Encounters in the Blue.

You have limited time underwater, and most people swim straight past what interests me. It sits inside a whip coral, in a discarded bottle, on the arm of a feather star — a few centimetres across, well camouflaged, and rarely willing to hold still.

After more than a thousand dives I have a fair idea where to look. My waters are mostly Indonesian: North Sulawesi around Gangga and Lembeh, the Moluccas near Saparua, Bali, Wakatobi — much of it from the MS Liburan. Sipadan and Mataking off Borneo as well, and the Maldives.

I have always photographed for one reason only: it has never let go of me. That still holds.