Soul Stare
2016 // South Africa
A Humpback Whale stares into the camera off the coast of South Africa.
This was my first sighting of a whale underwater. It was so hard to keep my mind on what was happening because I was just so in awe and so humbled to be in the water with such a huge animal. Whilst the image looks rather peaceful, the actual scene was anything but. The cold, dark, turbulent waters of the Transkei’s wild East Coast on South Africa’s Eastern Cape are teeming with sharks and other predators chasing the annual migration of Billions Sardines. We were in the water swimming with sharks when all of a sudden a huge shadow appeared. Definitely once in a lifetime experience.