There’s no noise, no warning. I’m sitting there for hours on end looking through my lens, and then all of a sudden the shark appears.
Los Angeles-based photographer Michael Muller is known for shooting Hollywood celebrities, rockstars, superheroes and top athletes. In the last decade, he’s been working for such publications as Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times Magazine. In 2007, he decided to turn his lens underwater, and build up one of the most spectacular portfolios of underwater shark photography.
Muller’s ocean adventures led him to approach the sharks with an unprecedented proximity and precision. His breathtaking photographs have managed to highlight the humanity of the ocean’s most feared predator, daring us to reconsider the way we perceive one of the world’s most vilified creatures. From human to beast, this transition of the subject of in work reveals his authentic ambition and conviction as an artist.
With a « patented seven-bulb, 1200-watt plexi-encased strobe lighting rig, developed with NASA engineering, and no cage », Muller uses his photographic talent to pay tribute to the mesmerizing beauty of the shark, and reminds us its fragile future.
Attached to authentic creative values, Panthalassa wants to highlight the edgy content of the book. In this era of all things digital, this 334 pages-book gathers a spectacular collection of striking photographs of endangered species in all its fragile beauty. It also reminds us the importance of creativity printed on paper. Entitled “Sharks, Face-to-Face with the Ocean’s Endangered Predator », this Taschen book offers a portfolio of double page- high quality adrenalin shots, including the first-known photograph of a great white breaching at night. With a glossy cover, the book is a record of impressive photographic works contextualized with insightful essays from Philippe Cousteau, Jr. and marine biologist Alison Kock, who discuss exploration and conservation of the oceanic kingdom.
“There’s no noise, no warning. I’m sitting there for hours on end looking through my lens, and then all of a sudden the shark appears, » Muller says. From black tip and sand tiger sharks in South Africa to the great hammerheads in the Bahamas, these majestic creatures have become a wonderful obsession and the hero protagonists in his life.
Discover more of Michael Muller's work on his website.
