John Natoli

John has been an avid diver and passionate underwater photographer for the past 20 years. His first dive was on the Great Barrier Reef in 2002, at the age of 46. In no time John was hooked on diving and became a weekly regular at his local dive site – Julian Rocks, Byron Bay, less than an hour’s drive from his home on the Gold Coast, Australia. An award-winning photographer, John’s interest turned into a passion for travel and photographing the BIG animals of the oceans, namely humpback whales, manta rays and great white sharks. A chance encounter swimming with 3 humpback whales, lasting almost 2 hours, near Byron Bay in 2013 provoked a strong desire to travel to Tonga and swim with the whales again. His first visit to Tonga in 2014 was life changing and saw John return on a yearly basis. Having retired from an active business life in 2019, John now spends most of his time as a wildlife and underwater photographer. Over the years, he has developed extensive knowledge of humpback whales. With a deep-rooted interest in whale behaviour, John can be found working as a whale photographer on whale watching boats out of Brunswick Heads, NSW during the annual humpback whale migration season.