You may even have found yourself the star of one of his photographs.

The dreadlocked, surf veteran photographer/filmmaker, 33, has spent much of the last four years hanging out at the bottom of the ocean floor of Sydney beaches.

Wading out into shallow swells around Bronte and Coogee, camera in hand, to capture the “carnage and the chaos” of the human interaction with the ocean.

A surfer for 20 years, the ocean has been the focus of much of his work - including freelance jobs for environmental organisations - as well as netting him an Instagram following of over 9,000.

Having moved to Sydney in 2006 to study journalism at the University of Wollongong before transferring to the Sydney Film School, it was a post-graduation trip to Mexico in 2009 to visit his shark diving brother which sparked his fascination with documenting its depths.

Filming a short documentary on the creatures, he came to a greater appreciation of the role humans have on the environment.

“I remember we were on the boat after shooting all day, and we were all completely exhausted and sunstroked, and I just had a really good conversation with some of the lead scientists in the field and it just opened my eyes,” he said.

“It’s not all doom and gloom, it definitely has some hope, but just to be aware of it, I guess. The odd not-for-profit awareness doesn’t lead to change but it definitely leads to choice.”

Over the last five years he’s had plenty encounters with marine life, including multiple shark run ins and a near headbutt with a turtle while shooting an environmental campaign in the Maldives last month.

But it was nature at its most brutal which has stuck with him most, after seeing a shark eat a seal in front of him and a friend while they were surfing a remote beach “an hour walk from the nearest dirt road carpark” in his native South Australia.

We were going to surf one wave, but it looked a bit too dodgy so we shot at another wave and this seal popped up right next to us and I was like ‘oh that’s OK, it’s just a seal’, and my buddy was kind of freaking out, and then the seal swam over to where we were going to surf and got eaten by a shark.”

While he also shoots freelance campaigns for non-for-profit groups like the Salvation Army and mental health charities, Mr Tipple said his personal projects often take much of his focus, such as these incredible photos from his ongoing Underwater Project series.

The photos capture swimmers as they dive below the surface of the water, grazing the sand between waves, all captured with incredible clarity in often near translucent water - something he says takes thousands of frames to perfect.

But for Mr Tipple, it’s the ones which capture their fight against the wave’s impact which he favours.

“I love the raw energy of it, people with contorted faces and limbs are all splayed out trying to survive the impact of the wave.

“In reality it’s only a couple of foot of surf, they’re not going to drown or anything, but in that split moment where the wave is crashing on top of them, they’re just trying to get up to breathe, they’re the ones I love,” he said.

“You can get all the pretty, graceful ones of the perfect lighting and the perfect posture and positioning of the swimmer but I actually love the complete opposite of that where it’s just all chaos and carnage.”

Through his work he has had the chance to travel beaches across the world, but said some of the best are from where he grew up.

“Back home is amazing too because it’s where the desert meets the ocean, so you’ve got the crazy, dry, arid sanddunes leading on to just scrub and then there’s like one little track that leads down a cliff and then there’s an amazing wave down there, it’s pretty special.”

Mr Tipple will pick the project back up when the water temperatures begin to rise and swimmers return.