danilocalcaterra

The great white

My name is Danilo, I am twenty years old, and i'm from Italy.
I love Africa, and this summer I decided to come back for the second time to learn abou...
Read more

My name is Danilo, I am twenty years old, and i'm from Italy.
I love Africa, and this summer I decided to come back for the second time to learn about something very particular. I spent four weeks working as a volunteer on a boat for a company that deals with shark cage diving. My goal was to learn as much as possible about this endangered species, and to take advantage of every free moment to take photos. I was in Gansbaai, on the southern coast of South Africa. In that area the behavior of white sharks is singular: for this are nicknamed flying sharks. The white giants hit at full force the prey (especially seals) to shock or even kill them, coming from the bottom, and often flying out of the water for a few meters. From the boat the crew attract sharks with a decoy and with some salmons' heads, but they rarely jump. The day I took the photo the visibility in the water was less than two meters. I stopped for a moment in the front of the ship, leaning slightly, to take a couple of pictures of the sharks that were interacting with the bait used on the port side. At one point, realizing that the framed seal had moved almost under me I pointed the lens in that direction. Just in time to see the shark that was almost popped out of the water already, leaving me a split second to shoot. The result surprised me a lot: in spite of the speed of the giant the autofocus was able to focus perfectly, and the shutter speed set previously proved to be able to completely freeze both the subject and the drops around it.

Read less