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Blue shark, Penzance, England
 

One of the best things about traveling to new destinations to scuba dive is that you have the opportunity to meet new people who share your passion for nature and the underwater world. Not everyone understands the attraction of swimming with sharks or searching for seahorses, and so it’s always fun to chat to our fellow photographers between dives and make new friends. This is exactly how I met this week’s featured photographer Will Clark.

A few years back, when I discovered it was possible to swim with blue sharks in the UK, I set out to find local divers keen to join me on a trip and charter a boat, and Will was the first to answer that call. We both had a great time snorkeling with blues for the first time, and since then Will has returned to Cornwall a number of times, capturing some award-winning images that far exceeded my own efforts the first time around. As well as diving as often as possible in the British Isles, he also loves to travel and has visited many bucket-list destinations, including the Bahamas, Dominica, and Norway, in search of encounters with orcas, sperm whales and other marine megafauna.

As you can see in his portfolio below, when he’s not shooting the big stuff, Will also has some great macro photography skills and uses a variety of different techniques to enhance the final result. Still, panning the camera to create motion blur requires patience and practice to get right, and his blurred blue shark image above is my favorite of the lot. Since being awarded Best Newcomer Portfolio by the British Society of Underwater Photographers in 2010, Will has won or been placed in many underwater photography contests and is well known within the UK dive scene for his larger-than-life character and competitive spirit!
 

Hairy frogfish, Lembeh, Indonesia
 

Ribbon eel, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
 

Lacey scorpionfish, Tubbataha, Philippines
 

Triplefin blenny, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
 

Atlantic pygmy octopus, Blue Heron Bridge, Florida, USA
 

Mantis shrimp, Lembeh, Indonesia
 

Spanish mackerel, Marsa Nakari, Egypt
 

Sea lion pup, Los Islotes, Mexico
 

Basking shark, Isle of Coll, Scotland
 

Green sea turtle
 

Sperm whales, Dominica
 

Will Clark
 

For more of Will’s inspiring images, follow him on Facebook and Instagram.