The Gathering

Blue sharks gathering offshore in deep blue water off California, one gliding close with others behind. Blue sharks are often found together where food is, and off Southern California they come in close to boats in open water far from shore.

The frame has layers: the near shark sharp, the others soft in the blue. That depth is what makes it feel like being in the water rather than looking at a picture of it.

A quieter print than Big Blue, with the same colour. It suits a hallway or a bedroom at 16 by 24 or 20 by 30 inches.

Blue sharks gather where the food is, and off Southern California that means the deep blue water beyond the islands. It is the same water where longline and drift-net fleets once took them in huge numbers.

California banned large-mesh drift gillnets for swordfish in state waters and has been phasing them out federally since 2018, in part because of the sharks, dolphins and turtles they killed. Fewer nets mean more gatherings like this one.

Every shark in this frame was alive and swimming when the shutter closed. That is the story we want young filmmakers to tell: the animal in its world, not on a deck.

Read about Blue Lens 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.