2012 awards archive
2012 Legend of the Sea
Beneath the Sea’s Legend of the Sea Program recognizes a vision, the drive to follow it, and a dedication to purpose. Its expression may be calculated, well-reasoned wisdom; it may involve plain and simple luck; or it may demand exceptional courage in challenges that today seem ordinary but were once new, mysterious, and untouched.
Ernie Brooks
Photographer, Adventurer, Diver and Educator Ernest (Call me, Ernie) H. Brooks II was born to be a photographer. His men-of-the-sea Portuguese ancestry insured the ocean environment would play an important role in his life. As the son of Ernest H. Brooks, founder of the internationally renowned Brooks Institute of Photography, Ernie was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps before forging his own path. He graduated from Brooks Institute, served on the school’s executive staff and assumed the office of the president, from 1971 until 2000 when the institute was sold.
As a noted professional photographer, educator and ambassador to the industry at a time when underwater photography was taking on shape and form and seeking direction, Ernie was winning international acclaim for his underwater photography and audio/visual presentation. As a working professional, he contributed to numerous magazines and organizations including: Cousteau Society, California Highways, Ocean Realm, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Nature Conservancy and National Wildlife, to name only a few. He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards including: 1973 “Triton Award” Inner Space Pacifica, Hawaii; 1975 “NOGI” The Underwater Society of America; 1977 “National Award” Professional Photographers of America; 1971 through 1980 Hall of Fame elector Photographic Arts and Science Foundation; 1978 Camera Craftsmen of America; served on the National Advisory Council of the National Society of Arts and Letters; “Hall of Fame” Underwater Photographic Society; was honored by the Oceanic Community of SSI and Nikon for 5000 hours beneath the sea “Platinum Pro Diver Award”; and his most recent honor, “The 1996 Partner’s Award,” was received from the American Oceans Campaign for his lifelong commitment and dedication to our oceans.
A trailblazer in the development of underwater photographic equipment and technique, Ernie has witnessed great industry advances, harnessed, and implemented much of that new technology, even so, at a time when color underwater photographs dominated magazines and glossy brochures, Ernie turned to black and white. “I don’t think that blue, an inherent color of the ocean, really adds to many photographs, especially of mammals—and I like the quality of black and white. Frankly, I get great personal satisfaction working with black and white, being able to control the development and printing.”
Today, the ocean and underwater photography are his main interests. In the pursuit of dramatic marine images, Ernie has descended into the waters beneath the polar icecaps as well as into the depths of almost every ocean on Earth. His photographic legacy often is the evidence that illustrates the changes in our environment, and insists that he become the informed voice of our need to change.
His work has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monterey Bay Aquarium Shark Exhibit, Yugoslavia “Man in the Sea,” Our World Underwater, Smithsonian “Planet Earth” and was also honored by the Smithsonian Institute in January of 1995. He is a member of the Professional Photographers of America and is one of forty photographers in the world admitted to the prestigious Camera Craftsmen of America.
As a leader or principal member, Ernest H. Brooks II has participated in projects of international recognition including: the photographic investigation into the Shroud of Turin (1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project); and photo-documentation of Arctic research station activities (1977 sponsored by the McGinnis Foundation of Toronto, Canada). He was also a project leader and member of the international panel in the “Focus on New Zealand” event in 1985, and led a photographic research and travel expedition to the Sea of Cortez aboard the Institute’s research vessel, Just Love, in 1986.
Here in the year 2012, Ernie Brooks stands as Beneath the Sea’s Legend of the Sea celebrated for his art, his character, his devotion to the environment, and his love of the grace and the beauty of man in the water.
