Hi there, my name is Simon Ilett & one of my many passions in life, you guessed it, is underwater photography. Here on this web site I want to share that passion with you. I'm also offering the ability for you to buy awesome underwater photos to use for prints & wallpapers, ideal for your home, office, cubicle or outhouse!

Syngnathiformes

Ask pretty much any diver what they would like to see on this dive and if the answer is not a Turtle, it will probably be a Sea Horse. Syngnathiformes is an order of fish that include Pipefish & Seahorses, technically it also includes Trumpetfish, Cornets and others but the ones I find the most interesting are of course Sea Horse and Pipes. We are lucky in Phuket & Thailand to have a host of dive sites where Sea Horses like to turn up, we get regular appearances of Tiger Tails, White, Yellow & Black versions. Sadly we don't get Pygmies here but we do get Ornate, Robust & other rare Pipefish & don't forget the elusive Sea Moth, technically not a Syngathiforme, but sadly not broad enough for it's own category.

    Fishies

    Fishies make up a majority of my photography subjects, they are common and relatively easy to find, they are active in the day time, plus, they look cool. I'm a big fan of the group of fish, we refer to as 'Odd Shaped Bottom Dwellers'. This usually includes, your Lion Fish, Scorpion Fish, Frog Fish, Stone Fish & a host of other types that display amazing bio-mimicry or camouflage. I'll also try to add rarer fish to this gallery over time like Juvenile's of the common species which again are far more interesting than their grown up counterparts.

      Sharks & Rays

      Sometimes even mentioning the word Shark to divers is enough to keep them out of the water, for me, you say that word and I'll be pushing you off the boat and out of the way so I can get in the water. I truly love Sharks, getting good photos of them though is one of hardest things you will ever try to do. Many Sharks need to keep moving, if they stop, they basically drown. Some Sharks though have managed to get by this little evolutionary quirk and can settle on the bottom, they tend to make better muses, but hopefully one day I will get up close and personal with some larger more pelagic beasts! Rays are also included in this category because if you go back far enough in the evolutionary timeline, both Sharks and Rays have a common ancestor, the verged off in different evolutionary arcs, which means technically Rays are Sharks that just went ahead and developed massively oversized pectoral fins and poisoned stingers.

        Cephalopods

        I'm a huge fan of Cephalopods, if you don't know what that means, it simply refers to underwater critters like Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squids & of course the Nautilus, they are the most intelligent members of the super class we refer to as Invertebrates which includes insects, crabs, lobsters, snails, clams, octopuses, starfish, sea-urchins and worms. Actually on planet Earth a vast majority of animal species are invertebrates, some estimates put the figure at around 97%. So that is why the category is not Invertebrate's, I'll stick with an easier managed category like Cephalopods and see what photos I can get of them.

          Crustaceans

          The title of Crustacean applies to a wide range of marine animals so it's a nice broad category to lump my photos into. This category includes Crabs, Shrimps, Mantis Shrimp, Lobster & Krill, technically it also includes barnacles, but I won't be taking any photos of those, so don't worry. Keep an eye on this gallery if you are a fan of night diving, because that is when the crabs and shrimps really like to come out and play on the reef making them much easier targets for me and my camera.

            Miscellaneous

            This gallery is for everything else I photograph that doesn't count as a Fish, Shark, Ray, Crab, Sygnathiforme or Cephalopod. So wile browsing this gallery you should be seeing things like Turtles, Nudibranch, Eels & possibly some super rare finds that don't fit in the other gallery categories.