Photographer of the Week – Ollie Turner III

A superbly patterned kangaroo nudibranch cruising the reef, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

While Ollie Turner grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, a mere a number of hundred miles from the closest ocean, he shortly grew to become obsessive about marine life. His underwater journey started comparatively just lately, in 2020, when he attended U.S. Navy Dive School in Panama City, Florida. After finishing his coaching, he returned dwelling to Hawaii, the place he continued to dive professionally for the navy. Spending a lot time underwater naturally led him to discover the ocean recreationally and that zeal ultimately steered him towards underwater pictures.

Like many budding photographers, Ollie’s first digital camera was a easy GoPro, which he used to seize the underwater world to share with household and buddies. He nonetheless remembers one among his early dives when he got here throughout a flatworm that fascinated him, however his GoPro couldn’t seize the element or coloration he noticed together with his personal eyes. That humble flatworm impressed him to improve to an Olympus TG-6, which solely deepened his appreciation for the unimaginable range beneath the floor. Over time, he moved on to his present setups: an OM System OM-1, most frequently paired with a 90mm lens, strobe and snoot for macro, in addition to a Nikon D700 with twin strobes for extensive.

Ollie is particularly drawn to macro pictures, specializing in the tiny, often-overlooked creatures that many divers swim proper previous. Nudibranchs, particularly, maintain a particular fascination for him. At the identical time, he’s at all times seeking to develop as a photographer, just lately branching out into wide-angle work to seize the great thing about Hawaii’s bigger marine residents like sea turtles, manta rays, and even the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. Being capable of share the colourful and various marine lifetime of his dwelling waters via his pictures is one thing Ollie finds deeply rewarding. He hopes that his photos not solely showcase the sweetness and fragility of our oceans but in addition encourage others to understand and defend them.

 

A standard bigeye staring again with its signature outsized gaze, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A hanging Denison’s nudibranch on a shallow reef, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A shocking Hawaiian bobtail squid hovering over the sand at night time, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A vibrantly coloured Cockerell’s dorid exploring the kelp forest, Monterey, California, USA

 

A inexperienced sea turtle, effortlessly cruising over the reef, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A depressing nudibranch displaying off un-gloomy coloration, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A uncommon and spectacular dragon moray peering out of the darkness, Oahu, Hawaii

 

A easy seahorse clutches the seagrass, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A stunning whitemouth moray rising from its rocky den, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

An in depth-up portrait of a Hawaiian purple lionfish, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A yellow-margined nudibranch sliding over the sand, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

An lovely Shawn the Sheep munches algae whereas laying eggs, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

 

A stupendous opalescent nudibranch feeding on hydroids, California, USA

 

To see extra of Ollie’s underwater work, please give him a comply with on Instagram.