From a distance it seems no bigger than all the others, but as it approaches I realize it is enormous - a 14-footer and well fed, and easily over a tonne of pure muscle and instinct. Time hangs but slowly the shadow begins to turn, and I start to see its owner come towards us and my heart thumps as I realize it is making a direct line towards me. We keep still, very still, holding our breaths, the slightest disturbance can discourage them from coming closer and we are miles too far for any sort of shot. It bides its time, waiting and assessing. I am struck by the cautiousness of this enormous apex predator as it circles, it has nothing of the arrogance of topside predators, lounging about for all to see. That means just one thing: a tiger is prowling. Then I see it, something colossal is circling us just out of visible distance, the body imperceptible against the blue, only given away by a huge shadow. I whirl around but all I can see is hundreds of reef sharks flicking through the water. It wasn’t hard to feed off this calm and the moment my head was beneath the waves, reef sharks circling my feet, I knew this was going to be one of the best shoots of my life.Īfter several dives with no sightings I hear a loud clanking amidst the frenzy of smaller reef sharks circling around me – someone is trying to get my attention. This is completely different to wild cats, who will eye you up from your jeep, staring you down, daring you to give up your high ground. If anything, it was as if they turned their noses up at this bubbling intruder. The sharks couldn’t have been less interested in me and circled around in total indifference. As soon as you see these animals you instantly know all of the rumors and hype about sharks are nonsense. It is this reality that is sinking in no telephotos, no cages – instead it will be just me and a shark big enough to swallow me whole.Īs I prepare for my first giant stride into these shark ‘infested’ waters, I rapidly realized these early thoughts were completely misplaced. Now, strobes only have a limited effective range, so I knew I had to get within at least 4 feet of the tiger sharks to take a decent shot. Therefore, absent any lighting, images will end up with a strong blue cast, draining their impact. Within the first 10 meters, water absorbs all the warm colors of the spectrum – red, oranges and yellows. The challenge with underwater photography is light and color. This includes underwater housings, specific to each camera body, lens ports for each lens as well as the almost infinite number of wires, and attachments to ensure that when I am under the waves I can rely on my equipment to keep up with me.Īfter the camera itself, the king among these are the strobes. But there is a whole host of other equipment necessitated by such a shoot.
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