SHOOTER ON TOUR
How does it feel when you have just tripped the
shutter and you know you have a magical shot
in the can?
It is almost like asking someone about sex!
Sometimes, capturing one precious element of
animal behaviour can take years and when it
happens it may last only a second.
Take, for example, the breaching image of
the great white shark in South Africa. I was
familiar with the behaviour and location for five
years before I could go out and join the action.
And then it took two more seasons before I
discovered what I could do differently.
I hope that my ongoing
effort to display images
of big animals creates an
awareness of, and increased
protection for, the animals
When I took this image
04 Pink dolphins, Rio
vertically I took a risk by
Negro, Brazil
reducing my window by 50
05 A beluga whale,
percent. My reaction speed
White Sea, Russia
to the breach was less than
06 Mother polar bear
teaching her cubs
a quarter of a second which
to swim
allowed me to get eight
frames of the total breach
from start to finish. It was quite a challenge and
also a great relief. At these moments I know my
investments in time and money and my demanding
mental commitment have paid off.
Which underwater animal do you find the most
interesting?
Who am I to say – I am only a photographer! I
admire them all and in particular the big animals –
they are amazing and forever fascinating. That is
why I visit the same location each year to see them
as every season I witness something new about
their behaviour that has been neither seen nor
documented before.
04