I started admiring Mike Bartick’s images pretty soon after getting into underwater photography. I was in love with macro and just becoming aware of snoots, and Mike was one of the masters of macro that I looked up to. Over the next few years, Mike became especially renowned as a blackwater specialist and I followed his articles and the Facebook Blackwater group with great curiosity. I finally had the opportunity to meet the man in person whilst staying at his resort, Crystal Blue, for the Anilao Shootout.