Isla Guadalupe, Mexico

CLOSE ENCOUNTER

This shot was taken in 2012 aboard the Solmar V in Isla Guadalupe. The object in the upper right is a fish head with a rope through its eye socket that the wrangler was using to draw the sharks closer to the divers. The most interesting thing about this photograph to me is that it was taken with a 105mm macro lens. Like everyone else, until the last day of the trip I had been using only wide-angle lenses, which is what common sense tells you that you should use for great whites. On the last day, I decided to try something different and got in with the 105mm. The experience taught me the importance of trying unconventional techniques if you want to get a shot that stands out. This shot would have been impossible with my wide-angle — I would not have been able to get close enough to fill the frame, and even had I been able to get over that hurdle, the shark would likely have come out very distorted.

Camera Gear Nikon D800, Nauticam NA-D800 housing, Micro-Nikkor 105mm macro lens

Aldabra, Seychelles

BLACK MAGIC

This photo was taken one evening on Aldabra, Seychelles. At this massive coral atoll, the world’s wildest and most beautiful marine life comes together.

I always see sharks shot on a nice clear background, but I wanted to try something different. Setting up my lights and using the sunset as my backdrop, I staged a model shoot for the sharks. The easiest part was setting the light. The hardest part was getting the blacktip reef sharks to pose in the natural studio.

Luckily in Aldabra, you don’t need to use bait. All you have to do is splash the water hard, and the sharks come zooming in. The splashing excites them, perhaps because they think it’s a distressed fish or an animal that has fallen into the water.

Camera Gear Nikon D4, Seacam housing, RGBLue Lights and Ikelite 161 strobe

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

UP IN THE AIR

The beauty in this picture is a 6-foot-long female bull shark (that I believe is pregnant) that came to Playa del Carmen for three months. Tourists from all over the world gather here to enjoy the company of sharks and, thanks to their popularity, sharks are getting more protection by the locals and by the government. The seafloor is 90 feet down, and I had to hover at about 60 feet to get this shot, struggling with a heavy current, and waiting patiently for the shark to be next to the stingrays’ marks and the rocks, right where I wanted her. The visibility was wonderful that day. The aerial view makes the shark look so small, and I like to think it symbolizes the recent change in humans’ mindset toward these animals. For years sharks have inspired fear, but nowadays, with awareness campaigns and information, that fear has been minimized and is turning into understanding.

Camera Gear Nikon D700, Sea&Sea housing, Nikon 16-35mm lens, INON Z240 strobe

Bimini, Bahamas

CURVES AHEAD

During the migration of great hammerheads in Bimini, I was on the sailboat No Stress with a small group of divers for a liveboard trip diving in the Bahamas.

Attracted by the smell of a fresh fish, this 13-foot great hammerhead nervously came to investigate the divers.

This shark is guided by instinct, and its behavior can be unpredictable. When you dive with this predator, you can feel how powerful an animal it is. Watching this shy and rare animal is exceptional, its hypnotic swimming amplified by the sun on the sand.

But when this female came too close, it was very exciting — she made a 180-degree rotation with amazing flexibility. The action was so rapid and un- predictable that I am very happy to have immortalized the moment!

Camera Gear Nikon D7000, Nauticam housing with mini dome, Tokina 10-17mm lens, dual Ikelite DS160 strobes

Dive This: Bimini Big Game Club Resort & Marina

Simon's Town, South Africa

SECRET GARDEN

While I was in South Africa chasing sharks, finding a broadnose sevengill was at the top of my wish list. Not only is it an odd-looking shark — its seven gills make it look like it was extracted from prehistoric times — but its kelp forest habitat is also a beautiful underwater environment. As I entered the 55°F water, my guide’s words resound- ed: “You don’t have to be on the lookout for them; they will find you.” After 30 minutes my tank was empty due to the cold. I spotted only one small, shy individual, and the photos I got were, well, just photos.

As I got out of the water, complaining about the cold, the rest of the divers looked at me with compassion: “At least you tried!” I responded: “I’m not done trying! Do you have another tank?” With that, I was back in business, and it wasn’t long before I saw this sevengill that allowed me to get the photo I had in mind. Perseverance always pays of.

Camera Gear Nikon D4, Seacam D4 housing, Sigma 15mm F2.8 EX DG fisheye lens, dual Seacam Seaflash 150TTL

Isla Guadalupe, Mexico

INTO THE BLUE

This image was taken in 2012 in Isla Guadalupe.

We were diving outside the cage with great whites, and yet my biggest challenge was completing my composition wish list. Every time I go into the field I have a vision of what I want, and a diver below a great white was at the top of my list. This shot might look like it was easy to capture, but that’s not the case at all. It took me 25 hours out of the cage to achieve this moment. I had only a single opportunity to capture this shot throughout the whole expedition.

To keep the sharks from getting too excited, we didn’t use bait while we were in the water, but we did light chumming beforehand to attract them.

I think this image has the super power to show the world that great white sharks are not man-eaters.

Camera Gear Nikon D4, Nauticam housing with Zen 10-inch dome port, Nikkor 14mm lens, Ultralight arms and dual Sea&Sea YS-250PRO strobes

Tiger Beach, Bahamas

EYE SPY

This image was taken in 2012 at Tiger Beach and is one of my most famous photos. It has been exhibited at the United Nations in New York and at the Fort Lauderdale art museum, but it has never been published in a magazine. The day I took this image was very stormy; after several days not getting into the water because of bad conditions, we decided to snorkel and make split shots; even so, the visibility and the weather were awful. For this photo I had the luck to have a lemon shark stick its head out of the water, more due to the waves than any intention by the shark. The stormy sky, the bad viz and the big waves were a challenge to achieving good images, but I decided to take advantage of the situation, adding a dark atmosphere to the photo. People often say that this shot really brings out how Jurassic sharks really are.

Camera Gear Nikon D3, Nikkor 16mm, Subal housing, Subal 8-inch dome port, Ultralight arms, dual Sea&Sea YS-250PRO strobes

Dive This: Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas

Fakarava, French Polynesia

REAL, SIMPLE

I believe in simplicity — telling stories with as little as possible, where less is indeed more. On a shoot in Fakarava for Blancpain Swiss watches, I decided to do just that.

No fancy lighting, dramatic angles or killer action sequences — not even color. Just a simple black- and-white wall of sharks.

Nature provided the ultimate scene — gray sharks, silvertips and blackfins all are frequently found here — I just had to capture it the way it is. It’s a different way of look- ing at things that requires some planning — ironically, keeping it simple can be rather difficult because you want to achieve a power- full effect but with fewer tools or tricks to work with. The more you take out, the more you actually have to put in. Simplicity becomes a complicated process. I love it.

Camera Gear: Nikon D3, Seacam housing, 10-17mm lens

Gardens of the Queen, Cuba

ROUGH RIDERS

Groups of up to 20 silky sharks are predictably found at a few offshore reefs of Jardines de la Reina, or Gardens of the Queen, located of south-central Cuba in the Gulf of Ana Maria.

One morning early this year, I surfaced from a dive on a seamount called Pipin — located in about the center of the archipelago, just west of the Canal de Caballones among underwater canyons and caves — to find a dozen of these oceanic sharks feeding on scraps discarded by fishermen.

As silkies are true oceanic sharks, they are known to be cautious but at times curious about divers. Here in the Gardens of the Queen, I find them rather placid, and I am able to use the technique of tonic immobility — a sort of animal hypnosis — quite easily.

Camera Gear Nikon D800, 15mm lens Seacam housing, dual Ikelite DS 161 strobes

Dive This: Aggressor Fleet

Christmas Island, Australia

BEAUTY & THE FEAST

I traveled to Christmas Island to witness the famous red crab migration, but I was also hoping for some pelagic action in the pristine reef. Every year the red crab spawning attracts whale sharks and manta rays to the shore to feed.

Our surface intervals were spent looking for pelagic action, specifically bird activity that would point us toward baitballs and, hopefully, a feeding frenzy. This day will always stay in my memory as the best 20 minutes I’ve spent in the water in almost 20 years of diving. One really big whale shark was feeding with its head up in the water, totally undisturbed by our presence, surrounded by silky sharks and small tuna. It was an adrenaline rush, with tuna and sharks coming from everywhere, crystal-clear water and just the five of us in the water. It was a perfect experience.

Camera Gear Nikon D4, Seacam D4 housing, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 VR lens

We're proud shark addicts here at Scuba Diving magazine, so we decided to dedicate our July issue entirely to our favorite apex predators! To showcase the best shark diving destinations around the globe, we asked some brave photographers who share our addiction to share their favorite shark shots with us. We hope these epic images will help persuade you to go out and dive with a shark or two — we're pretty sure you'll be glad you did.

WANT TO DIVE WITH SHARKS IN MEXICO? FROM WHALE SHARKS TO GREAT WHITES, CARADONNA DIVE ADVENTURE HAS DIVE DEALS FOR EVERY BUDGET!

Looking for more thrilling adventures? Check out these other great links below:

20 Awesome Shark Dives | Best Locations for Big-Animal Diving | Dive with Mako Sharks