Danish photographer seeks leopard shark at world championships

Danish underwater photographer Mick Friis begins competing for world championship gold today off Bali’s north coast, hoping to photograph a leopard shark. The event’s unpredictable conditions are part of the challenge, DR reports.

Photographers from around the world are competing to take the best pictures beneath the surface. Denmark has two competitors: Friis and Steen Nissen, who qualified after finishing first and second at last year’s Danish championships.

Friis says currents, visibility and light can change from day to day, while the animals may not appear at all. Competitors have spent recent days visiting dive sites around Bali to learn the conditions and see which species they might encounter. But he says photographers must be ready to change plans if a particular animal does not show up.

Finding a striking animal is not enough to make a strong competition image, Friis says. He looks for a compelling scene, good positioning and lighting, and the animal’s behaviour. Judges are likely to consider the species, lighting and technical execution, he says.

Although Friis has dived in many parts of the world, he describes the waters off Bali as unfamiliar territory. Compared with Danish waters, they are bluer and clearer. He says diving in the green, murkier waters at home has taught him to look for strong images even when there is little to photograph.

Friis prefers wide-angle photography, which captures larger underwater scenes, to macro photography, which focuses on small subjects. His hoped-for subject is a leopard shark, though he says seeing one near Bali is unlikely. If one appeared while he had a macro lens on his camera, he joked, he would be upset.