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photographers would try to replicate the shot. I
tried it again myself with a more beautiful model
(no offense, Slate): My wife, Barbara, was modeling
for me in one of my photo classes in Key Largo, and
she fed the barracuda. Happily, she did so by hand
— even at the height of our youthful risk tolerance
she figured it was not a great idea to put dead fish
in her mouth in hopes that a barracuda might come
by to snatch it away. I was shooting video at the
time, which was unusual for me and bad for Barbara
because it meant I was detached from the action,
seeing the world only through a tiny electronic
viewfinder. Had I been fully engaged I might have
realized the pace was too frenetic and tried to calm
things down a bit. When I played the tape back,
what happened was obvious: The barracuda grabbed
a piece of bait and then hung in the water behind
and to the right of Barbara’s head, just outside her
peripheral vision. She turned her head right and left,
searching for but never seeing the barracuda. She
took another piece of bait from the bag, and faster
than we could comprehend — let alone react — the
barracuda hit. It didn’t bite down (if it had, she would
have lost her fingers as well), but its teeth slid along
her fingers like twin scalpels, shredding them to the
bone. It was a terrible injury, the scars from which
she would carry for life. We left the fish feeding to
the pros after that.
This sort of thing is bound to happen when
photographers and magazines conspire to publish
dangerous in-water activities. There’s a fine line to
walk because no one wants to sanitize all the fun
out of scuba diving. But an enlightened publication
shouldn’t sensationalize reckless behavior or suggest
that it’s something its readers might wish to do on a
dive. Words matter, and so do photos.
I think about that these days when I choose
which shark photos to publish. Shark populations
are being decimated by unconscionable finning
operations, and I don’t want to perpetuate the myth
that sharks are mindless predators eager to devour
all the humans in the ocean. Divers know better than
that, but the general public remains susceptible to
misunderstanding, and sharks can lose big as a result.
For the same reason we shouldn’t take photos of divers
touching coral or puffing pufferfish or riding turtles,
we shouldn’t overhype the hazardous marine life angle.
There are those who, unlike us, haven’t experienced
the world through a face mask. If their only view of
our world is through our lenses, we should carefully
consider their perception of our reality. AD
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WHAT’S NEW ON
ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE AWAIT
AT
CHANGING THE
WORLD
Photography can change the way
people look at the world, and
the winning images of the 2016
Ocean Views photo contest
(Page 86) are proof. Let the
images in the bonus online
gallery continue to amaze you.
MARVELOUS
MALDIVES
Manta rays, sharks, turtles
and friendly fish — marvel
at the imagery in the
Maldives on Page 64,
then continue the journey
in Stephen Frink’s online
photo gallery.
REDISCOVERING
A MINE
Travel with Jill Heinerth
to Bell Island on
Page 16, and see more
of her discoveries in the
bonus online gallery.
ART AND DIVING
Discover how the aquatics
team supports the artists
in Cirque du Soleil’s O
(Page 44), then go online
to catch a behind-the-
scenes video of how it all
comes together.
CLAUDIO CONTRERAS KOOB
CAS DOBBIN
COURTESY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
STEPHEN FRINK