This weeks Photo Friday: “In the Wild”

A silvertip shark swims past me in Bega Lagoon, Fiji.

My first shark dive.  Photographed with a Nikon D300 and a Tokina 10-17mm fish eye lens.
The fish eye lens means you need to get close – really close.  There is a very close focus and a very wide angle.  The benefit is that normally, when you know what you are doing, your subject should be bright and well focused.

This shark surprised me, first by swimming over my head and then down and around and in front of me again.  When you are kneeling on the bottom of the ocean in nearly 30m of water, a shark dive feels about as wild as it can get.

Silvertip sharks are categorised as Near Threatened.
They exist in 30-800m of water near coral reefs and drop offs.  Not especially threatening to man however they will approach divers quite closely. This species dominates other requiem sharks of equal size when competing for food, and larger individuals are often heavily scarred from conflicts with others of its species.

My summary post of the weeks diving and traveling is here: Being Dive Mistress in Fiji