About Dive4Photos

Professional photographer, Alex Tyrrell, established Dive4Photos in 2012 with the aim of offering the highest quality underwater photography training available.

Alex is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, certifying hundreds of students over the last 15-years. He has completed more than 6000 dives at various locations around the world and runs photo workshops to destinations throughout Asia. His images have been published in numerous dive magazines and websites, plus mainstream media. He has been a guest speaker at dive shows in both the UK, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, plus is a judge for the prestigious Asia Pacific Underwater Photo Challenge annual photography competition since 2017. But more importantly, he has taught underwater photography to hundreds of students over the last 15-years, gaining valuable knowledge of the most common mistakes new photographers make and the best ways to correct them. He can explain in-depth subjects in an easy to understand manner and knows the best methods to teach this technical skill in the marine environment, which imposes time constraints such as no decompression and air supply limits. Alex is proud to say that all of the students that have completed underwater photography training with Dive4Photos have seen a marked improvement in their images and gained a greater understanding of underwater photography techniques, as is backed-up by the student reviews on ScubaTribe.

Alex started diving in 2001 when he lived in the UK and by the end of 2002 had worked his way up to PADI Divemaster in chilly English waters. He got his first underwater camera system, an Olympus compact, in March 2003 before a trip to the Red Sea for his initial attempts at capturing underwater photos, albeit not very good ones. Later that year he left his office job in London to travel, heading first to Thailand, then spending a year circumnavigating Australia, before returning to Thailand at the end of 2004, where he spent a further year working as a Divemaster. During this time he added a strobe and wet lenses to his camera system, as the photography became an essential element of his diving. Almost 2 ½ years after leaving the UK, he culminated his travels with an extended dive trip to Sulawesi and got his first taste of muck diving in Lembeh Straights.

In May 2006, whilst Alex was back in the UK for a year, he travelled to the Bahamas to shoot Tiger Sharks and caught a severe dose of camera envy, as everybody else aboard the boat had DSLR rigs. So upon his return it didn’t take long before he had bitten the bullet and invested in a Nikon D200 with various lenses, a Subal housing with appropriate ports, and a pair of Inon strobes, together with all the accompanying arms and sync cords (incurring a slightly depleted bank balance in the process).

Alex once again left the UK at the end of 2006, heading back to Koh Tao to complete the PADI Instructor Course & Master Scuba Diver Trainer program and then continued to work there as a full-time Instructor up until April 2008. At that point he was offered a job as a Dive Guide for a trip to Myanmar (Burma) and following a successful cruise accepted the Trip Manager position for the boats Indonesian season. In May he headed off to Kalimantan, aboard the live-aboard vessel MY Panunee, cruising the waters of Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban and Maratua, getting quite a bit of camera-time in along the way.

At the end of the season, Alex accepted a job as Photo Pro, Instructor and Dive Guide at a luxury dive resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines. Over the next 2 ½ years he built up the Photo Department at the resort, running photo classes and workshops, taking images of the guests and providing advertising material for the company. In December 2010 he relocated to the sister resort in Dauin, Dumaguete and took over as head of the Photo Department. He also pioneered fluorescent night dives and fluorescent underwater photography in the Philippines, introducing this unique dive experience to hundreds of divers and capturing images of previously unknown fluorescence in marine creatures. During his time in the Philippines, he had the pleasure of working with many professional underwater photographers & videographers, observing them at work and taking away valuable knowledge. In the four years he spent in the country he was able to spend a lot of time underwater with his camera, developing his skills and building an impressive portfolio.

In May 2012 Alex decided it was time to leave the Philippines and start his own company, so returned to Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, to set up Dive4Photos. Since then the company has established itself as the premium facility in Thailand for underwater photography training and formed partnerships with underwater photography equipment suppliers in Bangkok. The following year Alex set out to write the most comprehensive photography course available from any scuba diver training agency. After months of hard work he launched the 30-dive PADI Dive Centre Pro Photographer Course that offers an unparalleled level of photographic training that is only available at Dive4Photos. The following year the outline was updated to give students an alternate option for the final section of the course, further improving the quality of underwater photography training available at Dive4Photos.

Alex once again left the UK at the end of 2006, heading back to Koh Tao to complete the PADI Instructor Course & Master Scuba Diver Trainer program and then continued to work there as a full-time Instructor up until April 2008. At that point he was offered a job as a Dive Guide for a trip to Myanmar (Burma) and following a successful cruise accepted the Trip Manager position for the boats Indonesian season. In May he headed off to Kalimantan, aboard the live-aboard vessel MY Panunee, cruising the waters of Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban and Maratua, getting quite a bit of camera-time in along the way.

At the end of the season, Alex accepted a job as Photo Pro, Instructor and Dive Guide at a luxury dive resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines. Over the next 2 ½ years he built up the Photo Department at the resort, running photo classes and workshops, taking images of the guests and providing advertising material for the company. In December 2010 he relocated to the sister resort in Dauin, Dumaguete and took over as head of the Photo Department. He also pioneered fluorescent night dives and fluorescent underwater photography in the Philippines, introducing this unique dive experience to hundreds of divers and capturing images of previously unknown fluorescence in marine creatures. During his time in the Philippines, he had the pleasure of working with many professional underwater photographers & videographers, observing them at work and taking away valuable knowledge. In the four years he spent in the country he was able to spend a lot of time underwater with his camera, developing his skills and building an impressive portfolio.

In May 2012 Alex decided it was time to leave the Philippines and start his own company, so returned to Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, to set up Dive4Photos. Since then the company has established itself as the premium facility in Thailand for underwater photography training and formed partnerships with underwater photography equipment suppliers in Bangkok. The following year Alex set out to write the most comprehensive photography course available from any scuba diver training agency. After months of hard work he launched the 30-dive PADI Dive Centre Pro Photographer Course that offers an unparalleled level of photographic training that is only available at Dive4Photos. The following year the outline was updated to give students an alternate option for the final section of the course, further improving the quality of underwater photography training available at Dive4Photos.

Alex once again left the UK at the end of 2006, heading back to Koh Tao to complete the PADI Instructor Course & Master Scuba Diver Trainer program and then continued to work there as a full-time Instructor up until April 2008. At that point he was offered a job as a Dive Guide for a trip to Myanmar (Burma) and following a successful cruise accepted the Trip Manager position for the boats Indonesian season. In May he headed off to Kalimantan, aboard the live-aboard vessel MY Panunee, cruising the waters of Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban and Maratua, getting quite a bit of camera-time in along the way.

At the end of the season, Alex accepted a job as Photo Pro, Instructor and Dive Guide at a luxury dive resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines. Over the next 2 ½ years he built up the Photo Department at the resort, running photo classes and workshops, taking images of the guests and providing advertising material for the company. In December 2010 he relocated to the sister resort in Dauin, Dumaguete and took over as head of the Photo Department. He also pioneered fluorescent night dives and fluorescent underwater photography in the Philippines, introducing this unique dive experience to hundreds of divers and capturing images of previously unknown fluorescence in marine creatures. During his time in the Philippines, he had the pleasure of working with many professional underwater photographers & videographers, observing them at work and taking away valuable knowledge. In the four years he spent in the country he was able to spend a lot of time underwater with his camera, developing his skills and building an impressive portfolio.

In May 2012 Alex decided it was time to leave the Philippines and start his own company, so returned to Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, to set up Dive4Photos. Since then the company has established itself as the premium facility in Thailand for underwater photography training and formed partnerships with underwater photography equipment suppliers in Bangkok. The following year Alex set out to write the most comprehensive photography course available from any scuba diver training agency. After months of hard work he launched the 30-dive PADI Dive Centre Pro Photographer Course that offers an unparalleled level of photographic training that is only available at Dive4Photos. The following year the outline was updated to give students an alternate option for the final section of the course, further improving the quality of underwater photography training available at Dive4Photos.

Alex Tyrrell
Director & Photo Instructor - Dive4Photos

Alex Tyrrell - Dive4Photos
Director & Photo Instructor

The philosophy that allows Dive4Photos to excel; provide only underwater photography training, guiding services specifically for underwater photographers, dive courses that teach the essential skills to improve your underwater photography, plus provide expert advice and assistance in purchasing underwater photography equipment in Thailand. Basically, anything related to underwater photography and nothing else. To ensure these standards can be continually maintained, we use high quality camera equipment, operate private air-conditioned classroom facilities and conduct our diving from the best dive boat operating from Koh Tao, plus are licensed to operate by the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT). All this makes Dive4Photos the obvious choice for underwater photography training in Thailand.