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It took five long<br />
days of preparation<br />
and patience to<br />
achieve this shot<br />
breath, rip off her mask and<br />
strike pose after pose for as<br />
long as she could – up to a<br />
minute and half each time.<br />
It took five long days to create<br />
four shots. Day one: diving<br />
practice and technique<br />
touch-up. Day two: location<br />
scouting and final preparation<br />
planning. Days three, four and<br />
five: wait for the ocean’s gentle<br />
giants to show up.<br />
Some days, the sharks<br />
were friendly and curious,<br />
swimming over to investigate<br />
almost immediately. On others,<br />
we spent the entire dive waiting.<br />
It turns out that attracting<br />
animals underwater is a lot<br />
harder than on the surface.<br />
To make matters even more<br />
difficult, you cannot make a<br />
sound as the trust of the sharks<br />
can only be gained quietly.<br />
Despite being inquisitive,<br />
sharks are incredibly shy<br />
creatures. All we could do was<br />
play their game, their way.<br />
Waiting forever then capturing<br />
that split-second moment as<br />
they moved into frame was<br />
seriously taxing.<br />
Back on dry land, after five<br />
days of working, six hours of<br />
waiting and many moments of<br />
touch and go, we had our four<br />
final shots ready for editing.<br />
The greatest problem with<br />
editing underwater images is<br />
overcoming the loss of the<br />
warm wavelengths filtered out<br />
by the deep water. The layers of<br />
murky blues, greens and<br />
purples are not an attractive<br />
look for human skin, which<br />
takes time to bring back to life.<br />
Once the edits were<br />
complete, the final stage was<br />
to share our story, change<br />
preconceptions, gain<br />
momentum for the petition<br />
and build the shark sanctuaries<br />
– all much harder than that<br />
one week we had worked.<br />
With 69% of our target<br />
already reached, we’re hoping<br />
that the world will view sharks<br />
in a different light, and allow<br />
our ambitions for the shark<br />
sanctuaries to be achieved.<br />
To support the campaign<br />
and sign the petition, visit<br />
www.change.org/p/supportmalaysian-sharksanctuaries<br />
nauticam na-a7ii<br />
The Nauticam NA-A7II housing for<br />
the Sony Alpha 7 II has ergonomically<br />
placed controls with size, shape<br />
and colour differentiation to aid<br />
finding the right controls underwater.<br />
It has a depth rating of 100m and has<br />
built-in adjustable handles with<br />
rubberised grips for easy underwater<br />
control. Find out more at www.<br />
nauticamusa.com/news/2015/3/5/<br />
new-housing-for-sony-a7-ii.<br />
subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 14 May 2016 33
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