Photo: Pat Miller A Recreational scuba diver for more than 20 years, Pat Miller (patmillerphoto.com) has a healthy love and admiration for the ocean. So while we challenged readers to send us an adventure photo with a sense of danger, he wasn’t afraid.
“I don’t fear diving with sharks,” he says. “They are not mad-dog killers, ready to attack anyone; they are apex predators, necessary to maintain healthy oceans.”
While this particular reef shark was lured with fresh chum, Miller says the sharks typically leave humans alone. For this shot, he mounted a 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye lens on his Nikon D200, using a dome port with his Aquatica underwater housing to allow for the fisheye’s protruding lens.
He took several shots, careful to control his buoyancy so as not to crash into the reef and damage the fragile marine ecosystem. “I learned a long time ago not to chase fish for pictures, because if you do, you generally get pictures of fish tails,” he says. “They don’t stop and pose.” —Matthew Ismael Ruiz
