John Bantin

Aliases: john bantin (forum), j bantin
Role: Dive journalist, author, underwater photographer, former advertising photographer
Born: April 8, 1947
First appearance: 2005 (forum; first post March 24, 2005)
Affiliation: Technical Editor, Diver Magazine (UK); contributor to Undercurrent and DYK magazines
Forum posts: 1,767 across 99 threads started
Active years: 2005–2017

Biography

John Bantin is a British dive journalist, author, and underwater photographer who began his career as an advertising photographer in London. In that earlier life, he worked on commercial shoots including photographing top models, spending days perfecting each subject before capturing the final image (^[1]). He learned to dive in 1979, and as his passion for the sport grew it began to consume more of his life until he made diving his full-time career in 1992 (^[2]).

For more than 20 years, Bantin traveled the globe as Technical Editor of Diver Magazine (UK), one of the world’s longest-running dive publications. He was a regular contributor to Undercurrent magazine and DYK, and was listed alongside Doug Perrine, Marty Snyderman, Michael Aw, Brandon Cole, Stephen Frink, and Alex Mustard as having published over 100 articles for DIVE Magazine (^[3]). He was shortlisted for the Environmental Photographer of the Year award in 2015 (^[4]).

Bantin’s brother is a professor of animal care and welfare at Shanghai Agricultural University, a connection that informed his research into strobe effects on marine life (^[5]).

Bantin holds a unique and complex place in the Wetpixel story: he was welcomed as an active community member, with his books promoted on the site, his photography featured in Full Frame galleries, and his presence documented at multiple dive shows by Adam Hanlon. He later became the journalist whose Undercurrent investigation exposed Hanlon’s financial mishandling of Wetpixel.

Community Presence

With 1,767 forum posts across an active period from 2005 to 2017, Bantin was one of Wetpixel’s most prolific contributors, earning an activity score of 2,134 in the person matrix. He was known for his provocative discussion topics, witty exchanges, and willingness to tackle controversial subjects. Fellow forum members affectionately referred to him as the “Aged Scribe” and described him as “a pussycat really” beneath his combative exterior (^[6]).

Notable Forum Threads

Bantin started several of the most-discussed threads on Wetpixel:

• “Is it art or is it reality?” (91 replies) — In September 2006, Bantin posed a fundamental question about digital manipulation in underwater photography. Drawing on his background as an advertising photographer, he questioned whether Photoshop-enhanced images in dive magazines were “misrepresenting reality,” noting that he had “500,000 snaps (no exaggeration)” in filing cabinets that could now be digitally resurrected. The thread drew responses from Alex Mustard, Dave Haas, and dozens of others, and was promoted to a featured Wetpixel article by Eric Cheng (^[7], ^[8]).

• “A question for American friends — Politics” (126 replies) — In September 2008, Bantin opened a spirited thread asking Americans why they did not elect “statesmen like Nancy Pelosi” as president, producing the highest-reply thread he started (^[9]).

• “Damage to marine animals eyes by strobes” (71 replies) — In January 2011, Bantin solicited scientific input on whether strobe light damages marine animals’ eyes, drawing on his own experience photographing animals with up to 40,000 joules of strobe light in controlled conditions during the 1980s (cats, dogs, rodents, birds, reptiles, primates, and horses). He noted that “a typical underwater strobe delivers a lot less than 100 joules” and that “it’s not the flash but what’s attached to it (the person) that does the damage” (^[10]).

• “Top Ten Dive Sites” (62 replies) — In September 2009, Bantin crowdsourced fellow members’ top dive sites for an article, joking that “even Jacques Cousteau had about 50 in his Top Ten” (^[11]).

• “I don’t get it!” (48 replies) — In February 2013, Bantin questioned why photographers would shoot in DX crop mode on an FX camera, arguing that shooting full-frame and cropping later gave more flexibility for publication layouts with “gutters, stand-firsts, headlines and body copy” (^[12]).

Journalism and Blogging

Bantin contributed his story of how he entered dive photojournalism to a blog series alongside Alex Mustard and Elaine Whiteford, providing insight into his career path for aspiring dive writers (^[13]).

Books

• First two books (titles unknown) — Published before 2013
• Amazing Diving Stories (2013) — His best-selling book (^[14])
• Shark Bytes: Tales of Diving with the Bizarre and the Beautiful (Fernhurst Books, September 15, 2015, 224 pages, £17.99) — His third book, a compilation of over two decades of shark encounters, illustrated with over 80 color photographs taken by Bantin himself. He described the book as hoping to “do something for the future well-being of sharks.” The press release characterized him as a “best selling author and scuba expert” and “accomplished raconteur” (^[15])

Photography

Full Frame Galleries

Bantin’s photography was featured in Wetpixel’s prestigious Full Frame gallery series:

• “John Bantin: Bimini Hammerheads” (November 2015) — A nine-image gallery of great hammerheads (Sphyrna mokarran) photographed during a February 2013 trip to Bimini, Bahamas, with Stuart Cove. Bantin noted that the trip was “spectacularly successful” and resulted in a feature article in Diver Magazine entitled “The Next Big Thing,” predicting the Bimini hammerhead experience would become a major dive attraction — “which in the world of diving it certainly has proved to be.” Shot with a Nikon D800, Bantin described burying his camera housing in the sand to achieve unusually low angles, shooting from as close as six inches from the sharks’ eyes (^[16]).

• “A Wall of Sharks as a Tribute to Rob Stewart” (February 2017) — Bantin contributed image #19, a pair of Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezii), to the community tribute gallery honoring filmmaker Rob Stewart (^[17]).

• Full Frame 2015 Retrospective — His Bimini Hammerheads gallery was included as entry #20 in the year-end retrospective of the best Full Frame galleries of 2015 (^[18]).

Writing for Diver Magazine

Bantin’s colorful writing style is exemplified by his Diver Magazine profile of dive pioneer Larry Smith, quoted in Smith’s 2007 memorial article on Wetpixel: “Larry, our guide, is in his ’50s and from Texas. He has a bull neck, a beefy body, and talks like a cowboy… He gets his rocks off looking at pygmy seahorses less than a quarter the size of your pinkie fingernail” (^[19]).

Dive Show Appearances

Bantin was a regular presence at dive shows on both sides of the Atlantic, frequently appearing in show coverage photographed by Eric Cheng and Adam Hanlon:

• DEMA 2006 (Las Vegas) — Photographed with Eric Cheng at the Ikelite booth, where he was part of a “little reunion” of Wetpixel members including Drew Wong, Shawn Heinrichs, and Dave Haas (^[20], ^[21]).

• DEMA 2008 (Las Vegas) — Eric Cheng posted a humorous photo titled “John Bantin at his best” showing Bantin at the event, where he joked about being “banned from the StarTrek Lounge at the Hilton” at the previous year’s show. Community members referenced his spirited US politics debates (^[22]).

• London International Dive Show 2009 — Presented “A Job To Do,” recounting “in his inimitable style life as DIVER Magazine’s Technical Editor,” alongside Alex Mustard’s Digital Photo Clinic (^[23]).

• London International Dive Show 2011 — Commented on the show’s photography exhibits, noting that three large entrance photographs — taken on a D700 at ISO 200, a D200 at ISO 100, and a 35mm transparency scanned with a Nikon Coolscan 4000ED — showed “absolutely no difference in apparent quality between them” (^[24]).

• Dive 2015 (Birmingham, UK) — Presented on the Diver Stage alongside Alex Mustard and Amanda Cotton. Also “gate-crashed” a Q&A session by Saeed Rashid and Nigel Wade, and was photographed assisting customers at the Ocean Leisure cameras stand (^[25], ^[26]).

• DEMA 2017 (Orlando) — Photographed alongside Douglas Seifert at the show (^[27]).

Undercurrent Investigation

Bantin’s most historically significant role in the Wetpixel story came circa 2023, when he investigated Adam Hanlon’s financial handling of Wetpixel for Undercurrent magazine. Hanlon’s statements to Bantin, quoted in a Divernet article published September 15, 2023, included claims that “Wetpixel Ltd has physical assets that can and will be liquidated to repay creditors” and that Wetpixel “had a number of potential purchasers” whose acquisition would “alleviate the liquidity problem too, or at least go a significant way towards doing so.” Forum members noted this appeared to be Hanlon’s last known public statement about Wetpixel’s financial situation (^[28]).

Timeline

• 1947-04-08: Born (turned 64 on April 8, 2011) (^[29])
• 1979: Learned to dive (^[30])
• 1980s: Worked as advertising photographer in London; photographed animals with up to 40,000 joules of strobe light in controlled studio conditions (^[31], ^[32])
• 1992: Made diving his full-time career (^[33])
• 2005-03-24: First appearance on Wetpixel forum (person_matrix)
• 2005-05: Commented on Tauchen Magazine article, noting the death of Duiken editor John Neuschwander (^[34])
• 2006-09: Started “Is it art or is it reality?” forum thread, promoted to Wetpixel article by Eric Cheng (^[35])
• 2006-11: Attended DEMA 2006 in Las Vegas; photographed with Eric Cheng at Ikelite booth (^[36])
• 2007-03: Quoted in Larry Smith memorial article from his Diver Magazine profile (^[37])
• 2008-05: Contributed to photojournalism blog alongside Alex Mustard and Elaine Whiteford (^[38])
• 2008-09: Started “A question for American friends” political discussion thread (126 replies) (^[39])
• 2008-10: Attended DEMA 2008 in Las Vegas (^[40])
• 2009-03: Presented at London International Dive Show on life as DIVER’s Technical Editor (^[41])
• 2009-04: Commented on Aphrodite Shoot Out article, correcting that Cyprus is an independent country, not part of Greece (^[42])
• 2009-09: Started “Top Ten Dive Sites” forum thread (62 replies) (^[43])
• 2011-01: Started forum discussion on strobe effects on marine animal eyes (^[44])
• 2011-03: Attended London International Dive Show; commented on photography quality comparisons (^[45])
• 2011-04: Turned 64; celebrated in birthday thread by Nige Wade, Alex Mustard, and others. Tim Priest reported sharing two weeks of “John Bantin stories” aboard the Royal Evolution in the Sudanese Red Sea (^[46])
• 2013-02: Photographed great hammerheads in Bimini, Bahamas, with Stuart Cove; article in Diver Magazine entitled “The Next Big Thing” (^[47])
• 2013-02: Started “I don’t get it!” thread about DX crop mode on FX cameras (48 replies) (^[48])
• 2013: Published Amazing Diving Stories (best-seller) (^[49])
• 2013-11: Commented on the humorous “Nikon vs Canon Underwater Shootout” article about flooded cameras, asking “Are these the cameras of people who scorned the vacuum leak test?” (^[50], ^[51])
• 2015: Shortlisted for Environmental Photographer of the Year award (^[52])
• 2015-09: Published Shark Bytes (Fernhurst Books, third book) (^[53])
• 2015-10: Attended Dive 2015 in Birmingham; presented on Diver Stage with Alex Mustard and Amanda Cotton (^[54])
• 2015-11: Bimini Hammerheads Full Frame gallery published on Wetpixel (^[55])
• 2017-02: Contributed shark image to Rob Stewart memorial tribute (^[56])
• 2017-02-28: Last recorded forum activity (person_matrix)
• 2017-06: Named among 100+ article milestone authors in DIVE Magazine (^[57])
• 2017-11: Attended DEMA 2017 in Orlando; photographed with Douglas Seifert (^[58])
• ~2023: Investigated Adam Hanlon / Wetpixel finances for Undercurrent magazine; Hanlon’s statements to Bantin cited by Divernet (September 15, 2023) (^[59])

References