The etymology of the word “shark” is a little hazy but its intended meaning has always been clear. Some accounts
attribute the term in origin to the Mayans and some to a published British work from the 1600s, but most will
agree that, semantically, the word is derived from some variation of malicious descriptions like these: “a dishonest
person who preys on others,” “voracious or predatory persons,” “artful swindlers,” “exploiters,” the German word
for “scoundrel,” and so on and so on. It seems we never gave the poor animal a chance.
Sharks have always inspired fear in humans, and today’s media has done much to encourage this fright. From Jaws
to Shark Week to our habit of lending the term to any unsavory person or activity—card sharks, loan sharks, even
a disgustingly perverted public-shaming trend called “sharking”—these ancient beasts of the sea have a long swim
upstream ahead of them in the eyes of society.
Michael Muller wants to change this perception. About ten years ago, the famed Hollywood photographer—
known for his world-class pictures of A-list celebrities, blockbuster comic book movie campaigns, advertisements,
album covers, short films, commercial work, fine-art collaborations, and even his own photo app—fell in love with
photographing sharks while on a dive with Great Whites as a tourist in Mexico. Working tirelessly and without fear
over the past decade, Muller and his intrepid crew quickly developed both a new concept for capturing images of
the elusive animals and also the technical equipment needed to bring that vision to life.
“I’m always wanting to work in a fresh way that hasn’t been seen before,” Muller says. “I wanted to bring a Great
White into my studio, so to speak, and light it just like I do my superhero shots or my really stylized portraiture.
So, since I couldn’t bring a shark into the studio without it being dead, I realized I’d have to bring the studio to the
shark.” Working to concept and commission a studio-quality, high-powered underwater lighting rig, Muller found
success after myriad tests and prototypes, and today his patented creation has accompanied him and his team on
dozens of cageless dive shoots in exotic waters and shark habitats around the world.
The resulting photographs captured by Muller are like no underwater images ever seen before, and they are
documented in his forthcoming book, Sharks: Face-to-Face with the Ocean’s Endange