:: Mike Bacon Photography

I was born and raised in North Palm Beach, Florida growing up fishing, diving, camping, canoeing and spent countless hours on boats, wanting to spend every free moment in, on, under and around the water.

Under the fine tutelage of my parents I learned to love and respect the marine environment and began scuba diving at the age of 8 and was later certified in 1971 when it became difficult to have your tanks filled without a certification.

By this time I had already spend hundreds of hours underwater. Back then scuba tank regulators were nothing more than mouthpieces that regulated airflow; no depth gages, no pressure gages, no J-valves and certainly no BC's or computers. You never really knew how deep you were or how much air you had in your tank. The rule of thumb was when it gets difficult to suck air from your tank to breathe, it's time to come up. In hindsight, I often wonder how I survived these early years.

This love for the ocean continued throughout high school and college, never diminished and just got stronger. After graduating from Florida State University with a BS in Geology, I moved to Sarasota, Florida and began working for Mote Marine Laboratory assisting in the collection of sharks and clear-nosed skates for cancer research. I was also involved in the Red Tide Research Program which focused on the toxicity of Red Tide to the various life stages of coastal fishes and the Fish Stock Enhancement Program begun with the Florida Department of Natural Resources to help replenish the depleted snook and redfish populations. I was also deeply involved in the Marine Mammal and Turtle Stranding Network and turtle nest relocations.

It was at this time that my passion for underwater, nature and wildlife photography bloomed and my skills as a photographer were honed. I began to write to most of the major underwater, nature, and wildlife magazines asking for their photo and editorial guidelines and began submitting my work for their consideration and publication.

The National Wildlife Federation, The Sierra Club, Ranger Rick, Audubon, Greenpeace, Sea Frontiers and Scuba News all published work from my very first submission. Not only did I win the International Wildlife Photo competition in the underwater category, but I also made three covers that first year. I was hooked for good and I decided to leave my job at Mote Marine Laboratory and moved back to North Palm Beach and begin my "career" as a full time nature photographer.

I have been a full time professional underwater, nature and wildlife photographer for the past 13 years. The first three years my income as a freelance photographer was generated solely through submissions and sales of one time publishing rights of my transparencies to magazines, textbooks, calendars, encyclopedias and other book publishers and supplemented by sales of my other transparencies through "stock agents".

A few of the many publishers that have paid to use my work are National Geographic, Natures Best, National and International Wildlife, Audubon, Bird Watchers Digest, Sierra, Ranger Rick, Nature Photographer, Nature Travel, Ocean Realm, Sea Frontiers, Underwater USA, Skin Diver Magazine, Greenpeace, Readers Digest and Discovery.

In 1989 I began to display my photographs for exhibit and sale in the Outdoor Art Festival circuit to help supplement my income and desire to travel. In a very short period of time I became quite successful in this endeavor, winning numerous first, second and third place awards in photography along with many more honor awards. This avenue has rewarded me with great satisfaction by being able to share the love and knowledge I have for my subject matter with the public, and reliving these special moments experienced while travelling and photographing around the world.

To my parents, for all their love and support and to all the thousands of people who purchase my work and continue to give me the opportunity to travel and photograph, Thank You ! I could not do this without your help. I will do my best to continue to bring you new and exciting photographs that will brighten up your walls and share in the excitement of stories and travels.

For those of you who have seen my work, you know that I pride myself in producing exceptionally high quality photographs with rich vibrant colors, exquisite attention to even the smallest details, and aesthetically pleasing compositions.

This is why I print, mat and mount all of my photographs. When you place an order you will be pleasantly surprised to received a matted photograph that will look even more lovely and more vibrant than what can be reproduced on this web site with all of the constraints of scanning and compressing an image to decrease downloading time.

To back this up, here is my GUARANTEE: If you are not 100% satisfied with the product you receive, you can return it to me (undamaged, of course) within 30 days of purchase for a full refund, no questions asked.

For those of you who have yet to see my work, welcome to my web site. I hope you enjoy the photographs as much as I did while taking them.