Stephen Frink

Aliases: stephenfrink, StephenFrink, stephen frink
Role: Underwater photographer, publisher, educator, Canon Explorer of Light, Seacam USA distributor, inventor
First appearance: 2002 (^[1])
Location: Key Largo, Florida
Affiliation: Stephen Frink Photographic Inc.; Alert Diver (DAN); Scuba Diving Magazine; Seacam (North American distributor); Canon Explorers of Light

Biography

Stephen Frink is among the most frequently published underwater photographers in the world and a central figure in the transition from film to digital underwater photography. Based in Key Largo, Florida since 1978, he grew up in Rock Island, Illinois, where he swam competitively for 13 years, from age 8 through college at Augustana College, competing in sprint freestyle (100 and 200-yard) and 100-yard breaststroke. His high school relay teams were All-Americans (^[2]).

After college, Frink took a job cleaning yacht hulls in California, which required scuba certification. He was simultaneously enrolled in a black-and-white photography course, and the convergence of swimming, photography, and scuba diving set the trajectory for his career (^[3]).

He serves as publisher, editor, and art director of Alert Diver magazine (Divers Alert Network), a role he used to dramatically redesign the magazine in 2009, transforming it from an utilitarian member benefit into a visually stunning publication sent free to 165,000 DAN North America member households. The redesign was led by Frink alongside editorial director Keith Phillips, his friend and mentor from Scuba Diving Magazine (^[4], ^[5]). Previously, he served as Director of Photography for Scuba Diving Magazine and was a contributing photographer for Skin Diver magazine for 17 years (^[6]).

Frink is the North American distributor for Seacam housings and has been a Canon Explorer of Light — the only marine specialist within that elite group of photographers (^[7]). He is a former member of the DAN Board of Directors (^[8]). He shot Nikon cameras for 25 years before switching to Canon in early 2004 (^[9]).

Assignment photography clients over his 35+ year career have included Canon, Nikon, Victoria’s Secret, Aqualung, Oceanic, Scubapro, Mercury Marine, Rolex Watch Company, American Express, and Club Med, among many others (^[10]). He has authored the coffee table book Wonders of the Reef (^[11]).

Contributions

The D1X Field Journal (2002)

Received the first Seacam D1X housing in the US in January 2002. His Seacam D1X Field Journal and Operator’s Manual — published on Wetpixel in March 2002 — was arguably the single most important document of the film-to-digital transition for underwater photography: a 13-section guide covering camera setup, housing controls, lens configuration, TTL strobe photography, viewfinder selection, zincs, depth of operation, and maintenance. He documented the critical discovery that Nikonos TTL strobes did not work with the D1X — requiring the Seacam Systemflash (a housed SB28DX speedlight) as the only TTL option. The journal covered settings like reversing command/sub-command dials for aperture priority (since “aperture will change far more often and more critically than shutter speed underwater”) and the necessity of using “D” series lenses for full camera function access (^[12]).

Seacam Canon 1D/1Ds Field Journal (2004)

In January 2004, Frink published a comprehensive field journal for the Seacam Canon EOS 1Ds housing, documenting his switch from 25 years of Nikon to Canon. Written during a trip to Thailand aboard the Ocean Rover, the guide covered first impressions, camera setup, TTL strobe photography (including the removable pin system for hotshoe customization), and the Systemflash. This journal established the template for professional DSLR housing documentation (^[13], ^[14]).

Inventions and Engineering

• SOS Safety Sausage — Invented after being swept out to sea in Palau with cameras in both hands. Designed a BC-integrated inflatable signal tube with a patented one-way valve allowing inflation via BC pneumatics without deflating when the BC is trimmed. Licensed to Aqua Lung/Seaquest. A continuation patent was issued in February 2004 incorporating the improved one-way valve (^[15]).
• D2X Hotshoe Syndrome fix — Discovered and documented a mysterious Nikon D2X bug where images would shoot, appear on the LCD, but never write to the CF card. Working with Harald Hordosch of Seacam Austria, he developed a user-serviceable pin-removal fix requiring no tools or soldering. The fix applied to all D2X housings, not just Seacam. Recommended removing pins in the 1 and 4 slots for most strobes, with all pins needed only for i-TTL with the Seaflash 250 (^[16]).
• Anti-vignette fix — Invented a solution for concentric ring reflections from the Canon 17-40mm lens in dome ports using self-adhesive black flocked paper from Edmund Scientific (~$10), cut to fit the lens barrel using a 77mm filter as an outer guide and a Nikon rear lens cap as an inner template. Eric Cheng confirmed it also worked on the 16-35mm/2.8L, eliminating all reflections except from the metal filter thread (which Frink treated with a black Sharpie) (^[17]).

Paradigm Shift: Connector Standards

In April 2006, Frink published an influential open letter to all housing and strobe manufacturers calling for the industry to abandon the legacy Nikonos 5-pin connector in favor of a 6-pin system. He argued the Nikonos connectors were hard to register, had fragile pins, and lacked the 6th pin required for Canon E-TTL. The thread generated extensive discussion from manufacturers and users, including endorsements from James Wiseman and others who had experienced flooding and pin breakage with Nikonos bulkheads (^[18]).

Gear Reviews and Testing

Frink published a stream of detailed, methodical gear reviews on Wetpixel:

• Seacam D2X Field Report (July 2005) — Co-authored with Dennis Liberson from a Bahamas trip, covering camera menu optimization, housing setup, and underwater performance of the 12.4MP D2X (^[19]).
• PMA 2005 report — A thoughtful analysis of the Photo Marketing Association show, identifying products relevant to underwater imaging (^[20]).
• Lens testing and port matching (December 2006) — Comprehensive pool tests of 8 Canon lenses with Seacam ports (15mm, 14mm, 16-35mm, 17-40mm, 20mm, 24mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, 24-70mm zoom), documenting optimal port extension and diopter combinations. Discovered a backfocus issue with his own camera body that Canon Professional Services corrected. Concluded with the key insight that “these new cameras are ultra-sophisticated and reveal lens and port flaws we never knew existed before” (^[21]).
• Canon 16-35mm II (May 2007) — Underwater comparison against the 16-35mm I, 17-40mm, and 15mm fisheye in Seacam housing, finding “much better color and contrast” and sharper centers (^[22]).
• Canon 14mm II (January 2008) — Extensive underwater and topside tests against the 15mm fisheye, 15mm + Tamron 1.4x TC, and 16-35mm II. Pool-tested first at a local swim invitational, then rigorously tested with weighted targets. Concluded the new 14mm was “so very much better than the 16-35mm II” in corners at wide apertures, and proposed raising base ISO from 100 to 200 to gain an extra stop of depth of field (^[23]).
• Seacam Wet One and Wet Two diopters (February 2006) — Field-tested in PNG and St. Vincent, discovering the Wet Two worked excellently with a 60mm lens on cropped-sensor Nikons for macro photography (^[24], ^[25]).
• Seacam Seaflash 250 (November 2006) — First Canon E-TTL underwater strobe with rear curtain sync. Frink reported spot-on TTL accuracy across apertures from f/2.8 to f/11, with a digital power readout showing percentage of power dumped (^[26], ^[27]).
• Seacam Seaflash 150 (February 2009) — Field-tested in Bonaire as a single wide-angle strobe, finding it offered “Big Strobe coverage and power in relatively Small Strobe size and weight.” Praised its E-TTL accuracy and noted he hadn’t been such a strong proponent of TTL with digital until testing this strobe (^[28], ^[29]).
• Canon 1D Mark IV (January 2010) — Early underwater test: “Holy crap … AF is so nice. Very fast and accurate, even in low contrast subjects like black wetsuits” (^[30]).

Teaching and Workshops

Frink ran the Stephen Frink School of Underwater Digital Imaging from Key Largo, offering annual Digital Master Class seminars. He co-taught with Canon Explorer of Light and Photoshop Hall of Fame member Eddie Tapp, combining underwater photography instruction with post-processing education (^[31], ^[32]). He also co-hosted the Cayman Islands Digital Madness shootout (2006) with Cathy Church and Alex Mustard (^[33]) and the Shark Shootout workshops in the Bahamas (^[34]).

The Art of Swimming

Frink’s background as a competitive swimmer led to a parallel career photographing Olympic-caliber swimmers. Beginning in 2008, when Gary Hall Sr. opened The Race Club training camp in the Upper Florida Keys, Frink documented elite swimmers in training, including athletes preparing for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He worked with Seacam housings in pools, and the project highlighted the intersection of underwater photography and competitive aquatics. He noted that Olympic swimmers have “very good situational awareness” and can avoid collisions even through tiny goggles (^[35]).

USS Spiegel Grove

Coordinated the 8-year volunteer effort through the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce to sink the USS Spiegel Grove as an artificial reef, raising several million dollars. The ship famously “turned turtle” during the sinking in 2002, ending up on its side rather than upright as planned (^[36]).

Conservation

Initiated a petition to designate Snapper Ledge (off Tavernier, Florida Keys) as a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA). The site was a popular dive location home to dense and diverse marine life, but spear-fishing was decimating populations, with divers reporting spearfishermen killing animals within feet of recreational SCUBA divers. Frink wrote to Eric Cheng to get Wetpixel behind the campaign, produced a 7-minute film for Scuba Diving Magazine, and the petition gathered 1,600+ signatures within a month. When media framed it as “photographer vs spearfisherman,” Frink posted a rebuttal clarifying the conservation rationale (^[37], ^[38]).

He also championed coral restoration in Key Largo, spotlighting the work of Ken Nedimyer and the Coral Restoration Foundation, and was an advocate for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary system (^[39]).

Bahamas Underwater Photo Week (2014)

Conceived the Alert Diver Bahamas Underwater Photo Week — an ambitious project to capture a photographic documentary of Bahamas underwater life over one week. Sponsored by the Out Islands Promotion Board, Grand Bahama Promotion Board, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, and the Bahamas Dive Association, the event deployed four photographers simultaneously across the islands: Frink (Bimini, Cat Island, Grand Bahama, Abaco), Eric Cheng (New Providence, Harbour Island/Eleuthera), Berkley White (Andros, Exumas), and Alex Mustard (Long Island, Conception, San Salvador). The resulting images were featured in the Fall 2014 edition of Alert Diver (^[40], ^[41], ^[42]).

Competition Judging

Served as a judge on the Wetpixel bi-monthly photo contest (2004) alongside Alex Mustard, Andy Sallmon, David Fleetham, Douglas David Seifert, James Watt, and Chris Bangs (^[43]). Later served as a judge for the DPG/Wetpixel Masters Underwater Imaging Competition in 2020 (alongside David Doubilet, Erin Quigley, and others) and 2021 (^[44], ^[45]).

DAN Insurance Advocacy

Wrote about the importance of DAN dive insurance after a live-aboard dive boat in the Misool region of Indonesia ran into an island at night, smashing the mast through crew quarters. Used the experience to advocate for comprehensive dive travel insurance (^[46]).

COVID-19 Dive Travel Planning

During the pandemic in May 2020, authored a thoughtful piece on trip planning in an age of COVID-19, organizing dive destinations into Immediate (Key Largo shore diving from private boats), Near-Term (Bahamas and Caribbean by fall), and Plan-Ahead (exotic destinations requiring 6-month to 2-year booking windows). Urged divers to reschedule rather than cancel, supporting the dive travel industry (^[47]).

Professional Workflow

Described his editing workflow as a “tripod” approach: (1) Photo Mechanic for first edit, IPTC data, and file naming (100% of images); (2) Lightroom for processing select images (~20%); (3) Photoshop CC for cloning and backscatter removal (~1-2%). On the road, he edited daily and archived keepers on laptop plus two portable hard drives, splitting between hand-carry and checked baggage (^[48]).

Community Presence

Frink was one of the most active professional photographers on the Wetpixel forums, posting 694 times across 145 threads started under the username “stephenfrink.” His forum presence spanned from December 2002 through 2023, making him one of the longest-active professional contributors. He was active in 21 of the 22 years from 2002 to 2023, with forum posts covering gear reviews, technique discussions, conservation advocacy, and general community engagement (forum database).

His forum contributions were regularly elevated to article status by Wetpixel editors — his Seaflash 150 review, corner sharpness tests, and Seacam observations were all featured as front-page “From the forums” articles (^[49], ^[50]).

He also contributed article comments including responses on the Aquatica Kodak ProSLRn housing and Eric Cheng’s “Mystery of RAW” article (^[51], ^[52]).

My Home Town: Key Largo

In 2013, Frink published a photo essay about Key Largo for Wetpixel’s “Full Frame” series. He described arriving in the Keys in 1978 to find “massive fields of elkhorn and staghorn coral” on reefs like South Carysfort that have since drastically declined — “like E-6 slides that were improperly fixed and stored in high humidity … faded memories of a former grandeur.” He noted that despite coral decline, Key Largo’s fish populations remained strong due to the long history of marine conservation beginning with John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (1960), the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary (1975), and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (1990). He recommended visiting between late May through October for calm conditions (^[53]).

Timeline

• 2002-01: Receives first Seacam D1X housing in the US (^[54])
• 2002-03: Publishes D1X Field Journal on Wetpixel — foundational document for housed DSLR underwater photography (^[55])
• 2002-06: Spiegel Grove sinks off Key Largo; Frink’s photos published by Scuba Diving Magazine (^[56])
• 2003-10: Attends DEMA 2003 alongside Jim Watt, Cathy Church, and other industry figures (^[57])
• 2004-01: Switches from Nikon to Canon after 25 years; publishes Canon 1D/1Ds field journal from Thailand (^[58])
• 2004-02: SOS Safety Sausage continuation patent issued; licensed to Aqua Lung (^[59])
• 2004-03: Named as judge for Wetpixel’s bi-monthly photo contest (^[60])
• 2005-03: Reports on PMA 2005 show for Wetpixel (^[61])
• 2005-07: Co-authors Seacam D2X field report with Dennis Liberson from the Bahamas (^[62])
• 2005-11: Publishes D2X hotshoe syndrome diagnosis and pin-removal fix (^[63])
• 2006-02: Field-tests Seacam Wet Two diopter in Papua New Guinea (^[64])
• 2006-04: Publishes anti-vignette flocked-paper fix for Canon 17-40mm (^[65])
• 2006-04: Publishes open letter calling for industry-wide connector standard to replace Nikonos 5-pin (^[66])
• 2006-05: Hosts live chat on Scuba Diving Magazine website (^[67])
• 2006-09: Co-hosts Cayman Islands Digital Madness 2006 Shootout with Cathy Church and Alex Mustard (^[68])
• 2006-11: Announces Seacam Seaflash 250 — first Canon E-TTL strobe with rear curtain sync — at DEMA 2006 (^[69], ^[70])
• 2006-12: Publishes lens testing and port matching guide for 8 Canon lenses with Seacam ports (^[71])
• 2007-05: Tests Canon 16-35mm II underwater; reports improved color, contrast, and center sharpness (^[72])
• 2008-01: Canon 14mm II extensive underwater/topside review; tests at local swim invitational pool (^[73])
• 2008-09: Initiates Snapper Ledge conservation petition; gathers 1,600+ signatures in one month (^[74], ^[75])
• 2008-11: Writes about DAN insurance after live-aboard boat crash in Misool, Indonesia (^[76])
• 2009-02: Field-tests Seacam Seaflash 150 in Bonaire as single wide-angle strobe (^[77])
• 2009-10: Redesigned Alert Diver magazine ships to DAN members; community response overwhelmingly positive (^[78], ^[79])
• 2010-01: Canon 1D Mark IV early underwater test — praises AF speed and accuracy (^[80])
• 2012-06: Publishes “The Art of Swimming” interview on Wetpixel, documenting his Olympic swimmer photography project (^[81])
• 2013-02: Named Diver of the Year by Beneath the Sea for “outstanding service to the scuba diving industry” (^[82])
• 2013-04: Publishes “My Home Town” photo essay on Key Largo for Wetpixel Full Frame (^[83])
• 2014-05: Conceives and leads Bahamas Underwater Photo Week with Eric Cheng, Berkley White, Alex Mustard (^[84], ^[85])
• 2018-03: Photographs Jardines de la Reina, Cuba aboard Jardines Aggressor II; shoots Canon 5Ds with 8-15mm fisheye (^[86])
• 2020-01: Judges DPG/Wetpixel Masters 2020 alongside David Doubilet, Erin Quigley, and others (^[87])
• 2020-05: Publishes COVID-19 dive travel planning guide on Wetpixel (^[88])
• 2021-10: Judges DPG/Wetpixel Masters 2021 (^[89])

References