TITLE: Thorny Headdress

This image shows a backlit Thorny Seahorse. Combining the backlight with a very small amount of snooted side lighting served to highlight the “thorns”, as well as the creature’s translucency. Taken on the Dauin coast of the Philippines.

AUTHOR: Richard Condlyffe (United States)

Born in the UK, Richard grew up watching the amazing wildlife documentaries of the BBC and developed a fascination for the underwater world. That spectacular submerged world seemed a million miles away from Northern England! After moving to the US over 20 years ago, Richard became a SCUBA diver. Next came the camera and the obsession of creating stunning underwater photographs.

After leaving a corporate career, Richard now dedicates his artistic and technical skills to his passion for underwater photography, and shares the majesty of the ocean and its creatures through his images.

Richard also teaches a class on Shark photography, helping other passionate photographers to get the most out of their interactions with these beautiful and important creatures.

He believes that through sharing images of the spectacular underwater world we can educate more and more people on the need for aggressive conservation efforts to protect endangered species against illegal fishing, shark finning and ocean pollution.