Camera in hand a couple of days ago, she decided to check out rockpools along the NSW northern beaches coastline, when she spotted an octopus. Not wanting to waste a second she popped the camera into the water just a little way away from the animal.

Suddenly, it moved towards the camera and clung to it fiercely.

"He pulled my camera down with great strength, twice," Ms Yost said.

Asked how she got the inquisitive marine animal off her camera, she said she had to think quickly.

"I decided I would have to pull up fairly fast to get him to release," she said. "It worked like a charm. He was able to think on his feet, all eight of them, and make the hasty decision to abort his mission the instant I pulled upwards with haste.

"It was so unexpected and priceless and I will hang onto this memory forever."

Ms Yost believes it was a Common Sydney Octopus (Octopus Tetricus) that she filmed during the encounter.

"Its bite can paralyse its prey, so maybe that's why I found a scratch on my dome port," she said. "Just glad he didn't move up onto my arm."

Ms Yost wondered if the octopus could see its reflection in the dome port of her camera.

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"Could he have thought it a potential mate," she said. "Just a thought, knowing nothing about their habits, but it's quite an entertaining thought at the very least."

Ms Yost was born on the northern beaches but has spent the last 35 years living in Pennsylvania in the United States. She's back on the Beaches to visit family for a few weeks and the photographer, who usually takes wedding photos, took the opportunity to capture marine life in the rockpools.

"There is absolutely no place in the world like Sydney's coastline, and being a photographer, the rock platforms are an endless source of fascination for me," she said.

"I was hoping to capture anything in the tidal pools with my new GoPro and dome port, which allows the fun over/under 50/50 view, as well as a completely submerged view of what might be living in the little pools at low tide."