CONSTANCE STUART LARRABEE came to the Chesapeake region after an adventurous career as a war correspondent during World War II and a professional photographer in South Africa whose work with the native tribes was widely exhibited in leading museums. Her black-and-white photographs of Tangier Island watermen and residents was collected in a 1982 traveling exhibit called Celebration of the Chesapeake.   more . . 

The first publication produced by Maryland Sea Grant featured on its cover a Chesapeake Bay photograph by Robert de Gast. Sea Grant was a new science and outreach program that would focus its early work on understanding the causes of declining fisheries and deteriorating water quality in the Chesapeake. That first cover image by a great photographer was our way of announcing the program's commitment to communicating widely to nontechnical audiences. And that has meant featuring the best photographs we could find or purchase or take ourselves. Here are some more of the talented Bay photographers who helped us maintain that commitment.

SKIP BROWN was a student when he came looking for part-time work as a photographer with a new program called Maryland Sea Grant. In his portfolio, you could see an artist’s eye at work in his strong, almost formal sense of composition. For years, his artful black-and-white images gave Sea Grant publications a distinctive look. As a successful professional, he has provided many color photographs and 14 covers for our magazine, Chesapeake Quarterly.   more . . 

NICK CALOYIANIS, a Marylander who has done deep-water filming all over the world with his partner Clarita Berger, has refocused his energies in recent years on capturing the shallow underwater world of Chesapeake Bay — both in video and photography. His underwater work produced crucial footage in Chesapeake: The Twilight Estuary, a Sea Grant documentary about the decline of seagrasses, and more recently in Who Killed Crassostrea virginica, our widely broadcast documentary about the decline and revival of oysters in Chesapeake Bay.   more . . 

MICHAEL EVERSMIER tried his first scuba diving when he was 16, starting a long-running love affair that became a marriage of sorts. By the time he was 20 he was teaching scuba diving and by 28 he was ready to start with his wife Maureen a business called Aqua Ventures that provides scuba training, equipment and travel opportunities. He also contributed two popular cover photographs for Chesapeake Quarterly.   more . .