Eye to Eye

A great white shark passes close enough to fill the frame in the clear water of South Australia, sunlight rippling over its back and one dark eye turned to the camera. The small dots on the snout are the ampullae of Lorenzini, the pores that let a shark sense the faint electric fields of other animals.

It is a portrait rather than an action picture: no teeth bared, no bait, just the animal at arm's length and at ease. The countershading that makes a white shark hard to see from above and below, dark back and white belly, meets in a ragged line along the flank.

Printed large on metal or acrylic the eye holds the room; on fine art paper the skin texture and the light pattern carry the picture.

The great white shark is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. It has been protected in California waters since 1994 and in South Australia since the late 1990s, and the population off the US West Coast appears to be slowly recovering.

Southern California's beaches are a nursery for juvenile white sharks, which spend summer and fall in shallow water feeding on fish and rays. MCO's youth crews film in that same water, and a calm, close portrait like this one is the picture of a shark most people never get to see.

Read about Guardians of the Kelp and our guide to ocean conservation in Southern California.

• 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.