Jorge Hauser has three rules for photographing sharks. First, always make eye contact so the shark knows you're watching. Second, always dive with a buddy so a shark doesn't sneak up behind you. And third, no matter what, remain calm so you don't flail around like a dying seal.
These simple guidelines have kept sharks---and any number of other things---from making a snack of him during the hundreds of hours he's spent beneath the surface making the stunning images in his ongoing series Fish Say Cheese.
Hauser lives in Mexico and fell in love with sea as a child while fishing with his grandfather. He didn't start shooting seriously until 2011, but once he dove with a camera, he was hooked. He's photographed all along the coast of Mexico and through the Caribbean, and even visited the Red Sea. He likes to get in close---often getting mere inches from his subjects---because of the intimacy it creates. "I've literally kissed a shark," he boasts.
He dives without a cage, and shoots with a Canon EOS-1DX and a 14mm lens. The gear is protected by a Nauticam NA-1DX underwater housing with a nine-inch glass dome port. Unlike some underwater photographers, Hauser shuns strobes in favor of natural light. It's hard to shoot an entire 12-foot tiger shark or vast school of fish with artificial lighting, he says. To get the best possible light, Hauser works near the surface so his subjects are drenched in the soft, sifting rays from above.
Though he points his camera at anything that swims, scuttles or squirms, his favorite animal is by far the shark. Hauser wants people to understand sharks are not the ruthless killing machines they're often portrayed as. “More people get killed by vending machines than sharks each year,” he says. “We all grow up with this prejudice about how sharks are mean animals that want to eat you, but they’re really just elegant and peaceful animals.”
That isn't to say Hauser hasn't had the occasional close call. Once, while photographing tiger sharks in the Bahamas, one of the fish managed to creep up and bite his camera. Hauser stayed calm, pull his gear from the creature's mouth and gently closed its jaws without incident. It was a different story when he tried to shoot American saltwater crocodiles near Banco Chinchorro, an atoll off Mexico’s southeast coast. The crocs charged at him with open mouths, but Hauser stuck around (albeit out of reach) until they finally got used to him. His scaly subjects weren't so amicable the next day, however, so Hauser felt it wise to be prudent. "We decided to leave those grumps alone," he says.
Hauser has a passion for everything about the ocean. He's a member of the Mexican non-profit Pelagic Life, and produced Mexico Pelagico, a documentary set to premiere on Netflix on June 1. Hauser also works with shark fishermen in Magdalena Bay, helping promote ecotourism. The fishermen---who send fins to China and the rest to mainland Mexico---have hard, dangerous jobs that don’t pay well. Tourism pays significantly more, and saves sharks. “When the fisherman realized that the sharks are worth more money alive, they were the first ones who wanted to protect these animals,” he says.
