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Lionfish out for the hunt, Bligh waters, Fiji
 

This week’s featured underwater photographer Karyll Gonzalez was born in Cuba but grew up in Miami, the capital of the sunshine state of Florida. Like most locals, Karyll spent his weekends and days off at the beach, snorkeling in the ocean and exploring the miles of pristine coastline throughout the region. At the age of 15 he got scuba certified and quickly became obsessed with diving.

As a student of Florida State University, Karyll took full advantage of the diving programs on offer and qualified as a divemaster before going on to work for a local dive shop in Miami after graduating college. It wasn’t long before he also picked up his first underwater camera system, and from that moment on, every snorkel or dive trip became a chance to experiment and learn how to take great underwater photographs.

Fast-forward to today and it’s clear that all the time spent in the water with a camera has paid off. Now living in Grand Junction, Colorado, Karyll continues to travel and dive whenever possible, and takes most of his vacations in the Indo-Pacific, where he has fallen in love with the reefs and the people, and built an impressive portfolio of images.

Karyll’s passion is macro photography and that explains why he now regularly visits destinations such as Bali, Lembeh and Komodo in Indonesia, to capture photos of elusive critters that are difficult to find anywhere else. He is also a fan of black-water diving, and although it is now quite common to see these types of images, when done well, they still stand out from the crowd. Looking at the selection of photos below, Karyll has clearly mastered the art of macro photography at night, too, and his larval long arm octopus is my favourite of the bunch. Wherever he decides to travel to next, expect to see beautifully executed images!
 

Gymnodoris ceylonica mating aggregation. Amed, Bali
 

Larval long arm octopus, photographed during black water dive, Lembeh, Indonesia
 

Male blue ribbon eel, Komodo National Park, Indonesia
 

Paper nautilus riding a jellyfish, photographed during black water dive, Lembeh, Indonesia
 

Pink anemonefish in host anemone, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
 

Shaun the sheep nudibranch with eggs, Amed, Bali
 

Snowflake eel, Komodo National Park, Indonesia
 

Soft coral wall, Bligh waters, Fiji
 

For more of Karyll’s awesome images, head over to his Instagram page.