He is presently a Contract Freelance Photographer for the National Geographic Society where he has been steadily working for twenty-seven years.
In 1965 Doubilet began studying film and journalism at Boston University’s College of Communication. He majored in still photography and graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1988 he received their Distinguished Alumni of the Year award. Doubilet’s first work for National Geographic Magazine was published in 1972. Since then, as a Contract Photographer for NGM, he has produced over fifty stories for the magazine, in recent years adding author to his credit line of photographer. His work has taken him all over the globe. The Red Sea, his favorite “underwater studio”, has produced at least ten different stories for the magazine.
In 1975, the Boston Sea Rovers, one of the diving world’s most honourable organizations, named him “Diver of the Year”. He has also received several honourable mentions by the National Press Photographer’s Association over the last decade. In 1993 he was honoured in France by winning first place trophy in the Professional Category of an international contest sponsored by C.M.A.S. (World Underwater Federation); and by appearing as Guest of Honour at the 20th World Festival of Underwater Photography in Cap D’Antibes.
Doubilet’s first book, Light in the Sea, was published in 1989 followed by Pacific: an undersea journey in 1992, Under the Sea from A to Z written by Anne L. Doubilet with photographs by David Doubilet was published in 1991and his most recently published book, Pacific: An Undersea Journey, a compilation of 25 years of underwater photography. From 1994 through 1996 he was the author of a popular monthly feature entitled “Magnificent Moments”, including text and photography, in Japan’s SINRA Magazine.