Growing up in landlocked Colorado he got certified to dive at age 12 but was lucky to dive once a year during family vacations until 2015 when he moved to California for work. Being close to the ocean he bought his first set of dive equipment and started diving in Monterey with his coworkers. With his families 10 year old Canon point-and-shoot camera in an Ikelite housing, Jon became fascinated by trying to show the variety and beauty of life in Monterey's temperate waters to his family and friends that were not willing to brave the cold. After struggling with the out-of-date camera for nearly a year he finally took the leap to get a new underwater camera rig in mid 2016.