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Afterglow - Highly Commended, Shark Photographer of the Year 2025

Highly Commended, Shark Photographer of the Year 2025

Hosted & curated by The Shark Trust

Exhibited at Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard, Plymouth (July 2025)

One of our most iconic endangered sharks is the distinctly-shaped Great Hammerhead. My first close encounter took my breath away - an exhilarating, heart-stopping moment with a shark boasting a simply enormous dorsal fin. They are powerful yet supremely graceful animals.

This was my second visit to the waters around Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. It’s a place I love deeply, not least because sharks there are protected. The light in the turquoise shallows can be sublime. Perfect for capturing big scenes and big personalities.

Lying to the north west off Grand Bahama island, Tiger Beach is open ocean, sitting geographically on Little Bahama Bank. The Banks themselves are vast - covering about 17,000 square kms of ocean. Surrounding the shallow waters of the Bank are deep trenches with steep drop offs. A unique combination that helps to sustain healthy populations of apex predators.

Dedicated trips (like the one I’d joined) make it possible to spend many hours a day photographing all sorts of sharks. And that was critical in allowing me time to observe their behaviour and favourite patterns of movement. Interesting hierarchies exist between the different species, and individuals. In this Blue off-shore realm, Great Hammerheads rule the roost.

I’d spent many dives watching this particular shark navigate a sort of figure-of-eight swim circuit. This stood out as a little unusual because typically these big animals like to skim along the seabed. That’s where their stingray prey lives. That’s where they hunt.

At the beginning of this trip I’d made a decision to photograph my encounters using natural light as much as possible. I enjoy those sorts of challenges! Early one morning, with the sun still climbing to its zenith, everything came together. A certain clarity in the water, the perfect opportunity to shoot against the light. All I needed was an iconic star centre stage. The name of the game - watching and waiting - is where the magic lies. Then suddenly it’s there, that special moment when you’re in the right place, and you have a few seconds to capture what’s in your mind’s eye.

I love that this image shows a different aspect of these distinct sharks. It’s that perspective that I wanted to share. Their easily-identifiable shape does all the talking. And the light. An afterglow. That incredible quality found in a sweet spot a few metres below the skin of the ocean.

Photographer: Laura Storm

Afterglow - Highly Commended, Shark Photographer of the Year 2025

Highly Commended, Shark Photographer of the Year 2025

Hosted & curated by The Shark Trust

Exhibited at Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard, Plymouth (July 2025)

One of our most iconic endangered sharks is the distinctly-shaped Great Hammerhead. My first close encounter took my breath away - an exhilarating, heart-stopping moment with a shark boasting a simply enormous dorsal fin. They are powerful yet supremely graceful animals.

This was my second visit to the waters around Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. It’s a place I love deeply, not least because sharks there are protected. The light in the turquoise shallows can be sublime. Perfect for capturing big scenes and big personalities.

Lying to the north west off Grand Bahama island, Tiger Beach is open ocean, sitting geographically on Little Bahama Bank. The Banks themselves are vast - covering about 17,000 square kms of ocean. Surrounding the shallow waters of the Bank are deep trenches with steep drop offs. A unique combination that helps to sustain healthy populations of apex predators.

Dedicated trips (like the one I’d joined) make it possible to spend many hours a day photographing all sorts of sharks. And that was critical in allowing me time to observe their behaviour and favourite patterns of movement. Interesting hierarchies exist between the different species, and individuals. In this Blue off-shore realm, Great Hammerheads rule the roost.

I’d spent many dives watching this particular shark navigate a sort of figure-of-eight swim circuit. This stood out as a little unusual because typically these big animals like to skim along the seabed. That’s where their stingray prey lives. That’s where they hunt.

At the beginning of this trip I’d made a decision to photograph my encounters using natural light as much as possible. I enjoy those sorts of challenges! Early one morning, with the sun still climbing to its zenith, everything came together. A certain clarity in the water, the perfect opportunity to shoot against the light. All I needed was an iconic star centre stage. The name of the game - watching and waiting - is where the magic lies. Then suddenly it’s there, that special moment when you’re in the right place, and you have a few seconds to capture what’s in your mind’s eye.

I love that this image shows a different aspect of these distinct sharks. It’s that perspective that I wanted to share. Their easily-identifiable shape does all the talking. And the light. An afterglow. That incredible quality found in a sweet spot a few metres below the skin of the ocean.

Photographer: Laura Storm