Misunderstood Predators
As a wildlife photographer and filmmaker, my responsibility is to accurately illustrate wild animals and the ecological issues they face, including sharks.
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Story Behind the Photograph: Misunderstood Predators
I grew up surfing at a beach notoriously known for having sharks and lots of them. New Smyrna Beach Florida is best known for being the shark bite capitol of the world and knowing sharks like Great Hammerheads were just beneath the surface petrified me. There was not a day that I surfed there and did not see a shark in the water. Spinners. Black tips. But back then, the idea of intentionally diving with sharks was out of the question, that was until I began to understand their role as the oceans’ top apex predators. Sharks remove the dead, the dying, and the diseased. They are key to cleaning our oceans, making them stronger and healthier, yet humans continue decimating shark populations. As a wildlife photographer and filmmaker, my responsibility is to accurately illustrate wild animals and the ecological issues they face, including sharks. To fulfill this responsibility I needed to become more comfortable with them and overcome my childhood fear.
Diving with them opened my eyes about them. And now, diving with great hammerheads is nothing but stoke—pure joy. I am still constantly looking around, but they are kind of chill and kind of relaxing.
One of the best locations to see great hammerhead sharks is the Bahamas. Its shallow turquoise waters allow you to view them very close up with pristine clarity. They can reach up to 20ft long and have weighed in over 1200 pounds. They are gigantic predators that could easily consume anything in their path but believe it or not there has yet to be a single recorded fatality by a great hammerhead. During my first dive with them I had seven 13-foot great hammerheads coming from all different directions and although you must stay very alert and aware of your surroundings, it was ultimately a very calming experience. As they passed by I would lock eyes with them and see this massive eyeball looking directly back at me, and instead of feeling threatened, as I imagined I might, I ended up feeling as if they were just curious about what I was.
Hollywood films and news headlines tell us sharks are life threatening man- eaters, but statistically speaking this couldn’t be further from the truth. They are simply just misunderstood. If you haven’t yet been on a shark dive, please begin researching ones that interest you and give it a go. The more people that dive with sharks, the faster we can help protect them and ensure the overall health of our oceans.
About Untamed Photographer
Untamed Photographer is an online art gallery that brings together wildlife photography and stories from a range of international environmental artists, both emerging and established.
Structured as an online marketplace, Untamed Photographer offers a selection of handpicked, limited-edition works of art, alongside the photographers’ compelling stories of what occurred in the wild to get the shot. The exclusive limited-edition pieces are printed in Miami and come with an artist-signed certificate of authenticity from their respective worldwide locations.
The Nature Trust of the Americas (NTOTA) was founded with the mission to give back. While building awareness for NTOTA’s causes, the founders met talented nature photographers who are passionate not only about photography, but also about saving the planet. Their life’s work and stories are inspiring, and their art, passion and stories deserve to be shared on a platform that benefits the environmental causes they are dedicated to.
Just as the photographers preserve the beauty of the planet in their art, Untamed Photographer is dedicated to preserving the planet for the future. All profits from photographs go to Untamed Photographer's two pillars: the artists and causes that protect the environment, ecosystems, and wildlife.
About the Photographer: Brian Moghari
Brian Moghari is a wildlife photographer and filmmaker who specializes in marine eco-systems. Brian aims to spark an emotional connection with his images to inspire others to protect our planet's natural spaces and the wildlife we share it with.
Born in the swamps of Florida, Brian grew up immersed in nature, which ultimately inspired his love of the natural world. Since graduating with a bachelor's degree in film from the University of Florida, he and his best friend created Comfort Theory Films, a production company that focuses on telling wildlife and conservation stories.
Brian has worked as a cinematographer and photographer for National Geographic, Disney+, Toyota, AMC, History Channel, Direct TV and many others television networks and brands.
If he isn’t filming beneath the waves, you can find him riding them up and down Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
About the Creator
Brian Moghari
Brian Moghari is wildlife photographer and filmmaker working with Netflix, National Geographic, & Disney+
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- Supported By: Untamed Photographer
A New BeginningSupported By: Untamed Photographer
View print sizes for A New Beginning by Brian Moghari: Story Behind the Photograph: A New Beginning Just after sunrise, a green sea turtle calmly rests in a small coral cave along the reef's edge. I’ve been fortunate to spend many hours with sea turtles, both on land and at sea, but this encounter was a bit different from previous ones. Usually as I approach sea turtles in the water, they quickly swim off wanting little to do with me, but this individual reacted differently. It was aware of my approach and responded by continuing to rest. It was so unfazed by my presence that at one point I turned my camera off and floated to about 2 feet away where we made direct eye contact with each other. A lot of times whenever I make direct eye contact with a creature, I wonder what is its level of consciousness? I wonder about what they do to survive, how they perceive the world around them— I feel certain their level of consciousness is much higher than we perceive it to be. We don’t know what is going on in their minds, but I sense a connection. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to photograph and film wildlife as my profession, but sometimes you get tunnel vision with your camera’s eyepiece and miss actually experiencing what’s right in front of the lens. After a short time examining each other, I slowly floated a few feet back and snapped this photo.
By Brian Moghari3 years ago in Earth
Echoes of the Earth
In the rolling hills of Appalachia, where the forests whispered ancient secrets and the rivers danced with life, there stood a small town nestled among the trees. For generations, the people of Willow Creek had lived in harmony with the land, their lives intertwined with the rhythms of nature.
By Prince Waddle2 days ago in Earth
Don’t search for this places on google (I mean it!)
If you are a fan of Dr. Pimple Popper, you are probably very excited right now and itching to squeeze out every little blackhead from those lip contours. However, this is actually a hill formation that can be found in Garb Sudan. Knowing this may make it even creepier because it looks like the crack in the middle is swallowing up everything around it. This black hole scenario reminds us of our next stop, Bosck Island. This eerie spot is a 59-acre coral atoll situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 400 meters northwest of Tahiti. If you check it out on Google Earth today, it looks like it has been completely blacked out, sparking all sorts of wild theories. People keep saying that this place is some top-secret base or even a fictional island straight out of Lost. However, what we see here is actually just a dense, dark green forest made up of pisonia trees. Since nobody lives there and hardly anyone ever visits, the island is pretty much untouched by humans. This massive star or mandala is situated just outside of Batty, Nevada. It has puzzled the internet with people trying to figure out if it is evidence of some kind of extraterrestrial activity. To add to the mystery, this spot is right by the Tonopa Test Range, which is also known as the famous Area 52. Despite its creepiness, it is probably just one of the thousands of crop circles that gained fame after Google Earth came along. This spiral formation, located in Nevada, also looks like another chilling crop circle. However, things get even stranger if you use the street view option. As you zoom in closer and closer, you will notice that it is made up of carefully arranged rocks. This labyrinth, so to speak, is part of an open-air museum situated in the ghost town of Real de Catorce. And if that is not creepy enough, take a look around and you will see dozens of eerie men in white cloaks. Despite their lifelike appearance, these silhouettes are actually statues from an installation created by a Belgian artist in the 1980s. Even stranger than stumbling upon a large circle on the ground is finding a bunch of them. Our next location in Wyoming is filled with peculiar circle structures to the point where it is hard to count them all. During the 20th century, this US state shifted from a farming economy to an industrial one dominated by the extraction of oil, gas, and coal. So these circles are likely remnants of tank farms, places where oil storage tanks used to be located. If you want to avoid nightmares, I highly recommend not searching for the mausoleum of E.M.L. Becker in Poland. If you happen to find it using the street view mode, prepare yourself to face an abandoned place with the most terrifying sculpture there is. Continuing on the spooky side, let us head to an isolated corner of Kazakhstan where you can find a pentagram etched into the Earth's surface. This formation is huge, measuring roughly 1,200 feet in diameter. Before you jump to conclusions about this formation being related to some kind of underworld deity worship, it is worth noting that the pentagram actually turns out to be the outline of a park designed in the shape of a star. The star shape is marked by roadways, which are now lined with trees, making the star shape even more distinct in aerial photos. You can spot this peculiar symbol from quite a distance. At first glance, it might even resemble an otherworldly alphabet, as if a highly intelligent civilization is trying to send us an alert message. But this mystery is already solved. We are in De Hoge Veluwe, a Dutch National Park located in the province of Gelderland, and these lines are actually part of the park's logo. Search for these coordinates to find what looks like a land formation straight out of an extraterrestrial landscape or perhaps a set from Avatar. This place, located in Inner Mongolia, China, is believed to be a granite mine. But it is a bit of a mystery why it has such a striking blue tone on Google Earth. If you check it out on Microsoft Bing Maps, for example, the same location appears in a much more natural tone. In the Australian Outback lies a massive geoglyph known as the Marree Man. Discovered in the late 1990s, it appears to represent an indigenous Australian man hunting with a boomerang or stick. The figure stretches for more than 2 miles in length and about 1.6 miles wide. It has deep furrows carved into the ground, which adds to the complexity of its formation and origin. Despite efforts to uncover its purpose, its origin is still a mystery. This is Desert Breath, located in the Sahara. Like many things you have seen in this video, this formation also sparks speculation about it being created by extraterrestrial beings. But a quick Google search clears up that mystery. It turns out this is an art installation created by a group of three Greek artists back in 1997. They went all out, moving around a whopping 280,000 feet of sand and even creating a large pool in the middle of it. Egypt still holds many mysteries, and you can explore them yourself with Google Earth. That is how some people stumbled upon this striking triangular-shaped plateau and immediately jumped to the conclusion that they discovered a hidden pyramid. However, experts quickly dashed their hopes. They believe there is no plausible explanation for a pyramid to exist in this area, located 8 miles west of the Nile Valley edge in Upper Egypt. This discovery is likely nothing more than a hill that has suffered the effects of erosion combined with a heavy dose of wishful thinking. In some cases, nature itself is responsible for creating frightening sculptures like the Badlands Guardian in Alberta, Canada. If you look at it from above, you will notice not one, but two human heads emerging from the landscape. These gigantic beings were sculpted by rainwater erosion on layers of clay soil. Ironically, additional human-made structures give the impression that this one is wearing wired headphones. It seems that deserts are prime spots for discovering strange images on Google Earth. So our next stop is China. In the Gobi Desert, you will come across zigzagging white lines that look kind of random. The first challenge for armchair experts was figuring out what these structures were made of, as it is hard to tell if they are painted on or dug into the landscape. There is still a lot of speculation about it on the internet, but the most plausible explanation is that this structure is used for calibrating satellites. This way, satellite cameras can focus on these large grids to orient themselves in space. Check out this intact plane that seems to have sunk beneath the ocean off the coast of Crooked Island, Bahamas. Some viral videos claim it is a crashed plane belonging to the infamous Pablo Escobar. The truth is that something lying on the bottom of the ocean cannot be that visible, so it is more likely that it is a plane that was actually flying when Google captured these images. However, there is a strong belief that Pablo Escobar did have a plane that crashed nearby, but it was in another part of the Bahamas known as Norman's Cay. You can still spot it in shallow turquoise waters. Just search for Norman's Cay sunken plane, and there it is. If you are convinced that extraterrestrials are already among us, then go ahead and type in these coordinates on Google Earth, explore the area using street view, and wow, what is it? Of course, we are not talking about visitors from other planets, but this shadow of a gigantic creature still gives me the creeps. Turns out, it is just a person lugging around one of those 360° street view cameras tucked away in a tracker backpack. So hey, if you take a good look around Google Earth, you might stumble upon more of these elongated-necked beings walking around the globe. That is it for today. So hey, if you satisfied your curiosity, then give this information a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just make sure to subscribe to this channel
By Nwachukwu Ella4 days ago in Earth
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