MADISON BOWDEN-PARRY
We chat to the up-and-coming young naturalist, conservationist and marine photographer who has been named a Girls That Scuba Ambassador for 2022 - about her ambitious plans for the future, which include being on stage at the GO Diving Show in 2023. Photographs courtesy of Madison Bowden-Parry
Q: As we always do with these question-and-answer sessions, how did you first get into scuba diving? A: Since as far back as I can remember, I have always been fascinated with and passionate about our marine and coastal ecosystems. I’m very fortunate to have grown up along the Gower Peninsula coastline in South Wales, and have spent most of my childhood and teen years exploring its diverse marine and coastal habitats and wildlife. Before I even tried scuba diving, you’d mostly find me snorkelling or rummaging around the intertidal zone to find marine life that I could boggle at. In 2014, I finally took the giant stride for the first time and as you can imagine, I was instantly hooked. Later that year, I gained my Open Water certification and from there on, all I wanted to do was dive and explore the underwater world. I then started to dive locally with clubs and in Cornwall during my University years. Now, I have been diving in Spain, Iceland, Australia, California, Egypt and Malta. Q: When did your enthusiasm for conservation come to the fore? A: The Gower Peninsula and my numerous marine and coastal adventures have shaped my passion for conservation. It was (and still is!) the nuances in my day-today adventures that really struck a chord with me, and time and time again, nature continued to inspire and empower me to pursue a career in conservation. Whether I walked the same stretch of coastline or dived the same dive site, not one time was it ever the same, nor did I see the same wildlife I did before. This dynamic nature, and thus ascertain vulnerability of the natural world, is what drives my dedication towards its conservation. Madison shooting a selfie
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Madison in the Inland Sea on Gozo
As a child the way I viewed the natural world is very different to the way I view it now, but as I’ve grown older, my wildlife and marine adventures that I gained as a child, fuel my work in nature and oceans recovery, conservation and advocacy today. My curiosity with how the natural world works, our oceans, what wildlife can be seen in different marine ecosystems and habitats and how I can help protect them, encouraged me to pick up a camera, buy a housing and soon after, commit to a University degree that specialised in marine and natural history photography and conservation storytelling. The more I dived, the more diving adventures I went on with my camera and the more I read about the marine ecosystems, habitats and wildlife I was photographing, the more the fragility of our oceans, and coastal habitats, came to the forefront of my work. I have always loved to tell stories of my interests and passions and my University course allowed me to bridge both my love for marine wildlife and adventure. I spent the majority of my University degree telling stories of vulnerable
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