Who's afraid of the big bad Tiger (Shark)??

[Mark Thorpe]

My latest subjects from yesterday and hopefully for the next six months. Biggest so far is around 14ft with three being the most at one time. Around January / February I've been told numbers, and sizes, increase dramatically. Hopefully wil then be able to get some close ups!

Best,
Mark

 

[Justin Anderson]

...I hope you got paid well for that.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Wow, Mark. :w00t:

 

[Rudi Herbert]

They look beautiful and healthy! Haven't ever seen a Tiger with that much girth, they all look much skinnier here in the Caribbean, goergeous fishies!

 

[Russ Campbell]

Mark. We are going to have to come and visit you soon. Just taken delivery of our Nikon 10.5 and looking for something 'BIIIIG' to take photos of. Also sure that SWP44 should work just fine.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Those things scare the hell out of me.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Awesome!

Sharks are beautiful and amazing creatures.

Are you shooting them on RED yet?

 

[eclipse]

Mark Wicked cool

Mark Wicked cool

Good to hear you got to SA and all is well, sick pics!
Still waiting on funding for the next two series of www.tide-line.com you will defiantly be on the program when we get the green light.
Keep your eyes on cheers mate talk soon.

 

[eclipse]

Gates housing

Gates housing

Mike Bahana just mentioned that gates are in the process of developing a new red housing DOPE

http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/video/gates/deepred.html
\
In collaboration with Howard Hall, Gates ‘bulletproof’ housings extend to 4K digital cinema imaging.

San Diego, CA – September 28th, 2007 – Gates Underwater Products, the global leader in reliable underwater housings, formally announces DEEP RED, an underwater housing for the Red One camera. DEEP RED represents a watershed in underwater imaging, providing the means to capture 4K resolution (or 4 x HD resolution) motion imaging, suitable for digital cinema.

DEEP RED will be classically Gates: reliable fingertip mechanical controls, durable ‘bulletproof’ machined aluminum, depth rating to 300 feet / 92 meters, and 2-year renewable warranty.

DEEP RED will be also developed with the collaborative support of Howard Hall, a 30 year veteran of underwater imaging successes in TV, feature film and IMAX productions.

“Development of the RED camera is a landmark in motion picture capture, as different from video as video is from film and better than both.” remarks Mr. Hall. “The Gates DEEP RED housing will be a “no-compromise” solution to taking this technology underwater. Working with Gates I plan to create a housing that incorporates all of the control and practicality I have always required for professional underwater motion picture cinematography.”

Gates expertise in precision optics and ongoing partnership with Fathom Imaging will produce the clearest, sharpest undersea images from DEEP RED – an absolute requisite with 4K, a format with 4 times greater resolution than HD, and 24 times more than SD.

About Howard Hall: Howard Hall is a natural history film maker specializing in marine wildlife films. Working with his wife Michele, they have produced numerous films for television including three episodes of the PBS series Nature and a National Geographic Special. Howard has also directed several IMAX films including Into the Deep, Island of the Sharks, and Deep Sea 3D. Howard is currently directing a new IMAX 3D film due for release in spring 2009.

 

[Chris Gearhart]

. . . Around January / February I've been told numbers, and sizes, increase dramatically. Hopefully wil then be able to get some close ups!

Mark, man. For you to get closer than that, you'd have to be inside the tiger. You crazy.

 

[Petr Dvorak]

Man I'm afraid when I'm siting on my surfboard
and especialy once back than at Kauaii during dusk I was alone in water - ouch it was year before local boy was attacked on south than Bethany on north shore. Boy is legless and Bethany lost whole arm.

I watched freediver Dan Exner riding on tiger shark back - pretty scary
If you can watch it here from 22:35
http://www.ct24.cz/vysilani/?id=163514

 

[GlennChan]

I'm curious... how dangerous is filming sharks statistically? How does it compare to aerial shots, skydiving shots, or driving yourself home after a 16+ hour day? It seems like the most dangerous part of your shoot might be driving there.

 

[Petr Dvorak]

Statisticaly more people die from falling coconuts or hurt themselfs at toilets on the beach than from sharks which are just tasting us (but it hurt)

 

[Michael Hastings]

Sharkwater the movie.

Sharkwater the movie.

I'm curious... how dangerous is filming sharks statistically? How does it compare to aerial shots, skydiving shots, or driving yourself home after a 16+ hour day? It seems like the most dangerous part of your shoot might be driving there.

Glenn:

Hawaj is basically right.

The first thing to realize is that most of the footage you have seen where the sharks are acting at all aggressively has been where they have done a tremendous amount of "chumming" - putting bloody fish, meat, etc. in the water. Now imagine if you did that while trying to get Grizzly bear footage. In reality sharks tend to be fairly shy of humans - a few are known to be aggressive toward divers and the tiger shark is one of them, but even there I can't think of an actual death of a filmmaker from a shark attack. I know a couple of cameramen that have had serious bites, but I can't remember if it was when they were actually shooting. Even in cases of shark bite the shark usually lets go pretty quickly as they realize they have bitten something they really don't want. There has probably been a few cameramen chomped on an arm or leg while filming one of the shark feedings as I know I've been banged pretty hard while filming the shark feedings over in the Bahamas - where you have 5 or 10 sharks writhing around in a space of ten feet or so and a couple of the "wranglers" (feeders) have had pretty serious bites. The wranglers now wear complete chainmail suits (stainless steel mesh suits) and we had chainmail gloves/arms on the camera guys. But again, this is an induced situation where half a dozen sharks or more are all trying to grab a fishhead on a stick - and we are purposely swimming in among them. (Normally the tourist divers and photogaphers are in a line about 12 feet away, but we were allowed to get right among them.)

It's nothing to sneer at - it takes a little bit of courage/stupidity - and you are dealing with extremely powerful wild animals in their element so there is potential for something to go seriously wrong. But diving/shooting white tips, reef sharks and others that aren't natively aggressive is pretty safe. Tigers and great whites are another level and should probably be done by someone with more experience, but even there - while I am sure there have been a lot of close calls I'm not aware of actual major attacks on cameramen. There probably have been a few and I'd be curious to hear about them. - Mark? Sharky?

My personal feeling is that I find diving with sharks just as cool as diving with dolphins, but it isn't about the fear factor for me - I just think they are perfectly suited to their environment and truly beautiful to watch. I've been meaning to do a documentary "The truth about sharks" for awhile now, and it may be one of my first RED productions. The SHARKWATER guys beat me to it a little bit but theirs is a little different from my concept and their is room for another.

Sharkwater: a new documentary (shot on F900s and transferred to film by the way) does a pretty good job of showing how ridiculous we have been in creating the dangerous shark myth, and tragically how we are senselessly killing millions of sharks - one of the most majestic creatures on earth, and probably very important to the overall ecosystem (our overall knowledge of sharks is limited but almost every marine biologist believes that its status at the top of the food chain also indicates a very great ecological importance, and the huge numbers we are killing will have a serious impact.)

Statisticaly more people die from falling coconuts ... than from sharks which are just tasting us (but it hurt)

Let's kill all the coconuts!

 

[Petr Dvorak]

sharks are kind of curious of cameras because of electric field

even dolphin can attack you if he dont like you - their personality and attitude can be as different as at humans

we know very few about sea creatures - like that case how killer whales without aggresion play with dolphins and hit them till they die for internal injuries without nearly any scratches or heavy scars, probably just for joy or what - ouch

 

[Mark Thorpe]

Hi all,
I posted these due to the facsination people have with sharks. I love swimming with, interactacting with and basically basking in the adrenalin produced when coming face to face with such amazing predators. I guess as for the risk factor this kind of work can be as potentially dangerous as stunt work, as motor racing, parachuting, bungy jumping, not to mention all of the mundane daily activities which can also be detrimental to ones health. The thing with all potential risky jobs is that through understanding of one's subject, education on the comportment of sharks etc means that I, and many others here like me, can safely swim with and film sharks in the open Ocean. I'm hoping to be on a few trips next year to do the same with Great Whites again in south Africa.

I'm still shooting with my Z1 / Gates Housing / 120 degree Wide Angle adapter lens combo system. I get my RED supposedly toward the end of January so the first chance I get to film the mega fauna of the Oceans believe me I will be out there doing that.

Andre, I'm in mate. Wrote a few emails but no response, thought you were off on travels.

Be well all, hoping all is well.
Mark.

 

[Petr Dvorak]

Till now it was very hard to find some documentary with their natural behaviour.
They were almost allways presented like agressive beasts, but unnaturally stir up by humans with fish blood and guts.
I hope that all negative hype with sharks will be over soon.

 

[Ken Corben]

VERY NICE!

Outstanding even; wish I was with you shooting it in 4K TODAY!

Have fun...

 

[vincelucero]

Me too. I see them often during my freedive and spearfishing sessions. Most sharks like the whitetips, galapagos, reef, hammerhead usually take off after seeing us, but the tiger will actually follow us and sometimes takes a bite off our stringer.

Sometimes when theres no fish to catch, I find myself wishing for a glimpse. Magnificent animals all, but the tiger takes the cake...or catch in my case.

 

[BASSAM MSSALATIE]

where did you take thos pics ...:whistling: south africa ??