Tuesday - December 30, 2008

A FISHY STORY WITH PHOTO.

Hard to believe this fellow isn’t a pro.  What a shot.  Still, I’ve heard from professional photographers who claim that pure luck is like 90 percent of a shot.
But I never believed it myself.  For example, Vilmar says he isn’t a professional. OK, perhaps because he didn’t want to sell stuff. Fact is though, he takes some smashing photos and his composition is spot on.  None of his stuff looks like ‘luck’ to me.  It looks like professional quality. 
So this picture really has me impressed.  But is also almost looks computer generated. 
The photo in the hard copy edition is a bit better.  I thought all the black (on my screen) above the shark’s head looked like molten lava.

I don’t ever wanna be close enough to one of these to take any kind of photo.

Lemon shark ‘grins’ into camera in award-winning photo
A remarkable photograph of a lemon shark which appears to be grinning for the camera has won an international competition.


Last Updated: 2:47PM GMT 29 Dec 2008
Bruce Yates’ smiling shark picture that has just won an award at the prestigious 2008 NATURE’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY - WINDLAND SMITH RICE INTERNATIONAL AWARDS.
Bruce yates used a ‘fisheye’ lense to take the picture. Photo: Bruce Yates / Barcroft Media

The close-up of the shark’s face was selected from more than 20,000 photos as winner of the Oceans division of the Nature’s Best Photography 2008 Windland Smith Rice Awards.

American amateur photographer Bruce Yates 54, from Medina, Seattle, snapped the creature on a 15mm ‘fisheye’ lens in July last year in the Bahamas.

He said: “My wife and I were on a “liveaboard” boat trip to see and dive with sharks in the northwest part of the Bahamas, in an expansive area many miles from land with relatively shallow water (5-20 metres deep).

“The shark was roughly 8 feet long and only a few inches from my camera.

“Although this particular photo makes it look like the shark is smiling, it is really just closing its mouth after trying to grab a bit of fish.”

He said: “The camera happened to catch a moment in which its mouth - not quite closed - resembles a grin.

“It is an expression that I have never seen on a shark before, and I doubt I could get that shot again if I tried for the rest of my life!”

The lemon shark - Latin name Negaprion brevirostris - inhabits coastal inshore waters from New Jersey to Southern Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean and along Senegal and the Ivory Coast of Africa in the eastern Atlantic.

Despite their large teeth, they represent a small threat to humans with only 10 unprovoked attacks recorded and no fatalities.

A large print of the image will be on show at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC until May 2009.

“As an amateur photographer, you can imagine how shocked I was when one of my photos was not only recognised, but actually won! It is still hard for me to believe.

“And it just goes to show that you don’t have to be an ‘expert’ or professional photographer to take good photos.”

THA-THA-THAT’S ALL FOLKS

Posted by peiper     on 12/30/2008 at 05:33 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals •  
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