Alex Tipple took the stunning shots of swimmers and surfers emerging underwater engulfed in clouds of whitewater while being frequently rocked by the waves himself. The 29-year-old captures the split second moments off the Australian coast and regularly gets beaten in the head by his 5kg, specially adapted camera for his troubles
Mr Tipple, from Sydney, Australia, came up with the idea of photographing waves underwater after becoming frustrated with "normal" surf photography, and wanted to capture the moments from a different perspective
He said: "During a flat spell in Sydney I shot a few small waves with people swimming off to the side...
...the results were pretty graphic and led to people swimming becoming the focus of the series, which was against my initial intention but looked great"
Mark is comfortable underwater after years of surfing and can easily ride out the waves breaking overhead
"Most of the credit" he says, "has to be paid to the camera though. I'd be lying if I didn't say that most of the time I hold the shutter down and point in the general direction of the people"
The camera's waterproof housing is about the size of a shoebox, and weighs about 5 kilograms. It is heavy enough to hurt when it hits Mark on the head
He adds, "I guess it's transformed from a simple idea of seeing how the waves look underwater to how people adapt and what they go through when diving under waves."
