The Dorsal Fin

Some photos of and by underwater photographer Don Carpenter got blown out of proportion earlier this week by multiple excuses for news outlets, including:

• Pictured: The moment a diver puts his hand inside a Great White Shark’s mouth – The Daily Mirror
• Great white shark gets a little too close for comfort – The Herald Sun
• Divers stare into jaws of killer shark – Gold Coast News Bulletin
• Smile for the camera… but don’t eat it (or me)! Great white shark gets a little too close for comfort – The Daily Mail
• Face-to-face with Great White – The Sun

The Sun article starts out with the following nonsense…

A DIVER stares into the jaws of death as he comes face-to-face with a Great White shark.

The daredevil then risks losing an arm by putting his hand in the fearsome beast’s mouth — as the powerful 15ft, one-and-a-half ton, killer attacks.

The terrifying encounter was captured in these amazing pictures by a photographer in a nearby cage.

Yesterday, Carpenter appeared on CBS’ The Early Show to talk about the photos. Oddly enough, his story on The Early Show didn’t seem nearly as “terrifying” as it was portrayed in The Sun article. Basically, the guy was taking underwater photos from a cage at Guadalupe (ooh, ahh!!) and when the shark approached the cage, the “shark wrangler” (are you really shark wrangling if you’re in the cage with the divers?) pushed up on the shark’s nose, which tends to result in the shark opening its jaws, as seen in the images.

While a vast majority of the images that come out of Guadalupe during white shark season are nothing short of spectacular. There is nothing that really sets these photos apart from what most photographers are able to capture out there, with one exception, THERE IS A GUY DELIBERATELY PUSHING ON A SHARK’S NOSE in one these photos.

For another perspective on these photos check out The Best Shark Dive in the World blog.