SPEAKERS

Dr Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer has been diving since 1975 and taking photographs underwater since 1978.

He originally took a camera underwater to identify the strange new creatures he was discovering and to learn more about them. Eventually, he found he could rarely enter the water without his camera, for fear of missing out on that once-in-a-lifetime encounter with some new animal.

Mark eventually found that photography was not only a means of sharing his experiences with others, but of conveying his feelings of the sea and our special relationship with it. His interests soon extended to shipwrecks and subterranean caves.

Mark used to produce multi-projector audio-visual presentations to enhance the entertainment value of his slide shows. One of his biggest audio-visual presentations utilised 19-projectors and was about his project to photo-document a shipwreck, the S.S. Catterthun, in deep water off Seal Rocks, NSW -- a challenging adventure partly-sponsored by Australian Geographic, and published in their magazine in (July-Sept) 1992. The digital era has seen the end of these expensive and logisitically complicated productions.

In 1996 Mark completed a two year documentation of the flooded limestone cave system in Wellington, NSW. This project, also partly sponsored by Australian Geographic, featured as an article in Australian Geographic magazine (Jan-March 1997 issue).

He has also explored and photographed the flooded sumps of Jenolan Caves in NSW.

A dental practitioner for 25 years, Mark still practises two days a week and uses his remaining time on his explorations and underwater photography.

He is an assignment photographer for Australian Geographic and was also production photographer for the Adventures of the Quest television series.

Mark has been published in many major journals, including Geo, National Geographic, BBC Wildlife and Living Planet magazines.

In 1997, he was elected a Fellow International of the Explorers Club, based in New York.

He is a frequent speaker at diving congresses, specialty seminars, film festivals and community service groups such as Rotary.

In 1997 and 1998, Mark led an Australian contingent on two expeditions to Turkey to examine the alleged discovery of the Australian WW1 submarine AE2. This project received Government imprimatur with some financial assistance from the Royal Australian Navy.

In 1998 his team confirmed the wreck as indeed the AE2, and a full report of this project was submitted to appropriate Government and Defence departments, as well as major maritime museums and archaeological establishments.

Mark and his partner Becca Saunders have lived in Coffs Harbour since 2005 and regularly dive on the nearby Solitary Islands using their own boat.

He is also continuing work on his series of panoramic posters called The Australia Downunder Series. Mostly half-in and half-out of the water, these images depict popular seaside regions of Australia.

Mark is also a qualified tri-mix rebreather diver, uses a Mk 15.5 rebreather, and regularly dives and photographs in depths over 100 metres. He is a member of the Sydney Project group and participates with their deep shipwreck explorations where possible.