[2] As a teenager, Curtsinger was inspired to photograph the underwater arena by reading Jacques Cousteau's book The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure.

He was made an honorary member of the Red Rippers, U.S. Navy Fighter Squadron VF-11, and is credited as having the first color front and back covers in Naval Aviation News (1968).

[13]: 33:10 In 1970 Curtsinger was transferred to the United States Navy Reserve as a Petty officer second class, where he served until 1973, resigning to pursue freelance photography for National Geographic.

[6] The subjects of Curtsinger's photographs have included species and natural systems such as whales, walruses, penguins, dolphins, seals, sea turtles and sharks.

[15][16] Curtsinger's work also includes numerous textbooks, journals and aquarium displays and he has been a contributor to Gulf of Maine Research Institute publications and website.

[17] Curtsinger has stated that he pitched his first assignment with National Geographic to Bob Gilka because he knew the magazine had not published any articles about the peninsula.

Having spent six months in the cold barren landscape of Antarctica he knew that the peninsula was more interesting and more biological diverse than what was previously published in the Geographic.

[18] With his crisp, clean photos of whales, seals, penguins, and dolphins, ex-Navy photographer Bill Curtsinger helped the National Geographic Society pioneer the field of underwater marine life photography with stunning pictures such as this shot of an Emperor penguin gliding through the waters of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.In January 1995 National Geographic published an article photographed and written by Curtsinger about grey reef sharks.

He has stated that grey reef sharks are extremely territorial, suspect in many attacks on indigenous islanders throughout Oceania and was most likely driving away a perceived competitor or predator.

National Geographic ran a story about the underwater wreckage in their June 1992 issue authored by John L. Elliot and photographed by Curtsinger.

[25] Also, a scientific journal was published for the United States Department of the Interior, The Archeology of the Atomic Bomb, featuring select images from Curtsinger.

In a 2021 article in The Maine Magazine, Skerry recalls Curtsinger turning down a National Geographic photo shoot of the 1717 pirate shipwreck Whydah Gally, buried in the sand off Cape Cod.

[35] With the advance of the internet and declining stock photo sales, Curtsinger left Maine and moved to Port Townsend, Washington in 2006.