Ever surprise what it’s wish to rise up shut and private with the ocean’s apex predator?
Underwater photographer Keith Ellenbogen had the extraordinary expertise whereas freediving within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, coming face-to-face with an enormous nice white shark.
He had been anticipating to see a peaceable basking shark within the waters off of Massachusetts when he encountered a 17-foot, 3,000-pound nice white shark.
“Visibility was only 25 feet,” Ellenbogen recalled to the Herald on Tuesday. “And impulsively, I noticed that this shark had a sharp snout and a white underbelly. It was an infinite nice white shark, and I swam inside inches of it. I might have touched it.
“For 11 glorious seconds, I swam right past it and held the camera steady,” he added. “We locked eyes, and it was just an incredibly powerful moment. It was a crazy moment.”
Using a 360-degree digital actuality multi-camera system, Ellenbogen was in a position to seize himself with the shark named Large Marge, a huge feminine that had been tagged by native white shark researchers.
“It shows that they’re not just vicious man-eaters killing everything in sight,” he mentioned. “I wouldn’t recommend being next to one, but they are not just mindless killers. They’re part of the natural ecosystem.”
That underwater picture is one in every of 50 large-scale pictures of exceptional marine life which are a part of Ellenbogen’s “Space to Sea: A Photographic Journey into Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary” — a free out of doors public pictures exhibit that can open on New England Aquarium’s Central Wharf on Wednesday and final via Nov. 1.
The underwater portraits provide an uncommon glimpse into the sanctuary, dwelling to greater than 600 documented species together with sharks, seals, sea turtles, whales, lobsters, ocean plankton, migratory seabirds and quite a few fish species.
“New England has some of the most vibrant and extraordinary marine life,” Ellenbogen mentioned. “I hope people appreciate this and see the conservation stories off our coast because it’s so important to protect these animals.”
On Wednesday night, there might be a New England Aquarium Lecture Series occasion that includes Ellenbogen. Visit www.neaq.org/be taught/lectures/upcoming-lectures to be taught extra and register.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”