Ocean Visions Photography

Name: Ocean Visions Photography
Address: Swanage, BH19ES, GB
Telephone: 07901395807
Price range: Not applicable
Rating: 5

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Ocean Visions Photography

From End-of-Life to Ocean Life, it's truly amazing what positive things can happen even after being run over twice. Thanks so much for stopping by.
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Maria discovered the ocean, watching a TV programme on whale sharks back in 1994 whilst on the end-of-life pathway in hospital and after making a miraculous comeback to live and then learn how to walk again after having head injuries and 15 fractures, decided to follow her dream to learn about sharks, whales, dolphins and other ocean animals and try to inspire others too. She got side-tracked when

she arrived to Dorset after giving away all her belongings to help children with cancer in Leeds, Yorkshire and the RNLI, and fell in love with her care work and followed a dream to work across all of Dorset's and Hampshire's Acute and Rehab Hospitals, as well as covering other staff shortages in Wiltshire and even Sunderland's ICU. Currently injured from working through the Covid Pandemic, she carried on and picked up ghost nets from her local Swanage Beach, set up "Plastic Free Purbeck" part of the Surfers Against Sewage initiative, volunteered as a Marine Medic for British Divers Marine Life Rescue helping stranded and injured dolphins and seals on our Dorset and Hampshire coastline and loves exploring her local coast picking up litter underwater. Now on crutches, her passion is helping to inspire others about our incredible blue world through her work at her ocean studio in Swanage. She is incredibly shy, but also proud to have pioneered the first ever UK courses to show how great underwater images can be achieved with both compact cameras and Go Pros, as well as having authored the first ever book of it's kind which is a world best-seller (number 12 on Amazon). She has also won multiple photography awards for her underwater work and pioneered the idea of showcasing the first ever above and below images of Dorset, as seen in Dorset Life Magazine. Her first ever course guest back in 2004 is a regular contributor to the BBC's Blue Planet Team and is a National Geographic Explorer. She now loves turning these into gifts to raise awareness as well as funds for ocean conservation charities as well as helping others develop their photography skills. Please just drop her a message if you feel that she can help you too.

08/05/2026

Happy Birthday to Earth's greatest storyteller!

Dear Sir David,

You gave the oceans words to sing,
And taught so much wonder in everything.
You made the silent wildness speak,
It's beauty strong, it's future weak.

In your voice both calm and true,
You sparked a passion in something new.

Thank you for the paths you've shown,
For making this earth feel known.
For every life you helped us see,
You inspired the world, thanks so much for inspiring me - Maria 💙

PS. Still so proud I helped Erick Higuera learn underwater photography back in 2004 who is now part of the Blue Planet Film Crew.

27/03/2026

Wow, it's been so long since I posted as my underwater blog (Facebook too if you'd like to see heaps of Dorset videos) at Dorset Underwater has kept me super busy all winter following a dream to help others learn about our marine life.

So this page will be a mixture of local and wildlife images from across the world - it's just going to be about finding the right place for my creativity as it's so varied 😃

Thanks to you all for joining me on my journey and look forward to sharing more images with you.

Maria and Nemo x

20/01/2026

Well that's Iceland well and truly ticked off the list then 🤣

I'm not sure what I'm more shocked about - seeing this incredible display last night or receiving a text from BBC Radio Solent at 6 am asking me to talk about it on their Breakfast Show this morning.

The hughest thank you to them, I feel so lucky and humbled when they get in touch with me. Such lovely teams ❤️

Did you see it too? - Maria x

17/01/2026

Happy Weekend All!

Today I couldn't be prouder of my new ocean learning and photography centre 💙

This week has been all about upcycling and recycling ♻️. Monday saw me take my recycling to the local Swanage Recycling Centre and I came back with everything I needed to launch new workshops 🙌

A beautiful table and chairs for the children to do activities from the Marine Conservation Society and learn about our seas, to a cozy corner set with anemone lights and beanbags ☺️

All finished yesterday with another trip to Dorset Scrapstore where I learnt to sew and upcycle the beanbags with used coffee sacks from our local coffee business Carve ☕️

And all the visitors today (wow was it busy and I've been invited in a podcast 😳) who learnt about our seas gave it the SEAL of approval 🦭 🙌

The hughest thank you to Grant and Brian from the Centre and Clare, Dawn and Sue for yesterday.

Speechless 🥰 xx

12/01/2026

"Hello BBC Radio Solent 💜"

I'm still pinching myself to believe I was invited to the BBC Studios in Southampton on Thursday to chat about my ocean photography journey, my ocean studio offering ocean art and discovery walks and my Dorset snorkelling adventures on Katie Martin's morning show.

I shared my story in the hope that it will inspire others to explore our Dorset Coast, to not be scared of sharks and that they can follow their dreams too and particularly for those who are going through life struggles or disabilities.

The hughest thank you goes to the incredible teams there for their kindness who I've been so blessed to work with for 4 years since I initiated the first ever projects in Swanage and the New Forest to help Ukraine 🇺🇦 💛💙

You can listen to it here at 1.18 ☺️

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002pb00?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

01/01/2026

Happy 2026 🎉🥳🎊

Wishing you all an amazing year ahead and the hughest thank you for all your support this year. Sorry for the silence, it's been a crazy year and I feel like I've literally lived under the Dorset sea for most of it.

It's been my third year since I launched Dorset's first dedicated snorkel school and helping to give people the skills and confidence to explore our coast safely, and share my passion for our incredible marine life makes my heart full and happy every day.

It's also my third summer of helping children with special needs which I love even more 💕

2025 saw me give talks to camera clubs, schools, attend events and of course rescue lost rubbish in our seas.

It also saw my book "Snorkel Dorset" hit Waterstones/Foyles in London and even make it to Australia! The hughest thank you to everyone who's supported it 🙏

And just as important I learnt so much about our beautiful, incredible seagrass meadow which we have here in Swanage 💚

Have an amazing year and can't wait to hear about all your adventures. Maria x

05/10/2025

Hi everyone,

I'm so sorry for being so quiet recently but I've been writing a book from my travels across Dorset this summer by bus! You can read all about it in my underwater page

This week really has been incredible being invited onto Radio Wimborne to share my story as to how I came to Dorset and how snorkelling our world-famous coast helped me recover from NHS life 💙

The hughest thank you to Kelly who was so amazing. It was so lovely meeting you and chatting about sharks, conservation plus the work of the Marine Conservation Society and Seasearch and my love for the marine life in Swanage 💙

You can listen here at 00:25.11

https://player.autopod.xyz/1040127

19/08/2025

Happy World Photography Day 📷

I honestly never dreamt I could take a good image, I always just wanted to use my imagery when I started my conservation dream back in 1997 to share the beauty of our oceans and how we can all help them.

I'm super proud that my work has graced the cover of The Royal Photographic Society, that I was the first person to gain a Distinction using a compact camera back in 2007 and that I've been invited again to give my fourth online workshop for them tomorrow night to inspire how to create beautiful images using your Smartphobe, Go Pro or compact camera such as an Olympus TG-Tough.

All are welcome and you don't need to be a member.

https://rps.org/events-listing/

I'm super proud to be showing my new images of Dorset as well as other images from around the world.

Have a great day and I promise to catch up on this page, I've been working on an exciting project - Maria x

19/06/2025

Who knew that such beautiful light existed underwater?

📷. Iphone13 Pro Max/ Divevolk Housing

18/06/2025

"Sunrise Vibes"

Today was back to my 4 am starts but this was my first attempt to capture the sunrise from the water itself.

I honestly didn't think that I was going to make it in time, but it really was incredible to see it rising.

It was honestly the best ocean therapy I could have wished for and am super happy that I managed 2 hrs in the water 🧡

I hope to share more of these images with you soon x

Address

Swanage
BH19ES

Telephone

07901395807

Website

http://oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk/

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