Featured Photographer: Ponnie Janjarasskul

My name is Ponnie Janjarasskul and I am from the land of smiles, Thailand – Bangkok to be exact. I immediately fell in love with the underwater world when I started diving in 2011, picked up my first camera in 2013, and have been shooting underwater photography since.

I have won several awards for my photography, most recently the 2020 Thailand dive expo, 1st prize winner, macro/super macro category with the image below ‘Double Endorphine’ and have been a speaker at various dive shows around Asia. These opportunities have allowed me to meet many wonderful people around the world who are as enthusiastic as me, sharing knowledge of the underwater world and always learning new things.

Mainly focusing on macro, the fact that I can go dive at the same dive site and encounter different animals and observe their behaviours differently day after day is amazing.

My current photography set-up for macro : Nikon D850 + Micro-Nikkor 105 mm. f/2.8G in Nauticam housing. Strobes: AOI Ultra compact Q1x2. Diopter : SMC-1, AOI Ucl-900pro, Ucl-90pro. Torch for snoot and colouring : Minigear MS-03 x 2 Focus light Minigear MG3200

Blossom, Koh Adang, Thailand

White nudibranch with black spots and orange markings on a piece of coral

Branch, Koh Adang, Thailand

Macro shot of a pink and cream crustacean against similar coloured coral

Cotton candy, Koh Adang, Thailand

white nudibranch with brown patches on some pink coral

Daruma, Lembeh, Indonesia

Two orange and white seahorses next to each other on a piece of coral

Double endorphine, Lembeh, Indonesia

Electrified, Lembeh, Indonesia

Face-bombing, Lembeh, Indonesia

White nudibranch with brown ears and grey and yellow spots on coral

Field, Koh Adang, Thailand

Pale coloured, translucent nudibranch with fiery coloured horns against black background

Fireball, Big Rock, Thailand

Yellow and brown octopus hatching from translucent egg

First launch, Lembeh, Indonesia

Flying rocket, Lembeh, Indonesia

Pale coloured fish with yellow eyes against pink backdrop

Keep it simple, Malapascua, Philippines

Red goby with black spots looking up at camera

Migraine, Lembeh, Indonesia

Pale and orange coloured nudibranch on coral with purple and orange bokeh in the background

Nightlife, Lembeh, Indonesia

Rabbit, Lembeh, Indonesia

Release the krakens, Lembeh, Indonesia

School of batfish, Chumporn, Thailand

Four lionfish next to coral with a school of fish around them

School of lionfish, Similans, Thailand

Splash, Koh Adang, Thailand

Treasure, Lembeh, Thailand

Underwater poisonous mushroom, South Andaman, Thailand

Underwater succulent, Manado, Indonesia

Find more from Ponnie on her Instagram @scubaponnie and on her website

If you’d like to see your underwater photography published on these pages and shared across our social media feed and weekly newsletter, why not drop us a line at info@divemagazine.com.