I’m Brett Stanley, an underwater portrait photographer based in Long Beach, California, and I’ve spent the last decade being absolutely obsessed by the world of underwater photography.
The obsession goes back a lot further than that, I was the kid who never wanted to get out of the pool, and I’ve been scuba diving since I was 16. Water has always been my happy place, the one spot where everything else falls away and I feel completely at home. Turning that into a career just meant I finally got to spend even more time there.
That experience matters underwater for so many reasons. Water is unpredictable. Light behaves differently. People who have never done this before need real guidance, it’s more than just pointing a camera in the right direction.
I’ve worked with hundreds of beginners, people who can’t swim, people who are nervous about being in water at all, and I know how to relax them and teach them how to look incredible within minutes. That’s a decade of doing this over and over, until I knew exactly how to read the water and read the person in front of me.
I also build my own equipment, because for years the gear I needed simply didn’t exist. A lot of my custom equipment came out of that same problem-solving instinct, and I still use much of it on my shoots today. If something doesn’t exist yet, I tend to just build it myself rather than wait for someone else to.
My studio in Long Beach has a 3ft shallow end and a 9ft deep end, so I can work with a nervous beginner or shoot in an elaborate full set, whatever the moment calls for, and because I’ve done this so many times, I can adapt on the fly when something isn’t working, which happens constantly underwater, without it ever feeling chaotic to those around me.
Originally from Australia, I have called Los Angeles home since 2013. In that time I’ve become a very recognized name in underwater portraiture, with work that’s been featured internationally and a reputation built entirely on guiding new and experienced people.
These days I also share a lot of what I’ve learned with other photographers and models, through in-person and online workshops and one-on-one mentoring. If you ever want to go beyond a single session and actually learn the craft yourself, that’s something I genuinely love teaching.
Booking a session with me is a full collaboration, and I’m so excited to guide you through this amazing process.
If you’d like to know more about my work, please check out the Press & Media section.