TAKING PHOTOS

How photographer Dan Callister captured these stunning images of Great White sharks

THESE are the incredible images of Great White sharks taken in South Africa by a photographer from North Wales. The dramatic images are part of an ongoing project by photographer Dan Callister, who took the snaps on Seal Island, where the predators go to hunt seals.

Brave Dan, originally from Ruthin but now based in New York, focused on the sharks ambushing seals around the island as part of an ongoing project on the creatures.

According to Dan, Seal Island, off the country’s northern beaches, is home to about 64,000 Cape Fur Seals, which in turn attract their main predator at this time of year because of the population of younger seals.

Dan said younger seals were less experienced and have a higher “blubber” or fat content, making them a favourite of the sharks.

He said seals need to leave the island to feed at dawn and this is when they are most susceptible to ambush from a shark, which can be as big as five metres long.

If the seals enter the so-called “Ring of Death”, where the sharks circle the island, they are more likely to be picked off.

Dan, 41, who has previously done projects on rattlesnake round-ups in Texas and Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades, explained his methods behind taking the shots.

“To photograph this hunting behaviour you have to patiently track the seals either coming or leaving the island,” he said.

“Basically you follow these young seals through the camera lens and hopefully, with some luck, you might capture a shark.

“It’s not an easy task to do – especially in heavy seas.

“If an ambush happens it could be on any seal in the group – you just don’t know until the shark breaches the surface.

“A full breach lasts less than a second. It’s not a forgiving task – especially if the shark jumps the wrong way.”

Dan said he heard about Seal Island more than 10 years ago and was fascinated by the possible opportunities to photograph shark predation there.

Soon after, along with his younger brother Jack, he decided to explore it and kept going back and it soon became an ongoing project.

More than a decade on he’s still fascinated by the island and he added: “I really enjoy photographing the diverse ecosystem there.

“Every day is different. It’s very humbling being in the water with a Great White shark.

“There are large amounts of unpredictability, which on one hand can give you unique and dramatic pictures but on the other can make it difficult to be prepared and is sometimes dangerous.

“You just never know what’s going to happen, however prepared you thought you were.”

To see more of Dan’s work visit www. dancallister.com