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Marlin hunting a school of mackerel, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
While our latest Photographer of the Week hails from Formia, on the Mediterranean coast between Rome and Naples, Raffaele Livornese did not begin his love affair with the underwater world in Italian waters. Rather, it was a trip to the Egyptian Red Sea in 2007—and some memorable moments with oceanic whitetip sharks—that made him realize that he wanted to purchase his first underwater camera in order to share his experiences with others. He has been traveling and diving at every opportunity since.
It wasn’t long before Raffaele felt he had maximized the potential of his compact system, and he upgraded to a Nikon DSLR inside a Hugyfot housing, with two flashguns and a selection of different lenses. Armed with the popular Tokina 10–17mm fisheye for wide angle, and 60mm and 105mm lenses for macro, he visited famous dive destinations in the Philippines, Maldives, Mexico and Madagascar in search of new subjects—as well as diving closer to home in the Mediterranean Sea.
The resulting images from these hundreds of dives around the world include a diverse selection of marine life of all shapes and sizes, including some awesome shots of the world’s biggest fish alongside a macro image of a tiny larval stage octopus captured during a blackwater dive. He also includes some nice coral reef images from Raja Ampat in Indonesia, as well as pelagic encounters with striped marlin off Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Whatever technique or subject is on display, all of the images are well composed, perfectly lit, and bursting with color. These skills have not gone unnoticed, and he has won several national photography awards and placed highly in some prestigious underwater imaging contests.
Wunderpus octopus larval stage, Anilao, Philippines
Gold coral (Savalia savaglia), Gulf of Naples, Italy
Whale shark feeding, Nosy Be, Madagascar
Thorny seahorse with snooted backlight, Anilao, Philippines
Sea fan under the mangroves, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
School of batfish, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Jawfish mouth-brooding eggs, Anilao, Philippines
Sea lions playing with a school of sardines, Los Isolotes, La Paz, Mexico
Lionfish, Nosy Be, Madagascar
Clownfish in host anemone, Anilao, Philippines
School of jacks, Cabo Pulmo, Mexico
Shark egg on a gorgonian sea fan, Gulf of Naples, Italy
Hawksbill turtle, Nosy Be, Madagascar
Schooling sweetlips, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
To keep up to date with Raffaele’s latest work, check out his social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
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