All images on this website are the property of Simon Walsh. These images are not in the public domain and therefore may not be reproduced, copied or changed in any way without the written authorization of Simon Walsh. ANY use of these images is in direct violation of International Copyright Law. Please contact me at walshs@cwdom.dm for more information or for the fee stucture for the use of these photos.

The elusive, shy and intelligent octopus is seldom a willing model. Although I had been following him for a while as he hunted under rocks for small crustaceans he seemed unperturbed by my presence. Suddenly he jetted off at high speed with me in hot pursuit. He stopped....I stopped....Then he climbed to the top of a rock, posed for a split second and said very clearly " you've got one shot only." My strobe exploded and through the viewfinder I saw the perfect photo. By the time my vision came back he was gone and I was left with the dreaded question "did I get everything right?" Exposure? Strobe? Distance? Refraction? A month later I knew the answer.

This turtle was a regular visitor for about six months last year and we saw him almost every dive at coral gardens. Close to 5 feet long he often allowed us to get close enough to touch, although we did not allow this. After a while I am sure he got used to me as he would swim along side me for ages. On this day I had been granted a taste of my fantasy of one day owning a housed camera system. Edward Childs had kindly allowed me to use his system for a dive or two while he was off hiking the rainforest. It takes time to get used to a new camera system but I was fairly happy with this shot. Thanks to Edward Childs and of course full credit to the turtle for showing me his best side.

Basket stars are one of my favourite creatures on the night time reef. During the day they are a unattractive ball of tentacles tucked into crevices on the reef. Once darkness falls these light sensitive echinoderms climb to to the top of the reef and spread their arms into the current. If only we looked so beautiful while eating! Basket stars present quite a problem for photography, not only do you have to compensate carefully for the light but once you shine light on them they tend to retract their arms. Often your light will attract the very zooplankton that they eat, so their arms are busy retracting because they are laden with food !! It's quite fun to feed them this way, but make sure there are no photographers behind you!!

I know, I know. This shot looks like two shots made into one. However I promise that it is an original photograph. There is a lot of action in this photo, although some of it is hard to see at this resolution. In the midst of the anenome there are some squat anenome shrimp, on the purple sponge just behind there is a brittle star and finally the background consists of gorgonians coming off the wall. This photo is a classic example of why photographers should usually make sure that their camera is pointing up towards the surface. It makes the difference between a mediocre photo and a good photo.

Now now!!! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! It's what's inside that counts, and what's inside this frog fish is mostly stomach. These fish are angler fish, meaning that they have a little fishing rod on their head that they use to lure fish in close. Once the fish is in range the frog fishes mouth explodes outward and completely swallows the entire victim. One day I sat for an hour patiently waiting for this event to catch it on film. Some divers came by and I beckoned them over, as I turned my head back to the frogfish I was just in time to see it close its mouth!! So they have a sense of humour as well as beauty. They move by swallowing water and jetting it out through their rear gills, this gives them a hopping motion and hence their name.

These worms only come out at night and usually come up from sandy areas. Like the basket stars in the previous photos they extend their arms to snare goodies floating past. My lights attracted a few small shrimps and they were quickly grabbed by the two arms that are coiled in the photo. These are also very sensitve to light and after two photos it retracted into its home. I though it a fair trade, it got a few easy meals and I got two photos. Good trade.

Photo Intro | Photo Album 1 | Photo Album 2 | Photo Album 3 | Photo Album 4

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Created by Simon Walsh, Nature Island Dive, Soufriere, Dominica