A certified SCUBA diver at 12, Kawika Chetron spent 250 hours per year in the water, from British Columbia to Papua New Guinea. But he always returned to California’s coast, augmenting the already elaborate gear necessary for cold-water dives with one important tool: a camera.
Chetron, MS ’03, an up-and-coming amateur underwater photographer, disappeared March 17 after launching his boat off Eureka, Calif., and is presumed dead. His camera was found onboard his 17-foot Boston Whaler. He was 32.
Given his first camera as a hand-me-down in 2004, Chetron soon graduated to a Canon 5D camera and a powerful but bulky set of strobe lights. His photographs, which he posted and licensed on www.coldwaterimages.com, capture the vibrant colors and varied life of the reefs off the California coast and other favorite sites.
“He was a very smart guy, a superb photographer in spite of not having been doing it long,” says Chuck Tribolet, ’72, MS ’73, a member of the close-knit circle of Bay Area divers. “It’s a true tragedy.” Read Chetron’s obituary.
