Mike Bartick

Peter Rowlands · Issue 148, Jan/Feb 2026 · pp. 37–46

You are currently resident photo pro at Crystal Blue Resort in Anilao, Philippines and we’ll come back to that later but have you always been in the dive industry or were you following another career path beforehand? Actually, this is my second career. I was a trained chef working in Southern California for more than 20 years. Working in a busy kitchen forces you to be creative and find solutions quickly while keeping your cool. It was a challenging career path, but it was very rewarding and beneficial to my current career in many ways. Did diving and underwater photography start about the same time; was it in the film era or have you always been digital? I did shoot film, but I don’t think that really counts. I lived near the ocean and traveled with my parents to Hawaii on family vacations. It was in those early years that I fell in love with tropical environments. I snorkeled first and…