About Me

Hello, and thank you for visiting me at GoAubie.  My name is David Gantt and I live in Austin, TX with my wife and 2 daughters.    I’ve photographed for many years, and have started doing professional work for the last two.  I never thought about photography as a serious hobby or even business until 3 major convergences happened.    First - digital photography came of age.  Second – I graduated to the expensive gear involved in shooting my kids’ sports.  Third – I became a scuba diver and fell in love with being underwater, but even more so when photographing.

The 3rd was perhaps the most important for me as underwater photography is difficult and challenging.  You might get lucky and get an occasionally good picture, but to do so regularly requires in-depth understanding about the camera, lighting, exposure techniques, composition, preparation, and post-processing.  So I began studying what it takes to make great photographs.  If you consider the greats throughout time, they all have a great understanding of the photographic medium, light, and composition.  With today’s equipment, anybody can snap a photo and get a good picture.  But to get that photo that tells the story - we’ll that’s something special and happens consistently through learning and doing. Photography is more than releasing the shutter.

I am a member of the Texas Photographic Society and the Austin Shutterbug photography club. Besides field experience, I routinely participate in workshops, and professional classes.  I   mainly focus on sports and underwater shoots, but have begun to do specialized work in portrait, and event shooting.

I am also a PADI MSDT scuba instructor and specialize in teaching underwater photography.   I teach through Scubaland Adventures and teach OpenWater, Advanced OpenWater, Rescue, Master Diver speciality courses.  They are:  Enriched Air (Nitrox), Project Aware, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Night Diving, Deep Diving, Underwater Navigation, Boat Diving, Drift, Multi-level,  and Underwater Photography.  If you’ve been certified and just need a refresher, I also teach Scuba Review refresher courses.  If you’re interested in turning pro, I can help you get started with your DiveMaster professional certification.