Big Blue

A blue shark close to the camera, mouth open, with shafts of sunlight coming down through the open Pacific off California. Blue sharks are slender, long-finned open-ocean animals, and among the most widely travelled sharks on Earth.

Offshore the water is clear and bottomless, and the only thing in it is light. That is what gives this frame its depth: the shark is lit from above and the blue goes on forever behind it.

A statement piece. The deep blue holds up at 24 by 36 inches, where the sunlight rays become part of the room.

Blue sharks are the most heavily fished shark in the world. Tens of millions are taken each year, most of them as bycatch on longlines set for tuna and swordfish, and they are a mainstay of the fin trade. The IUCN lists them as Near Threatened.

Because they roam the whole open ocean, no single country can protect them. What helps is less waste at sea: gear that avoids them, rules that require the shark to be landed whole, and markets that stop paying for fins.

The teenagers in our programs learn that a shark in open water is a sign the ocean is working. Seeing one from the surface changes how they talk about the sea for the rest of their lives.

Read about Blue Lens and our guide to ocean conservation in Southern California. Species guide: Blue Shark.

• HD Metal · Printed onto white gloss aluminum, luminous and sharp; ships boxed, ready to hang. From $245.
• HD Acrylic · Printed behind crystal-clear acrylic for depth and color that glows; ships boxed, ready to hang. From $295.
• Fine Art Paper · Archival fine art paper, ships rolled in a tube for your own frame. From $145.
• Sizes · 12 × 18, 16 × 24, 20 × 30, 24 × 36 inches. Printed to order in the USA and shipped insured within the US.
• Where the money goes · a print is a purchase, not a donation, so there is no tax receipt. My Clean Ocean keeps the profit for its youth programs.