‘I couldn’t watch him die’: how saving a diver changed me

Award-winning "extreme" cinematographer Mike Prickett, from Hawaii, has been described as a legend in the surf community because his daring camerawork has been at the forefront of filming big-wave surfing.

Mike began taking photographs and videos of his friends surfing after he crushed his legs in a terrible car accident, and a doctor suggested swimming would help him get stronger. He recovered, and found a new career. Mike went on to film in dangerous locations in oceans around the world, and worked on feature films like Chasing Mavericks and X-Men 2.

In 2012, Mike was paralysed from the waist down after a diving accident in Rangiroa, a large atoll near Tahiti. He was saving a colleague from being dragged down by an underwater waterfall. The men ran out of oxygen and had to resurface - but came up too quickly, and Mike collapsed with decompression sickness, also known as "the bends". He spent many months in hospital, being treated with high-pressure oxygen in claustrophobic recompression chambers, and trying to walk again.

Paralysed from the waist down, Mike couldn't imagine how he would get back to the job he loved - until he had an idea. He realised that by attaching a gimbal to a helicopter, he could carry on filming surfers from the air. Since then he has used his system to film from boats and jetskis, and also got back in the water himself. He has won four Emmy's for his work, including for the HBO series 100-foot wave, where surfers tackle the world's biggest waves at Nazaré in Portugal.

And while we're in the ocean... Tony Wu spends every possible spare moment on his passion - photographing marine life. In 2025 he told Outlook's Emily Naylor about a special animal encounter. He had long wanted to photograph sperm whales close up but was told it would be too dangerous. Then he got his chance to prove people wrong. While out at sea in southern Japan, he spotted a sperm whale's tail underneath the boat and took his chance, spending hours capturing the playful whale on camera - a memorable playdate.

This programme mentions suicide - if you are in distress, there is support available at befrienders.org

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar

Producers: Vibeke Venema & June Christie

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Mike Prickett films a swimmer from below while diving in scuba gear, under the sea. Photo by Juan Oliphant, courtesy of Mike Prickett)