I was born in Latina, a city near Rome, on January 23rd 1970, I have a university degree in Physics and and I am currently employed in the biggest company in the world producing devices for Internet connectivity.

I inherited from my parents a passion for Sciences, visual Arts and Nature; the Sea has always been present in the most important moments of my life, but only in recent years I began to practice water sports: scuba diving arrives by coincidence in 2006, and the direct relationship with the water becomes soon a powerful chann

el of communication and introspection.

Today going underwater, being in the Sea, means to me becoming for a moment a part of the Sea itself, a small part of a whole which is constantly changing but at the same time in constant equilibrium.

I think the great diver Jacques Mayol wanted to express the same idea when he once said:

"I have the Sea inside me. I am the Sea."

Photography becomes, a few years before start diving, the most suitable way to communicate this new phase of my life: I report my feelings through the shutter, documenting the various expressions of this equilibrium in different places and through different cultures.

From June 2009 I started partecipating with my club "Tirreno Sub Roma" to FIPSAS Underwater Photography competitions, the first year with a compact camera and then from March 2010 with a digital SLR in a Seacam housing.

During this period, always with my wife Maria Cristina Di Palma acting by my side as model and assistant, I got great results:

- September 2009: FIPSAS Italian Underwater Photography Italian Championship - 1st place Compact Camera category

- July 2010: Graciosa (Azores islands) International Underwater Photography Open Contest - 5th place portfolio

- October 2010: FIPSAS Italian Underwater Photography Italian Championship - I confirmed myself at 1st place in the Compact Camera category

- October 2010: FIPSAS Italian Underwater Photography Italian Championship - 1st place Teams category with my club-mate Stefano Proakis

- October 2010: FIPSAS Italian Underwater Photography Italian Championship - 5th place in the digital SLR individual category

All these results allowed me to be called for joining in 2011 the FIPSAS Underwater Photography Italian National Team.

In 2010 I also started to enter several imaging competitions, obtaining good results such as:

- "MyShot" 2010 2010: 2nd place Wide Angle category and special award for Wreck Best picture

- 4th Grand Prix FIPSAS "VI Continente": 2nd place Portfolio and "Pietro Zanobini" prize for the Contest Best Picture

- "Golden Dolphin" International PhotoFestival 2011 - 2nd place Black-and-White category

My equipment:

- Fuji F31fd compact camera
- INON S-2000 and Z-240 flash
- INON UFL-165 AD Fisheye lens
- INON UCL-165 AD Close-up Lens

- Nikon D300S
- Tokina 10-17mm lens
- 105mm Nikkor lens
- Nikkor 60mm lens
- Seacam Housing
- Seacam Seaflash 150D

My website: http://www.ilmaresonoio.com