Brian Skerry

Brian Skerry is an American photojournalist and film producer specializing in marine life and ocean environments. Since 1998 he has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine with more than 30 stories to his credit, including seven covers. In 2021 Skerry won a Primetime Emmy Award for his role as producer in the miniseries, Secrets of the Whales.

Early life and education

Skerry was born in Milford, Massachusetts in 1961, and grew up in Uxbridge. Skerry began SCUBA diving in 1977, at 15 years old and received his first SCUBA certification in 1978. He has stated that he was drawn to the water from a very young age and was always fascinated by ocean documentaries, along with the movies Jaws (1975) and The Deep (1977)

After studying at Quinsigamond Community College, where he earned an associate degree in Liberal Arts, he went on to Worcester State College earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications Media in 1984.

Career

Skerry worked on a diving charter boat based on the coast of Rhode Island from 1982–1992, taking divers out to explore New England shipwrecks. His early photography focused on marine life and shipwrecks. His first published photograph was in 1984 in The Boston Globe newspaper, an image of a shipwreck in Boston Harbor. During the 1990s he published photos and wrote stories for a variety of scuba diving magazines. His first book was published in 1995, Complete Wreck Diving, with co-author Henry Keatts. In 1996 he was the first to photograph a living Oarfish, an animal that inspired sea serpent legends. In 2015 Skerry was named a Nikon Ambassador (United States).

National Geographic

In 1998 Skerry received his first assignment for National Geographic. In a 2021 article in The Maine Magazine, Skerry recalls Bill Curtsinger, one of the first underwater photographers, turning down a National Geographic magazine photo shoot of the 1717 pirate shipwreck Whydah Gally, buried in the sand off Cape Cod. Curtsinger turned down the job due to a scheduling conflict but put in a good word for Skerry, who in turn, took the story assignment. Skerry had his photos published in the May 1999 edition of National Geographic.

Skerry has been credited with more than 30 stories for National Geographic, including seven on the front cover of the magazine. The subjects of his stories have included species such as harp seals, right whales, Leatherback sea turtles, bluefin tuna, dolphins Other stories have featured locations such as the Southern Line Islands, Ireland, Marine reserves of New Zealand, Japan, the Mesoamerican Reef, and in his home state, the Gulf of Maine. While on assignment for National Geographic on September 1, 2016, he photographed U.S. President Barack Obama snorkeling in the waters off Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, which lies within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It was the first photograph ever taken of a President of the United States underwater.

Secrets of the Whales

Orca, a whale featured in the miniseries co-produced by Skerry, Secrets of the Whales.

Secrets of the Whales was a multi-platform project Skerry created for National Geographic in 2017 about the science of whale culture. He credits the work of Canadian whale biologist Shane Gero as his inspiration for this project. Skerry proposed the project to National Geographic magazine, National Geographic Television and National Geographic Books and each division approved their respective project.

The cover story in National Geographic magazine appeared in the May 2021 issue, written by Craig Welch and photographed by Skerry. The four part miniseries, executive produced by James Cameron and narrated by Sigourney Weaver, premiered April 22, 2021, on Disney+. Skerry produced and starred in the miniseries, as well as providing underwater cinematography.

The documentary series was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. On September 19, 2021 the miniseries was a winner in the category Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series which was awarded to Skerry and the producers of the show. At the Jackson Wild 2021 Media Awards Secrets of the Whales was awarded Winner: Limited Series and at the 2021 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, Skerry was awarded the Shared Earth Foundation Award for Advocacy.

First Underwater photo of a Great White in Maine

On July 8, 2025, while on assignment for National Geographic, Skerry captured what is believed to be the first-ever underwater photograph of a Great white shark off the coast of Maine. About 15 miles from Harpswell, in the Gulf of Maine, Skerry came face-to-face with a curious juvenile female roughly 10 feet long. “She moved… within maybe four feet of me,” he recalled, managing to slide into the water and frame the iconic shot before the shark quietly vanished after a three‑minute encounter. After more than 10,000 hours spent exploring marine life beneath the waves, this shot marked a milestone not just for Skerry but for marine science in Maine, offering fresh underwater evidence of great white presence that until now had only been hinted at by tagged individuals and surface sightings.

PBS

Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine

Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine is a 3-Part, PBS NOVA special, documentary television series produced by Brian Skerry, Chun-Wei Yi and Stella Cha that debuted in July 2024.

Focused on the Gulf of Maine, the Gulf of Maine is a 36,000 square mile body of water stretching from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, Canada that is warming 97% faster than the rest of the global ocean.

Sea Change blends science, exploration, stunning natural history, and stories of human experience, to illuminate how what happens here could have profound global implications. Viewers will encounter the spectacular wilderness and wildlife that still teems in these waters. The series also documents the range of people including scientists, Native Americans, fishers, and entrepreneurs working to reveal the Gulf’s complex history and helping to understand what role the ocean plays in all of our lives. It is a regional story with global implications.

Conservation

In 2012 Skerry partnered with the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston to create The New England Ocean Odyssey.

Skerry lectures on issues of visual storytelling and ocean conservation and exploration, having presented at venues including The United Nations General Assembly, He's been a guest on several television programs including CBS This Morning, Nightline, Anderson Cooper Full Circle and is a frequent guest on radio shows and podcasts.

Skerry is a Founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, and the Explorer-In-Residence at the New England Aquarium.

Awards and recognition

11-time award winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year from the Natural History Museum, London. 5-time award winner of Pictures of the Year International from Missouri School of Journalism (2012) Peter Benchley Ocean Awards for Excellence in Media (2016) Photographer's Photographer Award - National Geographic (2017) Rolex National Geographic explorer of the year - National Geographic (2019) NOGI Awards - Art - Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences (2022) Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa - Worcester State University (2025) NANPA’s Outstanding Nature Photographer of Year Award

Secrets of the Whales Awards for the miniseries, Secrets of the Whales for which Skerry was a Producer.

(2021) Winner - Academy of Television Arts & Sciences - Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series (2013) Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Portraits of the Planet: The photography of Brian Skerry, Washington, D.C. (2014) United Nations Office at Geneva Wild and Precious Exhibit - Geneva, Switzerland (2017) National Geographic Museum Sharks: On Assignment with Brian Skerry (Traveling exhibit), Washington, D.C. (2021) Visa pour l'Image Photo festival, Perpignan, France (2023) Bercy Village Planet Ocean: Free Exhibition by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Brian Skerry, Paris, France