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A green turtle munching algae in the shallows, California, USA

Every photographer dreams of heading off to far-flung and exotic dive destinations. DPG Photographer of the Week Brandon Wiese plies his trade in his local waters of Southern California, and if his feature here is anything to go by, your local underwater ecosystems are often the most productive for creating compelling underwater images. If you're into nudibranchs, you will greatly enjoy Brandon's portfolio, as it is loaded with them and he says one of his big goals in life is to discover and photograph a brand new nudi species.

Brandon credits his twin brother, Shane, with getting him into diving—and being able to satiate his childhood obsession with aliens and outer space. The marine environment is in itself another world and this one was a mere 20 miles from home! Already interested in macro photography on land, it was a natural progression for Brandon to begin shooting images underwater. A trip to Bali kick-started his obsession with the countless tiny and weird critters that could be found and photographed underwater. Upon returning to San Diego, he was staggered by the amount of incredible life to be found in his local waters that he'd never even known existed and he became completely hooked on nudibranchs especially.

Brandon's proficiency with regards to photographing nudibranchs in particular is evident and he has become quite an expert at doing so, as evidenced below. He is able to bring out character in creatures that don't actually have stereotypical faces. Now also a divemaster for Waterhorse Charters, Brandon spends as much time as possible in California, whether for work or for pleasure, and it is to our benefit as it allows him to create fantastic pictures of remarkable animals.

A common denizen of tidepools is the McDonald's dorid, California, USA

A rockpool blenny sporting some crazy eyebrows, California, USA

A branched Dendronotues crawling on a piece of seagrass int he shallows, California, USA

Green sea turtles reach the northern-most extent of their Eastern Pacific range in southern California, USA

A perfect portrait of a Hilton's aeolid nudibranch in a tidepool, California, USA

A young California sealion doing its best to be the center of attention, California, USA

An well-known southern California nudibranch species, the Hopkin's rose, found in a tidepool, California, USA

A diminutive three-lined aeolid nudibranch preparing to munch on a hydroid, California, USA

A beautiful and tiny nudibranch, common in California is the orange-spike Polycera, California, USA

California's most iconic nudibranch species, the Spanish shawl, California, USA

A beautifully speckled, spotted dorid, California, USA

A head-on look at a beautiful opalescent nudibranch, California, USA

To see more of Brandon's fantastic work from Southern California, please give him a follow on Instagram or go dive with him on Waterhorse Charters.