The World of White Sharks

In an 8 month period over the past year I had the opportunity to photograph white sharks in each of the three recreational hotspots for photography: South Africa, Guadalupe, and South Australia. The results are now posted at:

http://www.scubadiving.com/diving/stephen_...ark_expeditions

Hope it may prove helpful in planning your own white shark expeditions.

Stephen, thanks for posting!

I saw your most recent white shark article in the magazine this weekend.

I was wondering, how did you get the photo of the white shark eating the Yellowfin tuna? Fabulous shot!

Sincerely,

James

Hey Steve,

Fantastic work. Very impressed with your African land animal stuff as well. What long lenses did you use for the leopards, lions etc.?

Thanks

Hi James and Mike - Thanks for your kind words. As for the shark eating tuna, like so much of white shark imaging, right place/right time. They were fishing for tuna while we were in the cage, and when I saw the shot on the camera LCD I assumed they must have caught a tuna and the shark ate it from the line. But then I dug into the image at 100% and beyond, looking for monofilament and it was not there. Incredible as it may seem, the shark nailed a freeswimming tuna along the side of the boat, visible only to me in the corner of the cage. I got a flying fish on that dive too as it actually swam through the cage.

Hey Mike - Good to hear from you again as well. When we did the Africa trip I was still shooting D1X, so the long lens was Nikkor 80-400VR. Next trip will be with Canon and 100-400IS, which I used for whale tails recently in Alaska and really liked it. The Botswana land safari was very cool. We fully occupied Mombo Camp and Kings Pool Camp, so our group could go when we wanted and stay as long as light permitted. We worked with Wilderness Safaris, who bring hospitality to a whole new level of professionalism. I expect we will do safari again in 2006, probably to Botswana again. Their safari product is quite extraordinary.

Some incredible images there Steve! I was curious which lens you used when you caught the flying fish swimming through the cage and did you have to crop the image? I could see that the Mark II's frame rate might come in handy for available light Great white shots from a cage.

Keith

I was curious which lens you used when you caught the flying fish swimming through the cage and did you have to crop the image?

Keith

Hey Keith - I had the D1X with me on that dive, so it was 12-24 zoomed to 24mm. I'd rather have had the 60mm, but you take what you get on a grab shot like this was.

I tried adding the shot as an attachment but it looks pretty funky that way. What's the trick to adding images in the body of a message?