not published any articles about the peninsula. Having spent six months in the cold barren landscape of Antarctica he knew that the peninsula was more interesting and more biological diverse than what was previously published in the Geographic.

Grey reef shark

In January 1995 National Geographic published an article photographed and written by Curtsinger about grey reef sharks. In a subsection of the story, he reminisces about a 1973 encounter with the same species of sharks in the Micronesian lagoon in the Caroline Islands.

— Curtsinger, Bill National Geographic and a 14th-century Bronze Age merchant ship, which was the oldest known shipwreck at that time (1987).

In 1991 he captured the sunken fleet of Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Operation Crossroads was a classified undertaking by the U.S. military to test nuclear weapons underwater in 1946. National Geographic ran a story about the underwater wreckage in their June 1992 issue authored by John L. Elliot and photographed by Curtsinger. Also, a scientific journal was published for the United States Department of the Interior, The Archeology of the Atomic Bomb, featuring select images from Curtsinger. First published underwater photographs of right whales (1972) Argentina First published underwater photographs of narwhal whales First underwater photograph of leopard seals (1971) First photojournalist to cover the Mary Rose shipwreck. First photographs of emperor penguins (flying) swimming underwater

Inspiring others

As new generations of photographers enter the field of photography, some have been inspired by Curtsinger's work, such as Brian Skerry. In a 2021 article in The Maine Magazine, Skerry recalls Curtsinger turning down a National Geographic photo shoot of the 1717 pirate shipwreck Whydah Gally, buried in the sand off Cape Cod. Curtsinger turned down the job due to scheduling issues, but put in a good word for Skerry, who in turn, took the job. Skerry had his photos published in the May 1999 issue of National Geographic.

Personal life

Silhouette of a Grumman A-6 Intruder on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Photo captured by Bill Curtsinger.

In 1972, during Curtsinger's second photo assignment with National Geographic about salt marshes, he moved to Maine, where in 1974 he married Kate Mahoney. They had two children together, Justin and Owen. In June 2003, Mahoney died from a seven-year battle with breast cancer. Curtsinger and Mahoney were married for twenty-nine years and during that time, Mahoney was responsible for the organization and sales of Curtsinger's stock photos business, which she created. Mahoney was a founding member of Peregrine Press located in Portland, Maine.

With the advance of the internet and declining stock photo sales, Curtsinger left Maine and moved to Port Townsend, Washington in 2006. He became the co-owner, along with his second wife Sue Ohlson, of Sunrise Coffee Company.

Even though Curtsinger in no longer a freelancer in the field of photography, he continues to photograph and in 2021 collaborated with Kenneth Brower on the book Curtsinger: Reflections on the Life and Adventures of Bill Curtsinger.

Awards and recognition 1st row Navy Good Conduct Medal National Defense Service Medal (2006) NOGI Award Arts, Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (2022) Associate member of the Boston Sea Rovers (2022) Honorary member of Peregrine Press

Exhibitions

(1990) "Underwater Nudes" – Evans Gallery, Portland, Maine (2000) "Photographing Maine: 1840 to 2000" – Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine. (2005) "Extreme Nature: Images from the World's Edge" University of New England, Westbrook, ME. (2006) "Oceans Expo II: A world to discover" – Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (ICPNA), Peru. (2007) "Underwater" Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt, Germany