d.j. CLAIM TO FAME
Adventure
photographer
FAVORITE THING
D.J. STRUNTZ IS STUMPED FOR A FEW SECONDS. PICK JUST ONE FAVORITE THING? THAT’S NOT EASY.
“I have too many hobbies,” he says. “I have too many things.”
Struntz is a globetrotting photographer, a surfer, a diver, a “minister of propaganda” for a company that pro-vides
trauma equipment to the military and first-responders, a husband, a dad. All these activities have provided
lots of meaningful possessions. It’s hard to narrow it down.
The former Wrightsville resident — his family just moved off the beach when the house they rented for four
years was sold — is known for his amazing photographs of surfers and divers, but he doesn’t pick a camera or a
lens. Those are just the tools of the trade, equipment that helps him make a living.
Instead, he goes for something that combines passion and purpose.
“I’ll probably go with one of my spearguns,” he says. “It’s one of my go-to tools to put a meal on the table.”
Specifically, he chooses his RIFFE Euro 130. It’s a gun he uses when he dives in the water off Wrightsville
Beach to look for that evening’s meal.
“We eat a lot of fish,” he says.
It’s also something that makes the packing list whenever he prepares for a trip.
“I dive with it all over the world,” he says. “It goes on trips with me. It’s a rubber band gun,
so it’s considered sporting equipment.”
RIFFE E-130 speargun
D.J. Struntz with his favorite
speargun on a trip to Prince
William Sound, Alaska.
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WBM february 2018