BIOGRAPHY

Adrian "Sharky"

I was born in London, England, 14th June 1956 and grew up in Malta, a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, and ever since I can remember I was always fascinated by the wonders of the sea.

I remember as a kid reading the American Skin Diver magazine, seeing all those beautiful photographs, and the adverts for Nikonos cameras, hoping that one day I will own one of those cameras and be able to take photos like those. No use asking Santa Claus for one, he never paid attention to me.

All my spare time was spent snorkelling and hours would zoom by. When not at school or snorkelling, I would be stuck in front of the television following the adventures of Jacques Cousteau, Hans and Lotte Hans, or Flipper the dolphin.

That was also the time my love for sharks started, there I was collecting books, magazines, posters, anything sharky, and dreaming that one day I would also be diving with sharks.

I started scuba diving at a very early age, together with Alex, my younger brother. In those days no certification was needed, the "diving course" consisted of the man behind the counter telling us "put the regulator in your mouth and keep breathing". For a few pennies, we would hire a tank, regulator, a weight belt, and off we went! We survived!! mainly due to the "lessons" we had from Jacques, Hans and Lotte !

At around 18, I got a job running a small dive shop "Maltaqua" thanks to Mike and Agnes Upton, pioneers in promoting scuba diving in Malta. I also joined the first B.S.A.C. branch (number 007) I was now a "real" diver.
Boat Diving with Maltaqua in 1974

Around the age of 19, I decided to move to the U.K. Alex my brother got my collection of "sharky things" and went on to become "The Sharkman" (Check out .. Sharkman's World Organization).

This was the only time when the sea didn't play any part of my life. It was very sadly missed but there was always a yearly holiday to look forward to.

In London, various jobs were tried, Travel agent, Insurance, Security, but another passion was developing fast and that was photography. Spare time was spent walking around the city, heavy camera bag slung over my shoulder, eyes open in search of a good photo.

October 1984 I won a Vivitar Photographic Award. For three years running I also won prizes in the Selfridges Photography Competition.

Just by chance, I got into "Paparazzi" style photography. Waiting for some celebrity to turn up or leave, in the cold outside some theatre or night club doesn't sound like much fun, but when you get the "shot" it makes it all worth while.

Some of my photographs made it into British newspapers and magazines. I can still remember the joy of seeing one of my photos on a magazine for the first time.

Press cutting.

I was lucky and after a few months I became a bit more "well known". I started doing film premieres, t.v. theatre and film awards, and big show biz parties.

So here I was partying with some of the people I had admired! It was great! First time I met Paul McCartney and he shook my hand, I swore I wouldn't wash it again.

I never had any problems with anybody mainly because I took photographs where and when the celebs expected to be photographed, if I was asked not to photograph them on some particular night, I obeyed.... and missed earning lots of money!

After about 9 years of the pleasurable single life, the inevitable happened....I met a woman and fell in love! All of a sudden spending nights out partying didn't seem so exciting anymore. Nolita Beswick from the Philippines, Diplomat's daughter, ex restaurateur and a woman with itchy feet dying to keep travelling, convinced me to go back to Malta and in 1988 we returned there.

Nolita

Due to Nolita's "Itchy feet", the travel bug really set in and the next six years were spent travelling around the world. We travelled to most of Europe, The Caribbean and the Far East.

My scuba diving during this period really came back with a bang! I got my P.A.D.I. certifications and dived in some amazing places.... and at long last even got to see sharks! Nine months in Antigua ended up with me helping my friend run a dive school.

Along my travels whilst in Hong Kong I bought my first Nikonos 5, my dream camera was now in my hands! I treated it like my baby... and I cried like a baby, when it flooded years later!!

My first few rolls of film were a bit of a disappointment, but soon they improved and started to look like the ones I admired so much in the diving magazines.

Back in Malta, I was asked to do some photographs for magazines and also have provided most Dive schools with photos for their brochures.

In 1990, I won the silver and the bronze medals (second and third prize) in the Olympic Weekfest Photography Competition.

In 1992 I was awarded the Diver of the Year Trophy by the Amphibians Club, Malta.
I also had photographs on show in various exhibitions including the German Boat Show 1994 / 5, Maltese Boat Show 1994 / 5, The Amitex Travel Show and Various Dive Shows in England, in more recent years.

A few years ago, I was offered a job as a photographer for a Greek Dive School, but when I got there was told that the management had changed and they didn't need a photographer! Great!!

Disappointed I was, but Nolita and myself decided to stay in Corfu for a few months. In the evening we used to see all these tourists showing off the scuba photo that was taken of them during their taster session. Nolita suggested that I try taking photographs of scuba divers back in Malta, so when we got back I gave the new venture a try.

It turned out to be a success from the start. Here I was (and still am) doing something that I enjoy doing most.. diving and taking photographs.


Adrian

2016.

My New Camera.

 

Thank you