It would probably be photography first. Actually, I got into wildlife and animals as a kid. There was a creek in a park near our house and we found bullfrog tadpoles in there and they were really big. That just blew my mind and set me on the path of being interested in wildlife. My dad got a camera at some point and on some family trips I would use it and got really interested in it. All of that together led to me getting interested in science and then conservation, storytelling, and wildlife filmmaking. <\/p>\n
How did you get involved with ecology?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was in Boy Scouts as a kid and there was another kid in our group who was really into snakes. I also grew up watching Steve Irwin, who was a huge hero of mine. <\/p>\n Growing up in the Southeast, people have very strong feelings about snakes. They do not like them \u2014 especially the venomous ones. It was neat to watch Steve Irwin and the way that he approached all sorts of animals, no matter how dangerous they were, with immense joy and curiosity. To see someone in my own community also be interested in that, it was like, \u201cI can do this too.\u201d <\/p>\n And then, learning to love these animals but still seeing a lot of people who just wanted all of them eliminated from the environment. Even when I was young, I was thinking: what does it mean to protect these animals and what does it mean to encourage other people to change their mindset? How do you justify protecting and conserving an animal that might be potentially dangerous? What about the environmental importance of predators? I was so interested and passionate, I ended up studying conservation science in undergraduate and grad school.<\/p>\n A manatee takes shelter on a cold, winter morning in the (relatively) warm waters of a Florida freshwater spring. Photo: Joseph Ricketts<\/p>\n And <\/strong>you now specialize in alligators? <\/strong><\/p>\n A lot of my professional work has been with reptiles and amphibians. Currently I am studying alligators and crocodiles.<\/p>\n W<\/strong>hat specifically are you researching? <\/strong><\/p>\n We monitor alligator populations. I\u2019ve helped out with some projects on American crocodiles, which are a native threatened species in Florida. One project I helped with was putting satellite transmitters on crocodiles we captured and monitoring their movements through urban areas in South Florida. The goal of that project was to get a better idea of their behavior in those highly urban environments because they move quite a bit. They have very variable home ranges. Some can be in a really small area, but then sometimes they\u2019ll just up and go for a 20-mile swim to somewhere else entirely. The goal is to learn how to better cultivate safe coexistence with these animals in such a dense and highly populated area such as South Florida.<\/p>\n How did you start getting into underwater filming?<\/strong><\/p>\n I first started out with a GoPro, because it\u2019s a very accessible and not too expensive way to get a camera underwater. In college, my roommates and friends always tried to go on some kind of adventure during spring break. We were super fascinated with the idea of snorkeling in clear water, because that wasn\u2019t something that was around us where we grew up. So every spring break we drove down to Florida. We snorkeled in the Keys and discovered Florida\u2019s springs along some of those trips. <\/p>\n I would take photos with the GoPro, even though it\u2019s not really meant for that. But underwater photography equipment is really expensive and I just thought, \u201cThere\u2019s no way, I don\u2019t know how I\u2019ll ever be able to afford that.\u201d <\/p>\n But then after my wife and I graduated, we got married, lived in North Carolina for a little while, and then, because she\u2019s originally from Pensacola, Florida, we moved back. I got a job doing some ecology work here in Gainesville.<\/p>\n One day I was just cruising around Facebook Marketplace and I saw a camera housing made to fit a 20-year-old camera that was within millimeters of the size of my camera. It was a tenth of the price of what an average full kit cost. So I got it. I had to make some modifications and I actually used Lego pieces to make some of the controls fit my camera. I had pretty limited control underwater, but I could do auto ISO, and then control the aperture and the shutter speed, and pull the trigger to get a shot. When I did video, I had to start recording, put the camera in the housing, close it, and then I couldn\u2019t do anything else. It would just be one single shot the whole time. So it wasn\u2019t great for video, but that\u2019s how I got started. And then I realized I was a pretty decent wildlife photographer.<\/p>\n I took some photos and I got shortlisted in some pretty major international competitions. I didn\u2019t push through to be a finalist, but it was enough to be, \u201cI actually have some skill in this and it\u2019s worth pursuing.\u201d It just kind of kept building up from there. Eventually I got another used housing that was designed for my camera. By that point, I was selling prints and doing some other things, so I was able to finally fully upgrade my kit to where I\u2019m at now.<\/p>\n An American alligator floats down to the bottom of a freshwater spring after grabbing a breath. This was taken at night. Photo: Joseph Ricketts<\/p>\n W<\/strong>hat kind of tech is in your diving kit?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m using the Canon R5 with a Canon EF-RF adapter and a Canon EF 8-15mm f\/4 L fish-eye lens. It\u2019s a super wide-angle lens that people tend to use either for underwater or for skateboard photography. It\u2019s a little weird because everything\u2019s a little distorted and kind of rounded, but when you\u2019re underwater, it\u2019s really great for taking photos that just kind of immerse you in that system. You can focus extremely close to your subject. You can be an inch away and still focus on it. Since the angle is so wide, you can lock in on the eye of the wildlife and kind of capture their face, but also the rest of the scene and their entire body, even if it\u2019s a bigger animal. <\/p>\n I use an Ikelite 200DL Dive Housing, and I\u2019ve got two Sea & Sea YS-90DX strobes and two 2900 VTL BigBlue Dive Lights. The strobes connect to the camera so that when you pull the trigger, it lets off some light, because the deeper you go underwater, light tends to fade pretty quickly and that little flash of white light just kind of restores color to the scene.<\/p>\n I also have an Ikelite 8-inch Dome Port with an extension that is wide enough so that the super-wide fish-eye lens doesn\u2019t get cut off by the design of the dive housing. If you hold it right on the surface it can create a water line so you can get split shots. <\/p>\n I use Lightroom and Photoshop for editing photos and making prints. I use Premiere Pro for editing videos.<\/p>\n How do you decide what you\u2019re going to film?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have to find an idea that is interesting to me. Sometimes it\u2019s a story that I think needs to be told, and that I feel qualified with the knowledge to do it. I need to know the location and be confident that I can get the shots I need safely. I also want to feel capable of telling the story in a meaningful way. <\/p>\n Science and wildlife are such huge subjects. It\u2019s hard. There\u2019s a lot of people that tend to tout themselves as wildlife experts, but unless they\u2019re very, very experienced, that raises a red flag. I wouldn\u2019t describe myself as that. I have to do a lot of research myself and I learn things along the way too. <\/p>\n I\u2019m really passionate about anything aquatic because I love doing underwater photography and videography. That\u2019s the main part of my social media<\/a> and YouTube channel<\/a>. I especially love showing people unique environments where you wouldn\u2019t tend to think about what life looks like underwater. I think about what wildlife I might encounter there, and what conservation story I can weave through that. Also, is there enough visibility in the water for me to get my camera in and actually get usable shots that people can connect with? <\/p>\n There\u2019s a disconnect that exists between people and wildlife in the natural world that we have to actively combat, like climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction. There\u2019s another disconnect between us and what lies beneath the surface, and I really want to do what I can to bridge that gap. It\u2019s important that people put faces to the creatures that live in these places, no matter how big or how small they are. They\u2019re all important, wonderful, worth learning and worth caring about. Aquatic ecosystems are very sensitive environments. It\u2019s important to know what\u2019s there, to know what we might stand to lose.<\/p>\n D<\/strong>o you have a story in mind before you dive, or do you usually piece things together after? <\/strong><\/p>\n I love photography and being able to tell a story through a single image, but I also love longer forms, using video to tell stories as well. <\/p>\n My creative process is definitely evolving. I\u2019ll have the beginnings of an idea while I\u2019m trying to work out the storytelling and trying to find ways to help people connect to it. Typically I\u2019ll have an idea of the area I want to cover for the shot and what I\u2019m going to focus on. One example was trying to find a very specific species of very tiny fish<\/a> that lives in springs.<\/p>\n A fully colored-up male Gulf Coast pygmy sunfish keeps a careful eye out for intruders while guarding its tiny territory at the edge of a Florida freshwater spring. Photo: Joseph Ricketts<\/p>\n That Gulf Coast pygmy sunfish is a beautiful fish.<\/strong><\/p>\n They\u2019re so cool. So my idea was that it\u2019s going to be about finding that fish, filming it, hopefully getting some behavior. That was about what I had to work with, and I was lucky enough to see quite a bit of behavior. <\/p>\n After I get the footage all edited down to the best clips and have a general concept of a story, that\u2019s when I\u2019ll write the script. Writing the script last is not normal for most creators, but I want the adventure and the action of going out and snorkeling, exploring these places, to be the heart of the channel. Sometimes I might have a little bit more script on certain parts, but normally I don\u2019t have any control over what I\u2019m going to see. So I have to go out and shoot, and then come back and do the story from that. <\/p>\n What are the <\/strong>biggest challenges that you\u2019re trying to work through?<\/strong><\/p>\n A big challenge is sustainability and how I can be consistent and not burn out, because it is a lot of work, going out to explore and dive, sometimes not having a lot of success and other times having success. How do I pace myself? I think I\u2019ve kind of settled on a pretty decent schedule.<\/p>\n Another challenge is that a lot of YouTube is shock value and clickbait. I want to use my channel to push back against that. The algorithm seems to be changing to entertain longer attention spans and boost authentic and real content. But I want to be able to use my channel to help people appreciate even little details and small things. <\/p>\n Like if you go snorkeling and you\u2019re in the ocean or on a reef, obviously the really big things like the sharks and huge rays are going to be what stand out to you. But if you\u2019re in a tiny pond and there\u2019s nothing around, and then you find one living thing, suddenly that thing becomes really interesting. I want to be able to tell stories about some of the less exciting things and make those interesting. <\/p>\n Such as the video you made about <\/strong>Appalachian Hellbenders<\/strong><\/a>. I never imagined salamanders would duke it out like that. <\/strong>Do you like being based in Florida?<\/strong> <\/p>\n It\u2019s great, but in a lot of ways it\u2019s hard and frustrating, too. Florida has some absolutely amazing wildlife and amazing ecosystems, and as an underwater photographer, it\u2019s a great place to be. There\u2019s the coasts, the Keys, freshwater springs, rivers and streams as well. There are a lot of places that are within reasonable driving distance to find underwater adventures and stories to tell. It\u2019s frustrating because there\u2019s so much to lose and Florida is also developing at a very unsustainable rate. There are new developments going up everywhere. A lot of spots I love are degrading. I\u2019ve been going to the springs since college and some of them are almost unrecognizable from when I first visited them 10 years ago. It\u2019s an issue globally and definitely around the US, but I think Florida is experiencing that at an accelerated rate.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a good place to be as a conservationist because there\u2019s lots of work to be done, messages to get out there, but it can be draining and exhausting. Sometimes [you] feel like you\u2019re fighting an uphill battle with no breaks or rest.<\/p>\n Sounds like<\/strong> politics combined with being a tourist and retirement destination.<\/strong><\/p>\n A huge problem is that people are moving here and not taking the time to learn about the natural community that exists prior to their arrival. So people move here and are surprised to see an alligator in their backyard. Or other really wealthy people move to South Florida and have crocodiles around, and they freak out because that\u2019s totally new to them. But this is Florida. We have venomous snakes, we have alligators, we have crocodiles. They belong here. They\u2019re important for this ecosystem. If you can\u2019t embrace that, then I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re expecting. <\/p>\n There are plenty of ways to learn to safely live alongside these creatures. There\u2019s just a huge need to meet the influx of new people with education and reminding people that we want Florida to remain wild. So much of the appeal of Florida is its natural environment and so there\u2019s plenty of reasons why it needs to be protected, but it is kind of a constant battle.<\/p>\n I love Florida so much. It\u2019s such a beautiful place, an important place to protect, but it has a ton of challenges facing it.<\/p>\n A river cooter paddles off into the confluence where the blue-green water of freshwater spring swirls with the tannic water of a nearby river. Photo: Joseph Ricketts<\/p>\n A<\/strong>re there any spots that you really want to dive into that you haven\u2019t had the chance to yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n Because a lot of my stuff is Florida-based, I would really love to do a series of diving in every single state in the US. Some of that would be more predictable, like diving off the coast of Maine. That\u2019d be cool. But though you never hear of anyone going to Nebraska or Oklahoma to snorkel, there\u2019s underwater stories to be told there and I would love the chance to do that. So I\u2019m hoping if the channel grows enough, there\u2019ll be interest enough from the audience to support something like that. <\/p>\n Of course I would absolutely love to travel internationally to do some videos as well. I think that\u2019s something I would need to earn, because there are definitely other people who might be more qualified to tell some of those stories. But I think if my channel [followers] were interested and wanted me to, I would absolutely love the chance to do that. There are a lot of freshwater springs around the world.<\/p>\n I just hope that I can continue to inspire people to be kind and curious about the world around them and pay attention to the little things. It\u2019s important to be mindful of our individual impacts on the world around us, but also to hold ourselves as a community and as a country to a higher standard as far as protecting our natural resources and our wildlife, because we don\u2019t get a second chance at this. It\u2019s important that we take it seriously and we get it right. <\/p>\n I think it\u2019s hard to learn to love something if you don\u2019t know that that thing exists or haven\u2019t been able to see it in its home. So I hope that my underwater videos can help people to get a glimpse into those underwater worlds to see that they\u2019re places that are really special, worth protecting, and worth keeping wild.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/platform.theverge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/257696_Joseph_Ricketts_Manatee_079188.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0.03673769287289,100,99.926524614254\")
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