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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.