We conclude our conversation with Stephen Frink, undoubtedly one of the world’s most-frequently published underwater photographers, about some of his most-memorable exploits, and what it is like to be at the helm of DAN’s Alert Diver magazine.
Photographs courtesy of Stephen Frink
Read Part One of this interview
From Decompression Chambers to DAN Leadership
Q: Now, as well as your photography assignments and photo workshops, you are also the publisher of DAN’s Alert Diver magazine. How did you end up in this role, and what are some of the most-challenging aspects of the job?
A: I was pretty greedy for my time underwater when I was younger and more stupid. Which led me to staying too long on a dive in Vanuatu and getting bent for the first time. Actually, I was a pretty slow learner and I’ve been bent multiple times. In each instance, DAN took care of me, sometimes getting me evacuated from remote locations and always paying for my recompression treatments. Which led me to have a very favourable impression of DAN in general, and a debt of gratitude to them. They invited me to join their Board of Directors back in 2009 and I accepted.
As part of our duties on the BOD we did due diligence on the various aspects of the vast and varied DAN business culture. They published a magazine called Alert Diver, but it was pretty modest at the time. There were some good dive safety articles but it wasn’t a compelling print publication.
They sent it out six times a year to over 200,000 members, had no advertising to speak of, and were losing a fortune.
Reinventing Alert Diver Magazine
I had an idea maybe we could do it better if we executed a coffee-table quarterly and expanded the topics to more of a scuba-lifestyle hook. Dive safety of course, as that is DAN’s core mission, but also travel, underwater photography, and environmental topics. I crafted a dummy of what the concept might be and presented it to the BOD. I can’t say everyone saw the wisdom of such a drastic change right away, but enough did that I was authorized to give it a try. I resigned from the BOD so it would not be a conflict of interest, and at the DEMA show in 2009 we presented our inaugural issue of the redesigned Alert Diver.
We’ve done 61 issues now over the past 15 years, and I’ve been on press each one of those times, ensuring that we get the best possible ink on paper product for our DAN members. We print on a very high-quality paper stock from a managed forestry, which is more environmentally sound than using recycled paper stock which uses chemicals and creates waste. We don’t use petroleum-based inks, and we never even considered using polybags to ship the magazine. I get to oversee the design and function as photo editor too. I get to see every photo in the magazine from receipt, to prepress, to on press. It kind of feels like my evolved reaction to seeing that black and white print pop up in the tray of Dektol when I see our finished pages roll off the web press.
What is the most challenging aspect you asked? The deadlines never stop. By the time I get off press for one issue we are 25% invested in the next issue already. I had the epiphany recently that I’ve been on deadline for dive publications since 1982. I can’t quite decide if I’m gratified or depressed over that one.
Great White Sharks, Family, and the Shot That Counted
Q: What is your most memorable diving experience?
A: Travelling with my wife and daughter on assignments and photo tours over the years. My daughter is 32 now, but in those early years we travelled as a family all over the Caribbean, on African wildlife safaris, to the Red Sea and Papua New Guinea. My wife, Barbara Doernbach, was my model and when she was too young for school, our daughter Alexa could travel with us. Since we’re talking about family dive travel I’ll share a story.
We did a combo trip to South Africa, safari the first week and great white sharks the second. We had a core group each day going out on the white shark boats, but Barbara and Alexa were with the others in the group who wanted to do topside touring. One day I chartered a second boat so they could moor up beside us while we chummed for great white sharks, just to see what it was all about.
We had a good shark, a “‘player”’ in the idiom of shark wrangling, and I had the idea I wanted to shoot an over/ under of the shark next to my dome. So, I laid on my belly on the swim platform and asked famed wrangler Andre Hartman to try to coax the shark right up to me. I had my eye to the swivel-45 viewfinder with a fisheye lens calling out ‘Closer. Closer!’ Well, Andre complied, to the point where the shark rammed his nose into my dome port and the forward momentum smashing my housing against my face. There was a big white water splash and a cacophony of shouts from my friends. ‘Steve… are you OK? “Did you get bitten?!”’ Then from the other boat a young child called out… ‘Daddy, did you get the shot?’. To which I had to laugh. That was a pretty special day, and yes, Alexa, I got the shot.
Lessons Learned the Hard Way: Dive Safety and Longevity
Q: On the flipside, what is your worst diving memory?
A: The worst memories are the trips I had to be evacuated for the bends. There were too many instances to recount, but there was a pretty bad patch before I changed my diving protocols. I now dive nitrox on air tables with an altitude adjustment dialled into my computers. If I’m doing multiple dives daily, like I would do on a liveaboard I use pure oxygen on my five-minute hang to off-gas, being sure to stay in less than 5m of water to avoid oxygen toxicity. It’s all good now, and my archives are so mature I don’t stress about having enough pictures to come home with anymore. I also find there is plenty to shoot in shallow water at the end of the dive so I can have safe multi-level dives, and still be productive until everyone is ready to ascend.
I think I came to DAN because they helped me get into the recompression chamber, but being the publisher of Alert Diver and reading the dive safety stories we publish, they’ve helped me learn how to now stay out of them.
What’s Next for Stephen Frink?
Q: What does the future holds for Stephen Frink?
A: More of the same for a while. Stock photography used to be a big part of my career, but I stopped submitting to stock when the prices dropped so insultingly low. I don’t shoot the dive catalogues or fashion gigs like I used to either. The art directors are typically much younger now and prefer to work with their peers, as it should be. So, the core parts of my career now are publishing Alert Diver and a few highly curated travel destinations each year through WaterHouse Photo Tours. I wouldn’t mind dialling it back a little, and it’s getting easier to say no these days. But I still enjoy it, and I can still outswim most everyone on the boat. So nothing drastically changing at the moment, but there’s also the realisation that nothing’s forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Stephen Frink?
Stephen Frink is one of the world’s most-published underwater photographers and the publisher of DAN’s Alert Diver magazine.
What is Alert Diver magazine?
Alert Diver is DAN’s flagship publication, focused on dive safety, scuba lifestyle, travel, photography, and marine conservation.
How did Stephen Frink become involved with DAN?
After multiple personal decompression illness incidents where DAN assisted him, Frink joined DAN’s Board and later became publisher of Alert Diver.
What changes did Stephen Frink make to Alert Diver magazine?
He transformed it from a modest safety bulletin into a high-quality quarterly magazine with broader lifestyle, travel, and visual storytelling appeal.
How has dive safety influenced Stephen Frink’s diving today?
After experiencing decompression sickness, he adopted more conservative dive protocols involving nitrox, oxygen safety stops, and multi-level diving.
This article was originally published in Scuba Diver Magazine
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