alextyrrell

I started diving in 2001 in the UK and got my first underwater camera, an Olympus compact, in March 2003 before a trip to the Red Sea where I took my first underwater photos. Later that year I left the UK to travel, heading first to Thailand then onto Australia, diving all along the way, with my camera system growing as I added wet lenses and strobes for better photos. In May 2006 whilst back in the UK for a year I travelled to the Bahamas to shoot Tiger Sharks and caught a severe dose of camera envy, as everybody else on board had DSLR rigs. Upon my return it didn’t take long before I had bitten the bullet and invested in a Nikon D200 with various lenses, a Subal housing with flat and dome ports, and a pair of Inon strobes, with all the accompanying arms and sync cords.

I left the UK at the end of 2006 heading back to Koh Tao to complete the PADI Instructor Course with Crystal Dive. I then continued to work there as an Instructor up until April 2008, getting a little bit of underwater photography in along the way, including a trip to Bali to shoot the very unusual Oceanic Sunfish and then the weird and wonderful critters of Tulamben. Following a trip to Myanmar in April 2008, I headed off to Kalimantan, Indonesia for a season on the live-aboard vessel Panunee, cruising the waters of Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban and Maratua, getting quite a bit of camera time in along the way.

At the end of the Indonesian season I took a job as Photo Pro, Instructor and Dive Guide at Atlantis Dive Resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines. Over the next two and a half years I built up the Photo Department at the resort running Photo Workshops for different experience levels, took images of guests, provided advertising imaging for the company, plus met and worked with quite a few professional underwater photographers and videographers. In December 2010 I moved to our sister resort in Dauin, Dumaguete and took over as head of the Photo Department developing the courses I had previously devised, and writing outlines for additional courses. During my time in Dumaguete I had the pleasure of working with more Pro underwater photographers, learning all along the way. In just under four years at Atlantis I managed a lot of time underwater with my camera, developing my skills and observing the professionals that visited us. I also taught underwater photography to many students in this time, gaining valuable knowledge of the most common mistakes new photographers make and easy ways to correct them, as well as the best way to teach this technical skill in the marine environment. I am proud to say that all my students have come away happy after taking a photo course with me, seeing a marked improvement in their images.

In May 2012 I decided to leave at Atlantis and set up on my own, so I returned to where it all began, Koh Tao. Dive4Photos (www.dive4photos.com) is now in the process of being set up to train underwater photography on this beautiful tropical island. I also intend to get out shooting myself as often as possible, so keep watching for photo updates.