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One of the biggest treats of visiting Raja Ampat is exploring mangroves with clear water and abundant life. We weren’t so adventurous this time, because another liveaboard reported meeting a saltwater croc in the popular Yanggelo mangroves just a couple of weeks before! Fortunately we had no croc sightings and lots of sunshine for our two visits. Both shots Sony A1 with Canon 8-15mm. Nauticam housing, Zen dome. No flash.

A review of my first batch of 2026 Raja Ampat shots is uploading to YouTube (search for my channel). Check it out for a chat some of the shots from my recent shoot. Including this one. A backlit sea fan at the popular Batu Rufus site (that I like to call Rufus Stone after the New Forest landmark, where William II bought it.
This backlighting was done with a remote strobe on a tripod. Sony A1, Nikonos 13mm fisheye. Nauticam housing, Retra flashes. 1/200th @ f/13, ISO 400.

Raja Ampat is my favourite coral reef location to visit. The variety of spectacle, combined with the incredible abundance of life and record breaking marine biodiversity just astounds in this special corner of Indonesia.
These are just a few images that caught my eye as I try and whip the 14000 pictures I took into some sort of order! Taken with Sony A1, 13mm, 28-60mm with WACP-1 + 100mm and MFO1 and 3 lenses. Nauticam housing + Retra flashes (when used).
However, much I love visiting and seeing the marine life thriving there, there are increasing signs of human impact. I’ve been encouraging people to see it for themselves for 20 years, and we’ve set up some inspiring marine protected areas there, but we need to make sure that we don’t think the job is done. As more people settle and tourism grows, this special area needs continued conservation efforts.

Any insight/ideas about what is happening with this coral?

Jellyfish beneath tropical rain. I’ve visited a few jellyfish lakes in Raja Ampat, but this was my first time in this one. It had a nice population of spotted Mastigias jellies, filled with golden hued zooxanthellae. Not that they were getting much nutrition from their symbiotic algae with dark clouds blocking the sun and tropical rain drumming into the surface. I shot this split image with the tiny dome of my Nikonos 13mm lens.

As you might have already seen, with the photos now popping up in the media around the world, we revealed the winner’s of the Underwater Photographer of the Year @upycontest last night at a celebratory and fun event, hosted by The Crown Estate in London. Many congratulations to all the photographers and thank you everyone for coming from all over and making it such a special night. #UPY2026

I’ve an online talk on Wednesday 11th with @photographyexpertsonline. The presentation is about all those other factors that go into producing stand out imagery - beyond the basic gear and techniques, with a focus on what you are shooting determines so many of these details. You can find details of how to subscribe on my website homepage (scroll down to upcoming workshops).
These photos aren’t in the talk, but they show how subject matter always drives the photographic process. My Reboot course teaches, in detail, the best methods for wide angle and macro etc, this talk is about how we vary those techniques. For example, jawfish are easy to shoot. But if you want them out of their burrows actually doing things, you can’t crowd them. This makes a teleconverter a key ally (here the Sony 2x with Sony 100mm macro). Then a combo of fastest shutter speed and a reasonably open aperture, low ISO and strobes raised and in a forward Telephoto shooting position. The first shot shows a male aerating eggs, the second shot shows a jawfish maintaining its burrow.

One of the great things about diving is there is ALWAYS something else to discover. Something you have overlooked before. I’ve been to Cayman many times before, but I’d never seen this goggly-eyed fellow before - the cardinal soldierfish. Now I’ve learned to find them, I am seeing them regularly and each one makes me smile!

A very sincere thank you for the support. Judges meet and start the hard work tomorrow. Follow @upycontest for updates and remember because all the judges see all the images we give detailed feedback on how far each of your images progressed through the contest.

A few frames from Lembeh, Sulawesi, Indonesia, earlier this month. It was such a busy trip that I didn’t really have time to look at my pictures while I was there. Not ideal, but it means I’m greatly enjoying diving into them now I’m home. Here we have a snake eel with cleaner shrimp, curious octopus, juvenile sweet lips, humpback scorpionfish, rhinopias and giant frogfish.

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