4 pm - Jesse Cancelmo
Using Photography to Capture the Essence of the FGBNMS
Jesse Cancelmo, is an accomplished diver, underwater photographer and author who made his first scuba dive in 1969 on a coral reef in Bermuda. Since that first dive, Jesse has stoked his passion by diving around the globe. His adventures have taken him to World War II wrecks off the New Jersey coast to the coral reefs of Papua New Guinea. His logbook includes dives on the Andrea Doria, the USS Monitor and the 220-ft deep Brine Seep near the East Flower Garden Bank reef.
Jesse was a contributing Editor/Photographer for Dive Training magazine from 1990 to 2020 and his articles and underwater images have appeared in leading wildlife, diving, and news publications including Scuba Diving magazine, BBC Wildlife, National Geographic, USA Today and Newsweek. In 1998, Jesse was trimix certified. He completed Full Cave certification in 2011 to complete a magazine assignment for Texas Parks and Wildlife “Deep, Dark and Dangerous” – December 2011.
Jesse is the author of four books: Diving Bermuda, Diving Cayman Islands, Texas Coral Reefs, and Glorious Gulf of Mexico, which features images of the coral reefs and marine life of the three countries having shorelines on the Gulf—Mexico, Cuba, and the U.S.
In 2018, Jesse was honored as a Harte Research Institute Champion for the Gulf, which recognizes individuals for their contributions to the betterment of the Gulf of Mexico. Jesse served as a member of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council from 2011 to 2021, representing the recreational diving community. In 2015, he was named the sanctuary’s volunteer of the year.
Additionally, Jesse is a degreed mechanical engineer and retired from the heavy industrial engineering construction business in 2010 to further his ocean-related activities.