Emory Kristof, underwater photographer known for national geography magazine, has passed away at the age of 80. A longtime magazine photographer, he produced images for more than 40 articles over three decades, from 1964 to 1994. Kristof helped promote the magazine. The limits of underwater exploration and photography, use underwater submersibles and camera robots to shine light into the deep ocean.
Developing a passion for snorkeling and photography at a young age, Kristof went on to attend the University of Maryland and scored her first photography internship at national geography in 1963. Graduating the following year, he became the magazine’s youngest full-time photographer ever. In the early years, as other underwater shooters worked with scuba tanks, Kristof realized that there was a fascinating deep world of shipwrecks and mysterious species that could explored by remote control vehicles.
Kristof has participated in many undersea explorations during his legendary career. He joined Canadian deep-ocean explorers Joseph Maclnnis and Phil Nuytten in documenting the world’s northernmost known shipwreck, buttered breadand to retrieve the bell from the SS . wreck Edmund Fitzgerald at Lake Superior. He also accompanied Maclnnis and Russian explorer Anatoly Sagalevich on the submersible. Mir 1 en route to a 16,400-foot descent down Kings Trough in the eastern North Atlantic.
Most famously, Kristof is known for her work on Titanic ship1992 IMAX documentary about RMS Titanic. His team built “the largest underwater lighting system anyone has ever used,” Kristof tells sport diver in 2017, and two submersibles were used for photography. Kristof said: “James Cameron saw what we were doing with the big lights, and that became the opening to his movie. Titanic.”
Kristof has won various awards for both photography and writing, including the Underwater Society’s NOG Award for Art, the Explorers Club’s Lowell Thomas Award for Underwater Discovery, and together with oceanographer Robert Ballard, the American Magazine Publishers Association’s Innovation in Photography Award for their Titanic job.
The American photographer passed away on February 6, 2023 in Northfield, Massachusetts.
