Bill Curtsinger

Curtsinger was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1946 and grew up in Mount Holly, New Jersey near the Pine Barrens region. In later life, he provided photographic images for a book about the sprawling ecosystem at the barrens.{{cite web |url=https://www.saltstoryarchive.com/magazineview.php?mid=13089#?c=&m=&s=&cv=11&xywh=-179%2C2434%2C4001%2C2375 |title=An interview with Bill Curtsinger, a National Geographic photographer |author= |date=January 1, 2006 |publisher=Salt Institute for Documentary Studies |volume=60 |number=61 |pages=66–67}}

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.{{cite interview |last=Curtsinger |first=Bill |interviewer=Daryn Kagan |title=Extreme Nature |type=Video (On Air) |publisher=CNN |date=December 20, 2005 |url=http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/20/lt.02.html |format=Transcript |access-date=November 14, 2022}} Cousteau was an award-winning underwater diver who captured exotic underwater videos and photos.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Cousteau|title=Jacques Cousteau {{!}} French ocean explorer and engineer|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=October 17, 2022}} Curtsinger also read his grandfather's National Geographic magazines for additional inspiration.

Further inspiration as a teenager would come in the form of a poem by Robinson Jeffers.

{{blockquote |style=padding:.5rem!important;border-radius:.35rem; |title=The Answer{{cite web |url=https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/answer-13 |title=The Answer |website=poetrynook.com |access-date=18 October 2022 |author=Robinson Jeffers}} |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.

File:Naval Aviation News October 1968.jpg

During the Vietnam War, in 1967 after graduating high school at 18, Curtsinger attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. After a year he transferred to Arizona State University in Tempe to join their photography program. During the transfer of schools he lost course credits and was deemed a second-year freshman. Because of this, the draft board reclassified him, making him eligible to be drafted into the Vietnam War effort. Curtsinger preemptively joined the United States Navy to circumvent being drafted into the United States Army.{{cite news |last=Routhier |first=Ray |date=November 20, 2005 |title=Life in the Lens |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/850610463/?terms=%22Newsweek%22%20%22Curtsinger%22&match=1 |work=Portland Press Herald |via=newspapers.com |access-date=October 16, 2022}} {{subscription required}}

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.{{cite web |author= |date=December 1, 2005 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |title=National Geographic photographer at Rice Public Library |url=https://www.fosters.com/story/entertainment/2005/12/01/national-geographic-photographer-at-rice/52584500007/}} The camera unit was disestablished in 2018.{{cite web |title=Expeditionary Combat Camera Completes Final Mission |author= |publisher=United States Navy |year=2018 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |url=https://www.navy.mil/DesktopModules/ArticleCS/Print.aspx?PortalId=1&ModuleId=523&Article=2249769}}

After graduating from U.S. Navy Dive School in Key West, Florida, curtsinger earned his Jump Wings in Lakehurst, New Jersey, and attended various U.S. Navy Flight Crew training units around Norfolk, Virginia. He traveled the world on special assignments for the United States Fleet Forces Command of the Atlantic Fleet, including the Navy's research and development department photographing new launches of submarines, such as the USS Narwhal (SSN-671).{{cite book |date=2008 |last=Jacobs |first=Tom |title=Sons of God |publisher=Pau Pono Publishing |isbn=978-0-97863-052-2}}

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).{{cite web |url=https://www.auas-nogi.org/biographies-a-f |title=Bill Curtsinger – Arts |year=2006 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |author= |publisher=Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences}}

As a Petty officer third class in 1968 Curtsinger was sent to Antarctica to photograph the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs at McMurdo Station as part of Operation Deep Freeze,{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1990-may/flipbook/D1/ |title=On Assignment |page=D1 |magazine=National Geographic |location=Malawi |volume=177 |number=5 |date=May 1990}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}} and in 1969 to Palmer Station, for which he was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal.{{cite web |title=Bill Curtsinger Navy Record |author= |via=Internet Archive |date=November 2, 1970 |access-date=October 17, 2011 |work=U.S. Navy |url=https://archive.org/details/bill-curtsinger-navy-record}}

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.{{rp|at=32:26}} Dufek led the first U.S. science effort in the Antarctic during Operation Highjump.{{cite book|last=Kearns|first=David A.|title=Where Hell Freezes Over: A Story of Amazing Bravery and Survival|year=2005|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|location=New York|isbn=0-312-34205-5|url=https://archive.org/details/wherehellfreezes00davi|url-access=registration|chapter=Operation Highjump: Task Force 68}} 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.{{cite AV media |date=October 6, 2021 | title=A Night with Bill Curtsinger & Kenneth Brower |type=Video |location=Port Townsend, Washington |publisher=Northwind Art |via=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Zbf1srlM4 |access-date=October 16, 2022}}{{rp|at=33:10}}

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.

File:Bill_curtsinger_sea_turtle_cover_national_geographic_2023.jpg, showcasing a long exposure of a sea turtle underwater. {{circa|2023}}]]

Curtsinger is one of the first underwater photographers to capture extensive images of marine life under the polar ice in Antarctica. He had been a freelance photographer since leaving the U.S. Navy with his photographic imagery focusing on underwater, natural history, maritime archaeology, people, culture, environments and wildlife. He has photographed thirty-three articles, including six cover stories, for National Geographic. Curtsinger's photos have also appeared on the cover of Orion, Life and Natural History magazines with stories in a number of other magazines such as BBC Wildlife and Smithsonian.

The subjects of Curtsinger's photographs have included species and natural systems such as whales, walruses, penguins, dolphins, seals, sea turtles and sharks. His stories have featured locations such as Antarctica, Canada, Argentina, Africa and The Caroline Islands of the tropical Pacific.{{cite news |last=Urbani de la Paz |first=Diane |date=September 3, 2021 |title=Undersea photographer’s show open in Port Townsend |url=https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/entertainment/undersea-photographers-show-open-in-port-townsend/ |work=Peninsula Daily News |location=Port Townsend, Washington |url-access=limited |access-date=June 15, 2023}}

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. He has eight titled published books including Extreme Nature: Images from the World's Edge, a four hundred page retrospective of his career, published in 2005 by White Star Publishers in nine languages.{{cite book |date=2005 |last=Curtsinger |first=Bill |title=Extreme Nature: Images from the World's Edge |publisher=White Star Publishers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHTQAQAACAAJ |via=Google Books |isbn=978-8-85440-078-8}}

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.{{rp|at=33:10}} His very first article was a cover story in the November 1971 issue of National Geographic, "Antarctica's Nearer Side" by Samuel W. Matthews.{{cite magazine |date=November 1971 |last=Matthews |first=Samuel W. |title=Antarctica's Nearer Side |volume=140 |number=5 |pages=622–655 |magazine=National Geographic |location=Antarctica |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1971-nov/flipbook/622/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}}

{{blockquote |style=padding:.5rem!important;border-radius:.35rem; |author=National Geographic Society{{cite web |title=Milestones in Underwater Photography |access-date=9 October 2022 |author= |date= |work=National Geographic |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/milestones-underwater-photography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410204310/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/milestones-underwater-photography|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2021}} – Slide 6 |text=With his crisp, clean photos of whales, seals, penguins, and dolphins, ex-Navy photographer Bill Curtsinger helped the National Geographic Society pioneer the field of underwater marine life photography with stunning pictures such as this shot of an Emperor penguin gliding through the waters of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.}}

File:Bill Curtsinger - Grey Reef Shark.png. {{circa|1973}}]]

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.{{cite magazine |title=Survivor's Tale of a Shark Attack |access-date=26 December 2022 |last=Curtsinger |first=Bill |date=January 1995 |magazine=National Geographic |volume=187 |number=1 |page=56 |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1995-jan/flipbook/56/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}}

{{blockquote |style=padding:.5rem!important;border-radius:.35rem; |author=Curtsinger, Bill National Geographic |text=The shark came at me like a rocket. I had time only to lift my hand...(The shark then) raked my right shoulder. At that moment a friend rescued me in a dingy.}}

After this encounter he only needed minor reconstructive surgery to his hand and shoulder. He has stated that grey reef sharks are extremely territorial, suspect in many attacks on indigenous islanders throughout Oceania and was most likely driving away a perceived competitor or predator.

Curtsinger has also photographed many shipwrecks throughout his career, like the Mary Rose at Portsmouth Harbour, which was active during the reign of Henry the VIII. He has also photographed the 16th century Basque whaling ship off the coast of Labrador, the 17th century Swedish warship Kronan that sank in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish island of Öland{{cite magazine |date=April 1989 |last=Franzén |first=Anders |title=Remnants of a Mighty Warship |author-link=Anders Franzén |volume=175 |number=4 |pages=438–465 |magazine=National Geographic |location=Kronan, Baltic Sea |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1989-apr/flipbook/438/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}} and a 14th-century Bronze Age merchant ship, which was the oldest known shipwreck at that time (1987).{{cite magazine |date=December 1987 |last=Bass |first=George F. |author-link=George Bass (archaeologist) |title=Oldest Known Shipwreck |volume=172 |number=6 |pages=692–733 |magazine=National Geographic |location=Aegean Sea |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1987-dec/flipbook/692/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}}

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.{{cite magazine |date=June 1992 |last=Eliot |first=John L. |title=Bikini Islands Nuclear Graveyard |volume=181 |number=6 |pages=70–83 |magazine=National Geographic |location=Marshall Islands |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1992-jun/flipbook/70/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}} 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.

File:Bill Curtsinger Navy recruit poster.jpg recruiting poster. He is credited for the photograph used in this poster.]]

• First colored photographs published in the Naval Aviation News (1968){{cite news |last=Wilbur |first=(CDR) Ted |date=October 1968 |page=2 |title=Editors Corner |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/Naval%20Aviation%20News/1960/pdf/oct68.pdf |work=Naval Aviation News |access-date=October 12, 2022}}
• First published underwater photographs of right whales (1972) Argentina{{rp|at=42:10}}{{cite web |url=https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/remember-the-right-whales-with-a-special-day/ |title=Remember the right whales with a special day |last=Moir |first=Rob |date=Oct 29, 2021 |website=commonwealthmagazine.org |publisher=MassINC |access-date=June 14, 2023}}
• First published underwater photographs of narwhal whales{{cite journal |last=Kwok |first=Roberta |year=2018 |title=Click |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/707663 |journal=The Southern Review |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages= 616–617 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press}}
• First underwater photograph of leopard seals (1971){{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/national-geographic-magazine-50-years-of-covers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419132424/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/national-geographic-magazine-50-years-of-covers |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 19, 2021 |access-date=October 12, 2022 |title=National Geographic Magazine: 50 Years of Covers |date=April 14, 2017 |work=National Geographic}} Slide 13
• First photojournalist to cover the Mary Rose shipwreck.{{cite magazine |date=May 1983 |last=Rule |first=Margaret |title=Henry VIII's Lost Warship |author-link=Margaret Rule |volume=163 |number=5 |pages=646–675 |magazine=National Geographic |location=Mary Rose, Portsmouth, England |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1983-may/flipbook/646/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}}
• First photographs of emperor penguins (flying) swimming underwater
• First photograph (1984) of a Blainville's beaked whale mother and calf.

{{cite book |last1=Minasian |first1=Stanley M. |last2=Balcomb |first2=Kenneth C. |last3=Foster |first3=Larry |year=1984 |title=The World's Whales: The Complete Illustrated Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww4XAQAAIAAJ |publication-place=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Smithsonian Books |page=92 |isbn=978-0-89599-014-3 |quote=This remarkable photograph is the only known of a Blainville's beaked whale mother and calf. |via=Google Books }}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.themainemag.com/the-maine-man-capturing-the-worlds-oceans/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |last=Fiorentino |first=Anna |title=The Maine Man Capturing the World's Oceans |work=The Maine Magazine |date=May 2021}} Skerry had his photos published in the May 1999 issue of National Geographic.{{cite magazine |magazine=National Geographic |date=May 1999 |last=Webster |first=Donovan |author-link=Donovan Webster |title=Pirates of the Whydah |pages=64–77 |volume=195 |number=5 |url=https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/1999-may/flipbook/64/}} {{subscription required|via=National Geographic archive}}

File:A6 Intruder.png 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,{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/850613826/?terms=Bill%20Curtsinger |title=One of the 100 |last=Connerty-Marin |first=David |date=November 20, 2001 |work=Portland Press Herald |via=newspapers.com |access-date=October 30, 2022}} {{subscription required}} where in 1974 he married Kate Mahoney. They had two children together, Justin and Owen. In June 2003, Mahoney passed away 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.{{cite news |author= |title=Obituary: Kate Mahoney Curtsinger, 52 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/850210155/?terms=Mahoney%20Curtsinger&match=1 |via=newspapers.com |date=June 11, 2003 |work=Portland Press Herald}} {{subscription required}} Mahoney was a founding member of Peregrine Press located in Portland, Maine.{{cite web |url=https://peregrinepress.com/kmmf.html |title=The Kate Mahoney Memorial Fund |author= |date= |website=peregrinepress.com |access-date=October 30, 2022}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://rainshadownorthwest.com/2021/08/26/bill-curtsingers-voyage-camera-to-coffee/ |access-date=October 19, 2022 |title=Bill Curtsinger's Voyage: Camera to Coffee |last=Anderson |first=Ross |date=August 26, 2021 |work=Rainshadow Journal |location=Port Townsend, Washington}}

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.{{cite book |date=2021 |last=Brower |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Brower |title=Reflections on the Life and Adventures of Bill Curtsinger |publisher=Northwind Art |isbn=978-0-98835-508-8}}

• (1970) National Defense Service Medal
• (1970) Antarctica Service Medal
• (2001) National Geographic 100 Best wildlife photos
• (2002) "Outstanding Science Trade Book" National Science Teachers Association recognition for the book Sea Soup: Zooplankton{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40124069 |date=March 2022 |title=Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12 |author= |journal=Science and Children |publisher=National Science Teachers Association |volume=39 |number=6}}
• (2006) NOGI Award Arts, Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences{{cite web |url=https://www.auas-nogi.org/recipnew |author= |publisher=Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences |access-date=October 10, 2022 |title=Recipient(s)}}
• (2022) Associate member of the Boston Sea Rovers{{cite web |url=https://bostonsearovers.com/membership/ |title=Associate members |author= |date=October 1, 2022 |access-date=October 16, 2022}}
• (2022) Honorary member of Peregrine Press{{cite web |url=https://peregrinepress.com/individualartists-pages/curtsinger-b/billcurtsinger.html |title=Artist's statement |author= |location=Portland, Maine |access-date=October 16, 2022}}

• (1990) "Underwater Nudes" – Evans Gallery, Portland, Maine{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/853463356/?terms=Underwater%20Nudes%20Evans%20Gallery%20%22Bill%20Curtsinger%22&match=1 |title=Public reception |author= |work=Evening Press |date=December 6, 1990 |access-date=December 11, 2022 |page=14 |via=newspapers.com {{subscription required}}}}
• (2000) "Photographing Maine: 1840 to 2000" – Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine.{{cite web |url=https://peregrinepress.com/individualartists-pages/curtsinger-b/billcurtsinger.html |access-date=October 19, 2022 |title=Artist's Statement: Selected Exhibitions |website=peregrinepress.com }}
• (2005) "Extreme Nature: Images from the World's Edge" University of New England, Westbrook, ME.{{cite web |url=https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/excellent-uw-photo-exhibit.114489/ |access-date=December 12, 2022 |title=Excellent UW Photo Exhibit |website=scubaboard.com}}
• (2006) "Oceans Expo II: A world to discover" – Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (ICPNA), Peru.{{cite web |url=https://thelivingoceans.org/oceans-a-world-to-discover |access-date=October 19, 2022 |title=Oceans Expo II: A world to discover}}
• (2007) "Underwater" Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt, Germany{{cite web |via=Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/underwater-2007-naturmuseum-senckenberg-frankfurt-germany-bill-curtsinger |access-date=October 19, 2022 |title=Underwater|date=January 2007 }}

Magazine covers that have featured Curtsinger's photos.

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Bill Curtsinger|italics=no}}

• [https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/photographer/bill-curtsinger National Geographic photographer's page (UK)]
• {{official website|https://www.billcurtsinger.com/}}

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