Looking at your Sharks book, I’m reminded of the line Brad Pitt says to
Kevin Spacey in the movie Seven: “When a person is insane, as you clearly
are, do you know that you’re insane?”
Michael Muller: [Laughs.] Well, that’s all in the eye of the beholder now, isn’t
it? The same person probably looks at you, or Brad Pitt, and thinks you’re
both insane.
Touché. But seriously, just how dangerous is it down there?
Well, that’s the whole point of the book: to show that it’s not dangerous. You,
me, everyone else, we’ve been programmed by the media and by movies; this
animal has been demonized. I was scared shitless of sharks and I would’ve
said the exact same thing you did, until I went in the water and experienced
these animals and had that shift myself.
MICHAEL MULLER PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARC LEMOINE IN NEW YORK CITY, 2016
OPPOSITE: MULLER PHOTOGRAPHED BY MORNE HARDENBERG IN THE BAHAMAS
WITH 14-FOOT TIGER SHARK, 2014
The minute you’re in the water and see them, your whole mindset changes.
You realize how smart they are and how they’re more scared of us than we are
of them. That’s why there are only five deadly shark attacks per year around
Can you describe how a shark moves in the water as seen from your
the world. Obviously, swimming with a Great White out of a cage takes
unique vantage point?
experience on a different level, but for the most part they’re not really after
us. We’re not on their menu; they’re really only after the fish we’re feeding
You’ve got different species and you’ve got different personalities, so each
them. Still, they are wild animals so don’t think for a second I am encouraging
shark is a little bit different. You can learn their body language. It’s just like
everyone to go swim with sharks. It has taken years and hundreds of hours for
with people: You can tell a pissed off shark or an aggressive shark compared
me to learn how to carry myself on a dive and even then I always go with my
to a mellow one just by their body language and the way their fins are
shark experts who have my back and I have theirs. The minute you get cocky
dropped, the way they’re moving around, if they’re circling, etcetera.
and t