Born in France, I learnt to dive in 1980, at the age of 9 to follow my father's footsteps. After moving to the UK in 1994, I became a diving instructor and spent my holidays teaching people to dive. I also developed an interest in underwater videography but soon realised that, although I could obtain some decent footage, I often struggled to put it together into an interesting story. Meanwhile, my wife Jane was enjoying success with her Nikon F90x film camera. So I switched to still photography in 2003 with a Nikon D100 and joined the British Society of Underwater Photographers, attending the meetings every month.

There, I learnt a great deal about matters such as light or composition underwater. In 2003, I was lucky to win the BBC Photographer of the Year award, with a picture of schooling barracuda, which was later displayed as double-page spread in Vanity Fair Italy. I now shoot with a housed Nikon D200 SLR and most of my holidays are dedicated to capturing the beauty of the underwater environment. Nowadays, you will rarely see me underwater without a camera in hand ! I have put a few images on my online gallery : www.jptrenque.com.