The Deepblu Diver Spotlight series brings you the stories from our community of divers and ocean lovers. This week we highlight Dragos Dumitrescu.

Dragos Dumitrescu loves his job. As a dive instructor and underwater photographer, the Romanian gets paid to do what he loves in some of the most beautiful places on Earth. Dragos’ motto is ‘live your passion’, something he says he is lucky to do every day of his life.

Although he completed his open water course in the cold and murky water of the Black Sea, today you are more likely to find him diving in places with warm waters and palm trees on the shore—two requirements for any dive site on his top-10 list. Think: Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Directly after obtaining his open water certification, Dragos dreamt of living the diver’s lifestyle. He quit his office job and moved to Thailand, where he got certified as a Divemaster and Open Water Scuba Instructor. Today, as a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, he has completed his climb to the top of the PADI Pro ladder and is loving every minute of it. His favorite part of teaching scuba is how he gets to see people become ‘reborn’ in the span of a few days as they learn to change some of their most basic instincts; learning to breathe underwater, gliding horizontally instead of walking vertically, and overcoming their deepest fears.

A passionate shutterbug even before becoming a diver, Dragos is breaking into the world of professional underwater photography. His photographs show a creative flair that is earning him recognition in prominent photo competitions. Just this year, he placed first in the Macro category at the OzTEK Underwater Photographic Competition and garnered two third places and an honorable mention in Underwater Photographer of the Year, the prestigious contest founded by underwater photography legend Alex Mustard.

His photos are also helping him obtain notoriety on the Deepblu platform. With over 1200 followers, he is the second-most followed Deepblu Diver and he recently won the Popular Vote award in the Deepblu Nudi Festival Photo Contest, where his photo of a nembrotha lineolata received the most likes out of over 1500 submissions.

Dragos enjoys using Deepblu to display his work and to connect with people who share a passion for diving and the ocean. He enjoys interacting with people who speak the same language—not Romanian, but rather the language of the sea. He also appreciates the information he can gather from other Deepblu users. “I have added so many places to my wish list,” he says, “based on information from other divers: photos from a particular dive, dive site locations, and everything first-hand from people who actually experienced it.”

When he is not diving, Dragos enjoys taking photographs, taking long walks and taking care of the plants in his garden. A proud father of two little girls, guiding them through life is his most important role.

His love for the marine life and the ocean runs deep. When asked what his most memorable dive, he demurs, “I have so many stories I could share; flying mantas, sleeping sharks, blue-ringed octopuses but every dive I do, as long as I encounter marine life, is the most memorable.”

Follow Dragos Dumitrescu on Deepblu and never miss out on his work and stories! Visit his website Passion Your Life to view more of his photography and to inquire about courses.

By: Ryan Patrick Jones, Community Editor at Deepblu