A friend recently talked to me about his photography was driven by some of his fears, noteably the fear of getting old. I think some of my recent work taps into this a little, both in terms of what I am photographing, and how I am doing it. I think leaning into fear is a good thing; it’s healthy to understand our fears. So if there’s a little bit of dark beauty in these images it’s probably from that. I spent the last week in Bahamas on board a little research vessel, the R/V Kate, with six other divers and many, many sharks. Here are some of those images.
Before you dive in (ahem, sorry about that) to these, would you do me a favour and watch, and comment on, this short 3 minute video I made? I’m at a crossroads and I’m hoping you can help me understand what kind of struggles, frustrations, questions, and ruts you are facing in your photographic and creative life. For 5 random commenters (please leave the comments on the YouTube video itself, it’ll help me keep them in one place) I’ll send out a signed copy of The Soul of the Camera when it’s out in June. This is a huge help to me and will help determine the content of this blog and other resources for the next year or two. Thank you so much!
Comments
Wow, that’s master work. Beautiful and thrilling at the same time. Saved this post going to show my photographer friends.
These are really great – well done, David!
Thank you, Cooper!
These all pics are such a awesome i never seen before like that images these all pics all are unique and the blog is also nice
Black and white photography is really a difficult task and that too with sharks. Bravo! Amazing dark photography David. I fell in love with your work.
Wow! (So was it scary swimming with the sharks?) I love these images. They really give you a good sense of what life is like from the perspective of a shark.
Agreed, hope to see the Hammerhead in print David, a special high impact fear conquering-fear facing photograph. You are winning The Creative Fight!
Love all of them, but the tension in the hammerhead shot is awesome. Hands down my favorite in the set.
Amazing work; really brings me into the experience. You definitely know how to treat an image to give it the most visual impact.
David, you should check out season 2 of “Tales By Light,” the fourth episode is about diving with sharks, including a man who actually pets them! It’s amazing to see them come up and ask for more. The whole series is quite wonderful, but the sharks are truly awe inspireing.
Amazing… great B&W’s again. What’s in metal box? Glad you didn’t become shark food!
Thanks Tom! The metal box is filled with dead fish, something to pull in the sharks.
Hmm, seems to be working, didn’t know they would eat dead fish, didn’t know you could attract them that way and not get eaten! 😉
‘Intense’ is the word that comes to mind. Spectacular images. Certainly a example for the rest of us to emulate as we venture into Black and White photography. Thanks
These are beyond spectacular!!! I am also so very grateful to have started watching you on YouTube too as your stuff is so much more helpful than anything else I have discovered and what I really find super helpful is your viewpoints on capturing the soul of whatever you are shooting so even a newbie like me can focus more on that while trying to learn (slowly ?)the “mechanics” of photography and my camera. Although in my blog, I am capturing more “things to do in Houston” I am trying to get a more serious collection together that’s more in line with getting those soul shots and not worrying about the camera I use etc anymore?Thank you sooo much! Oh, lighting is definitely something I’d like to learn more about too ? (Sorry for the novel!) Thanks again!!
After so many years of diving and enjoying the beautiful colours of the coral reefs and the fish that live in them, your black and white pictures make me see them in a hole new way. It’s like seeing every thing again for the first time.
Well done
I love the dark theme to these images David! The story is so much different in the black and white – the mood is more intense and the animals more … I don’t know, real. Good stuff mate!