What It Takes to Photograph the Ocean's 'Crown Jewel'

Nearly 20 years after their iconic 2007 article highlighting the impact of marine protected areas in the Indonesian islands of Raja Ampat, National Geographic Explorer David Doubilet and marine biologist Jennifer Hayes returned to the archipelago on a new assignment. The duo has spent most of their lives innovating with underwater photography, producing more than 75 features for National Geographic and hundreds of remarkable visuals of life beneath the waves.

This time, for the November 2026 issue of our magazine, they documented and shared how a remarkable conservation success story has transformed Raja Ampat over the past two decades.

But with more people arriving in Raja Ampat each year to witness its wonders, the area is facing a new challenge. So how do you protect a paradise without loving it to death? Hayes and Doubilet talked to Nat Geo about their favorite fish to photograph, inspiring the next generation of marine biologists to safeguard Raja Ampat's biodiversity, and what keeps drawing them back to the ocean's "crown jewel."

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You’ve returned to Raja Ampat dozens of times since your 2007 feature. What’s so enticing about taking pictures there?

Jennifer: It's so vibrant that it's hard to capture in a frame. When [there’s so much action happening on] a reef that you just don't see it, you feel it, trying to capture that feeling in a frame—that is the magic of Raja Ampat.

David: You never have exactly what it looks like. It's like everything is on a street, and a different parade goes by every single day and every single moment. That’s what's frustrating. And yet when you capture it, it is joyous. It's been like that for me now for 60 years, and it doesn't go away.

Jennifer: Some stories you leave, you finish. But some stories never leave you.

Raja Ampat is teeming with life, home to more than 1,200 species of fish alone. How do you even begin to plan what you're going to capture there?

Jennifer: We’ve come to know Raja Ampat quite well. When we go in, we want to make sure we look at it as a whole, covering everything from coral reefs and mangroves to sand flats and seagrass beds. You have to make sure you get away from your favorites and stop the boat where you've never dove before. That's the key: Look where no one else looks.

Which animal in Raja Ampat is your favorite to photograph?

David: I like clownfish. I should be liking giant mantas or whale sharks. I should be liking great sweeps of fish. But I like these guys.

Jennifer: We can be swimming through the most incredible masses of fish and he'll look down, see a bunch of clownfish in an anemone and be like, "Oh my God." But to his credit, we've done a lot of work with clownfish, and they’re fun to photograph.

[For me], it’s the wobbegong shark. They look like a sleeping bathmat. No one has photographed a baby wobbegong shark, and I will not die until I see one. Or I’ll be eaten by one.

After 20 years, are there any spots that you revisited that are still more or less untouched? Are any places in Raja Ampat still a secret?

Jennifer: The jellyfish, very deep in a cove off Gam Island. It’s very secret. This is one of those places that if everybody knew about it, it would become an Instagram spot. They're there, but they move, and they are there by the thousands.

David: It's one of those moments where things seem very much unreal—in fact, surreal. And that's one of the things about Raja Ampat. It is a constant surprise. After what, 22 years, those jellyfish were still there.

Jennifer: And not reduced in numbers. Still doing what they do and have done for time immemorial.

What are the challenges of photographing underwater in Raja Ampat?

Jennifer: First off, you want the best light for the site. Then there are the tides. If you go into the mangroves on a rising tide, that's probably better than an outgoing tide because an outgoing tide drains the mangrove, which has a lot of sediment. Currents. Sometimes you want a slack current, but you almost always want some current. And if you wait too long or you're there too early, you'll get a current so strong it's like diving inside a firehose. You cannot stay on the reef—you'll literally be blown off.

And then, where are the animals that you want? Do you want to go to a manta cleaning station? Do you want to go to an area known for turtles? What time of day do they show up?

David: Photography in Raja Ampat is like photographing a million-ring circus; you have to decide constantly what you're going to shoot, what you're going to spend your time on. Underwater photography is very interesting because what seduces you are the great sweeps and the larger animals, but for the most part, life in the ocean is smaller than your hand.

Speaking of turtles, your photo of one is on the cover of the Netherlands edition of National Geographic. Do you remember how that photo came about?

David: It was at Sauwandarek, a very well-guarded reef. The turtles there are all very known. You can go back there and there will be the same guy with the same girl sleeping under a big coral head.

The hawksbill turtles feed on sponges. You can be right up next to them, photographing them and watching their behavior. And when they finish, they'll look at you and say, “Thank you very much. I'm going to this sponge. Are you coming?”

What do you hope to see become of Raja Ampat after this latest story?

Jennifer: Raja Ampat is the center of the center of the center of marine biodiversity within the Coral Triangle. It is a planetary crown jewel. And the more people that know that, and the more gravity it's given, the more protection it's given. It's a beacon and a model for coral reefs everywhere.

David: We’re watching it spawn an entire generation of brilliant marine biologists that’ll go out across not just Indonesia, but the world. I'm also hoping with more information, there will be more plans on how to manage this absolute love of Raja Ampat, which is exploding.

Jennifer: Marine protected areas work. It's more than hope—it's happening. And if Indonesia can embrace Raja Ampat and literally protect everything, and not let the world love it to death, that could be a win.