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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Eight: Man and nature -- expressing our relationship with the environment > Shark strike, off Gloucester, Massachusetts, 2009
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23-JUL-2009

Shark strike, off Gloucester, Massachusetts, 2009

Mankind has always hunted and fished for both survival and pleasure. I photographed a group of deep-sea fishermen trolling for sport several miles off the Massachusetts coast. Almost all the creatures that were hauled up out of the deep were thrown back due to size restrictions. In this image, we see the magical moment when the prey first comes into view. It is the strike of a sand shark, its jaws clamped upon a hunk of bait. The water abstracts the shark, making it seem more mysterious and menacing than it looks when seen out of the water. These small sharks are also known as Dogfish – they are very common and quite active. This image of a shark being drawn up from the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean by a fishing line can also be seen as a metaphor for Man’s dependency on nature for food as well as symbolizing the food chain itself – a shark chews here on a chunk of fish, and man is ready and willing to chew on a shark, if it should be large enough to be taken. This shark was quickly relieved of its hook, and tossed back into the sea.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
1/320s f/4.6 at 97.0mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time23-Jul-2009 06:10:14
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-G1
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length97 mm
Exposure Time1/320 sec
Aperturef/4.6
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.66
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis13-Aug-2009 20:13
They have very specific rules about keeping fish caught at sea. All of the sharks we caught had to be thrown back.
Alina13-Aug-2009 14:09
Beautiful capture. I thought that fish is big enough to be eaten. Even small shark looks scary to me
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