Diving just off Cat Island in the Bahamas, Russell Easton and partners were taking snapshots of ocean life when the duo was approached by a 12-foot tiger shark. One of the divers began taking pictures of the shark with his camera that was packed inside waterproof housing and drew the shark’s attention. The diver was looking through the viewfinder to take another shot when the teeth of the shark was hovering around the camera housing.
Photo taken by Steven Anderson
In the meantime, divers were also taking photographs of the encounter and captured the event in a few frames. The divers believes that the shark was only attempting to understand the camera housing in his hand and used its mouth to figure that out. The camera captured one shot of the tiger shark when it was clamped down on the waterproof rig. This incident certainly hasn’t frightened the divers off from capturing photographs while underwater. They plans to return to Cat Island to pursue underwater photography as well as taking more pictures of sharks in the area.
During early 2010, photographer and surfer Dale Kobetich was floating off the Newport Beach pier in California when he was approached by a Mako shark. Kobetich wasn’t wearing any scuba gear, but rather floating in the water with his underwater camera housing. After circling him for approximately 20 minutes, the Mako shark attempted to bite Kobetich’s camera. Similar to Easton’s encounter, Kobetich pushed the camera housing into the shark’s mouth and snapped off several stunning shots of the shark during the entire event. The Mako shark was approximately five to six feet long and weighed about 150 pounds. Kobetich didn’t let the encounter scare him off and returned to the water the following morning to be rewarded with a dolphin encounter approximately ten feet away from him.
This article is embellished and is an example of very poor journalism. I was in the water right next to Russ Easton when this incident occurred and it was no more than an animal investigating an object, NOT a person. I watched as the shark took the camera from Russ in a rather gentle manner in order to mouth it and then drop it from its mouth. There was NO damage to the camera except for a small scratch that Russ buffed out of the dome port. This incident was not an attack of any sort and the article adds to the tarnished reputation that exists for sharks in the shark world. Stories like these do not help in the efforts to conserve a dwindling and helpless species. SHAME ON YOU!!!!
Sounds like you have beef with the DailyMail which is where the story started.
I don’t see where the article makes it out to be some sort of attack. Are you sure you read the whole thing?
This story and its implications are an absolute LIE. I was ON this trip with Mr. Easton, and am in fact one of the divers in the background of the photo. The notion that Mr. Easton was being “attacked” by this shark is absolutely absurd, and Mr. Easton knows it. This shark was simply attracted by and curious about his camera, and mouthed it which is precisely what sharks do when they are curious. Mr. Easton was even so amused by the event, he actually named the shark “Pauline” after his wife.
This is precisely the type of mainstream media misrepresentation of shark behavior that is enabling the decimation of their species worldwide. Digital Trends and Mr. Easton should be ashamed of this portrayal of an event that was part of a wonderful day in the water in which we spent nearly FOUR HOURS with Pauline and another, even larger tiger shark. Neither ever showed any signs of aggression towards any of the divers, including during this supposed event. This story should be immediately retracted.\
So Mr. Easton embellished to the media then? How can you blame the Daily Mail or DT if Mr. Easton lied to the media?