Sharks
Eye to eye with sharks — hammerhead schools at Cocos Island and Malpelo, great whites off Guadalupe, blue sharks in the Azores, tiger sharks at Cocos, and oceanic whitetips in Egypt’s Red Sea. Pelagic and reef dives across 7 countries.
Why shark dives stay with me
Shark encounters rarely feel like the drama people expect. Most of the time they are quiet, disciplined dives: long waits on a rocky cleaning station, blue water with no reference point, a current that decides whether the school comes close or stays just out of reach. When the sharks arrive, the whole dive sharpens.
This gallery follows that feeling across very different oceans. At Cocos Island and Malpelo, scalloped hammerheads move in loose walls above volcanic rock, while whitetip reef sharks hunt at night like they have rehearsed every turn. Guadalupe is different: colder water, cage bars in the frame, and great white sharks appearing with unnerving calm. In the Azores, blue sharks circle in clean Atlantic water, close enough that every scratch and pilot fish becomes part of the portrait.
What makes a strong shark image?
For me, the best frames show the animal’s purpose. A tiger shark holding its line in green Pacific water. An oceanic whitetip under the Red Sea surface, pectoral fins stretched wide. A hammerhead school that stays distant but still makes the reef feel wild.
Sharks are the reason I first became serious about underwater photography, a story I share on the About page. They also connect many of my most important journeys, especially Cocos Island in My Big Five for Life. For quieter wide-angle scenes from the same reefs, see Reef & Corals; for the opposite end of scale, head to Macro Critters.