Courtney Platt’s passion for the ocean began at an early age, as a young boy growing up in Newport Beach, California. Courtney was an avid snorkeller at the age of eight, before he discovered a love for spear-fishing.

“By 19, I was an expert at spearing fish,” Courtney says.

But the passionate conservationist and professional photographer, who now lives and works in Cayman, saw the error of his ways after studying marine biology at college.

“I realised the fish I was spearing were much older than I thought. Some of the big fish were 20 years old, and would not replenish quickly,” he explains. “I was the only person spear-fishing in this one cove in Newport, and I recognised over a period of three summers, that all the big fish were gone. I was personally responsible.”

This realisation led Courtney to abandon his passion, and take up a new hobby – photography. As he says, “I traded in my spear-gun for a camera”.

Courtney bought his first Nikon F camera in 1976 and, rather than spear-fish, he began documenting his underwater adventures. After moving to Cayman in 1983, Courtney’s photography went from strength to strength. He decided to pursue photography full-time after landing his first assignment with National Geographic in 1988, which focused on Cayman’s North Wall. He has since completed eight assignments for the magazine.

However, Courtney soon realised that if he was to make a living from photography, he would have to expand his repertoire above water.

Courtney is now one of the islands’ foremost freelance photographers, excelling both underwater and on land. He is an “eclectic photographer”, specialising in everything from portraits to commercial advertising, landscapes to weddings. As the man wielding the camera, Courtney is invited into the special moments of a client’s life, which he views as an absolute privilege.

“I love my job,” he says simply. “There is a high degree of expectation but they [clients] know the results will be excellent. I love weddings. What a happy event to be part of. And I have so much experience that I can enjoy the wedding, which in turn means the couple also enjoys the wedding too.”

Courtney’s passion for the water, however, has not waned. From his early spear-fishing days, Courtney is now a staunch conservationist, passionate about protecting Cayman’s reefs and marine life. He believes overfishing has had a dramatic impact on the coastline, and will continue to wreck havoc for the islands if preventative measures are not taken. The impact, he says, is both environmental and economic, as it affects every Caymanian through lost tourism dollars.

“The heritage is the resource itself – the reef fish,” he says. “How people use the resource is tradition. We must now repurpose our reef fish from plate to tourism.”

The ultimate solution, Courtney says, is to follow the recommendations of the Department of Environment and reduce reef fishing to the bare necessity. He has come a long way from his spear-fishing days, but Courtney’s passion for conservation, and for photography, cannot be matched.