His parents moved from Australia to Papua New Guinea as missionaries the year before he was born. He lived in a village on Ferguson Island off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. All his friends were the indigenous people of the island. This meant that his main language growing up was Iamalele, the local language, not English. Some of his days were spent playing or hunting in the jungle, but most of his time was spent in the water, spearing fish and prawns in the river that ran by his house. Interacting in this way daily with nature and his tribal friends instilled in Daren a true appreciation for the environment and all that is in it.

During his later years in Papua New Guinea he spent time going to an international school on the mainland. Daren’s first introduction to photography came in high school when he took a black and white photography class and then became the photographer for his school year book. For school holidays his family would drive the 10 to 12 hours to the northern coast town of Madang. While there they would spend much of their time snorkeling. At an early age he began to learn about the symbiotic relationships that marine animals have with each other and became aware of how important this was to the survival of the marine environment.

Many years later at his home in Adelaide, South Australia he became a PADI dive instructor. After several years diving in the cold waters off South Australia, he went to the islands of Vanuatu and became a dive guide on the largest diveable wreck in the world, the President Coolidge.

After 2 years at Heron Island, Daren left his job and started a 12-month around the world diving trip. His dive 'Walkabout' included the Indian Ocean, gulf of Thailand, Caribbean Sea, Pacific Ocean, and the Red Sea.

While working at Heron Island and traveling to different parts of the world, he became aware that many people had little understanding of the underwater world. With this in mind, Daren has set out to change people’s perspective on the marine environment with his photographs. He wants people to be amazed with the subjects that are portrayed in the photographs.

He sees his images as 'portholes' that people look through not only for a visual experience, but for an emotional one, "Being touched by marine life in this way makes people want to explore the underwater realm and learn more about the marine environment including its preservation".

This is a crusade that Daren has become very passionate about. He believes it is important for people to realize that not only do fish and coral have a symbiotic relationship that ensures their survival, but that humankind has a symbiotic relationship with the marine environment, and we need to honor this for our own survival.