About Richard Carey

Richard Carey professional underwater photograher

Richard is a professional photographer and photojournalist who currently resides in Khao Lak, Thailand. He spends most of his working hours underwater photographing scuba divers and marine life. Richard originally hails from Zimbabwe, an area far from the ocean though never far from wildlife and nature which have always been a major driving force behind his career to date.

It wasn’t until 2000 that Richard first learnt to scuba dive during a temporary stint living in the UK. Despite water temperatures of 11˚C, poor visibility and not a lot of marine life he caught the diving bug and continued his training becoming a qualified PADI Instructor by 2003. The instructor part of the training was in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt where diving conditions improved considerably.

Whilst working as an instructor in Dahab, Egypt between 2004-2007, Richard was developing his interest in underwater photography, diving with a 5 mega-pixel Olympus compact camera (which was state of the art at the time).

Deciding he needed to up his game somewhat Richard bought a Canon EOS 400D with Ikelite housing and moved to Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas on New Providence Island in the Bahamas to hone his skills whilst working as an underwater photographer and videographer.

By September 2008 it was time to return to the Red Sea, to Dahab to work as a professional photographer. A position Richard held until 2012 working for Poseidon Divers, Sinai Divers Dahab and Reef 2000 accompanying daily dive trips photographing divers and marine life.

Getting Competitive

As a natural progression in his photography career Richard start to enter underwater photography competitions and in 2010 won Jury’s Prize at the Eilat Red Sea Photo Competition. The prize was a voucher for Seacam housing.

An upgrade in camera housing also meant an upgrade in camera too with the purchase of a Canon EOS 60D which has served him well to the current day. As well as the Canon 60D with Seacam housing, Richard uses Ikelite DS160 strobes and prefers his Tokina 10-17mm lens.

Onto South East Asia

As political instability took it’s toll on tourism in Egypt, Richard was forced to move further afield. He worked two summer seasons in Mallorca, Spain from 2013 – 2015 before travelling to South East Asia, through Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia before finding his current home in Thailand.

In 2014 Richard started work on board the MV Similan Explorer as photo pro, a position he still holds until today.

Media Coverage

When Richard Carey won of Underwater Photographer of the Year

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What can He do for you?

If you represent a dive centre:

Richard Carey can help advertise your business, it’s great to have good quality underwater images from your dive trips. It gives a huge boost to your advertising campaigns, show reels, websites and social media.

Richard also provides an invaluable service to your guests. Scuba divers really appreciate diving with a professional photographer who can capture them looking their best underwater.

If you’d like to learn more:

For a quick how-to guide on how to improve your photo skills, check out ‘The Underwater Photographer’s Guide‘ by Richard Carey. The book is available from Amazon for Kindle or on paperback and it is packed full of useful tips and tricks of the trade.

If you are interested in learning even more, why not learn directly from the expert on a professional underwater photography course with Richard himself?

If you’re on a diving holiday:

Do you want to simply enjoy your dives without bothering to take the photographs youself? Richard has that covered for you. Even if you like to take photographs yourself, what better than even more images with you in action?

Professional images look great on your computer’s desktop, your Facebook feed and especially on Instagram where you’ll be the star.

If you’d like to use Richard’s photos:

Whether you require high quality images for advertising, websites, blogs, editorial use or even personal use, Richard has a large collection of images for sale. Underwater photographs of divers and marine life, wildlife on land and environmental issues such as deforestation and pollution.

Richard Carey’s work is available from major photography stock agencies including Shutter Stock, Big Stock, Fotolia and Adobe Stock.