As founder and president of Appropriate Balance Financial Services, Inc. in Bellevue, Bruce Yates spends his days in the comfort of his office. His real passion, however, lies in shark-infested waters at the bottom of a tropical ocean.

The amateur underwater photographer recently was named a winner in the 2008 Nature’s Best Photography competition for his photograph titled “Cheshire Cat Grin,” His photo, capturing what appears to be a grinning Lemon Shark, was chosen as the winner of the “Oceans” category in the international photography competition.

The winning photo was selected from more than 20,000 entries in the “Oceans” division.

A five-foot print of the grinning shark photo is on display through May 3 in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

Yates stumbled upon his passion for ocean photography by accident. He began taking diving lessons more than a dozen years ago and quickly fell in love with the underwater world. He soon picked up a camera to capture his diving experiences.

He now travels several times a year to oceans all over the world to photograph breathtaking images of coral, exotic fish and sharks. Yates uses a professional Canon SLR camera with a 15-mm fisheye lens to capture his subjects just inches away.

“When you’re in the water with Tiger Sharks you better have your head on a swivel, always aware of what is going on around you,” Yates explained, who said he is less fearful of the sharks as he is respectful. “They are beautiful creatures.”

For his winning photograph, Yates was perched on the back swim step of a boat, legs dangling in the water. He held the camera half way in the water and captured the Lemon Shark as it swam inches from his lense.

The self-proclaimed “serious” amateur photographer uses his talent and passion to give back. In 2007, Yates produced a calendar project that raised more than $12,000 for the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation. This year, all proceeds from prints will go directly to the International Children’s Surgical Foundation. The foundation works to correct facial deformities of children in lesser-developed countries.

Through the work of the foundation and medical volunteers, a child can undergo corrective facial surgery for a minimal donation of $300 or less.

“The surgery gives a child a chance at a normal life,” said Yates. “Think about it. A couple thousand dollars may change a dozen children’s lives. That’s priceless.”

His prints are available online and are on display at the Clyde Hill Tully’s Coffee House in Bellevue.

“I hope to one day fund a medical trip to Indonesia for the foundation,” Yates explained.

The waters of Indonesia remain his favorite place to dive.

“Indonesia has the prettiest scuba diving in the world. Raja Ampat in Indonesia has been named the planet’s center of marine bio-diversity. There are more varieties of fish and coral in the waters than anywhere in the world. Nothing compares,” he said.

Yates has begun to take his photography to dry land, shooting the Brown Bears of Katmai, Alaska.

“My wife and I both share a love for animals so we enjoy traveling to places like the Galapagos and Arctic Circle – though my wife does prefer to stay on the land,” he joked. “She leaves the swimming with sharks to me.”

To view all of Bruce Yates underwater photographs, visit www.underwaterreflections.com. For more on the International Children’s Surgical Foundation visit www.ICSFoundation.org.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425-453-4602.