Brit photographer takes incredible up close and personal pics with massive great white sharks
THESE incredible images show how a British photographer got terrifyingly close and personal with great white sharks.
Euan Rannachan, 34, a daring London-born photographer who now lives in California, spent much of 2019 getting intimate with massive beasts off the coast of Guadalupe Island, the westernmost point of Mexico.
One of the photographs captures the great white’s imposing black eye, while another shows a shark "grin" as it’s just inches away from the underwater photographer’s lens.
A huge shark can also be seen showing off its fearsome array of razor-sharp teeth.
Although he has spent many hours in the water with the phenomenal fish, Rannachan still has his breath taken away each time he gets in the water with his toothy subjects.
He said: "There is nothing else in the world like it.
But after spending hours photographing and cage diving with great white sharks, any fear has been replaced with admiration.
He said: "Sharks are just inches away from me all the time actually.
"The sharks are flying blind when they open their mouths all the way so when they snap their mouths shut and open their eyes again sometimes they are inches from the end of my lens.
"’Worry’ is not the word for it, respectful is a better one. I fully understand how powerful these guys and gals are but also I know they are not there for me.
"This does not mean I am reckless, it means I respect their space and do not touch or interfere with them as they pass."
Although shark attacks on humans do occur, they are very uncommon and usually a case of mistaken identity – confusing a human on a surfboard for a seal for example.
In fact people are more likely to suffer a fatal lighting strike than experience a deadly encounter with a shark.
But climate change, poor fishing regulations and human interference has seen shark populations around the world drop by as much as 90 per cent in the last five decades.