A FEARLESS British photographer enjoys getting close and personal with GREAT WHITE SHARKS – and now wants YOU to do the same.

Remarkable shots of the ocean’s apex predator show a phenomenal above water shot of a great white baring its razor-sharp teeth, a shark rocketing towards the surface of the water in search of a quick bite to eat and a ‘Joker shark’ which looks just like its LAUGHING.

Euan Rannachan, (34), a daring London-born photographer who now lives in California, spent much of 2019 getting intimate with massive beasts off the coast of Guadalupe Island, the westernmost point of Mexico. In his latest venture, he wants to invite you to get face-to-face with one of nature’s finest killing machines.

Rannachan, along with business partner Nikki Brant Sevy, has recently launched their new enterprise Be A Shark – an adventure company which organises cage diving trips and photography courses for shark enthusiasts, old and new. He announced his new business alongside some of his latest killer snaps and hopes to change people’s preconceptions about the mighty great white.

“Hollywood and others have tried to tell us how blood thirsty great white sharks are,” Rannachan said.

“When you are finally face-to-face with them in the water you find out just how wrong that plot line is. We want people to experience this for themselves and, in turn, help us learn more about this misunderstood animal.

“There’s so much that’s special about great white sharks. As my good friend [underwater photographer and shark attack survivor] Mike Coots would say, it’s like ‘swimming with dinosaurs’. Sharks even have a sixth sense in the water, giving them what most would call superpowers.

“I think the fact that they use so many receptors down their body and in the little dots on their nose called Ampullae of Lorenzini to sense animals in distress or really any electrical impulse around them, including my beating heart, is amazing.

“Sharks are apex predators so being able to share such close quarters with an animal like that is a life-changing experience. You can’t walk into a bear’s den and do this or roll around with a wild tiger in his habitat.”

Like many shark fanatics, Rannachan’s fascination with the fabulous fish stemmed from watching Steven Spielberg’s Jaws in the 1970s. In fact, the tattooed underwater photographer was published worldwide earlier this year for an incredible shot which perfectly replicated the blockbuster film’s terrifying poster.

His latest set of jaw-dropping images includes a picture which he has titled ‘Jaws 2.0’ – and a side-splitting shot of a ‘Joker shark’.

“Jaws 2.0 was a crazy sight to behold,” Rannchan, who used the Instagram handle @euanart, said.

“It was a new shark to the island recently which was very active. It’s difficult to shoot breaches there because you have to be very focused. Look away for one second and you will miss it. This time I was looking in just the right area and was able to capture the raw power above the surface we sometimes see at Guadalupe.

“Joker shark was an image I had taken just after the big female shark had come up for the bait. Her top jaw coming down just as she had opened her mouth. The water pressure was pushing up her gums causing her to look as though she was laughing – a lot of people really like it.”

So what if you want to capture mind-blowing photos like Rannachan’s but lack the nerve? The expert shark snapper has some advice for you.

“It’s definitely an emotional experience when people see these guys in the wild for the first time,” he said.

“I have spent hundreds of hours in the water with them and can tell you that feeling never really goes away. There is a rewiring of your brain that takes place when you finally for yourself see just how non-threatening they really are to you in the water.

“Be A Shark is the name of my new company and also something I have said for years. It’s a way of living your life. It’s about getting up and getting on with it. To not sit back and wish you could but to go out and do. Sharks don’t mess about with things that are going to waste their time - I choose to also live by this adage. Be a shark.”

Rannachan’s desire for shark photography is easily matched by his business partner Nikki Brant Sevy, who was keen to ensure that their adventure tourism company was used as a force for good.

“To help the monitoring and shark conservation efforts at Guadalupe Island, guests on Be A Shark trips are asked to share their raw footage, both photo and video, with MarineCSI and Ecocimati A.C.,” she explained.

“These two groups monitor the long-term shark population at Guadalupe Island, and tracks the sightings of individual sharks. Over the years I have photographed over 125 individual white sharks at Guadalupe island and I knows many of them by sight.

“When the regulars show up each season, it’s like seeing an old friend.”

The pair also understand the importance of following the rules when interacting with white sharks.

“We are in the shark’s environment and expect our guests to act appropriately,” added Sevy.

“This means listening to and obeying the dive masters, keeping arms and legs inside the cages, not touching the sharks, and not poking the sharks with GoPro sticks. We obviously have an impact by virtue of our presence, so keeping that impact as minimal as possible is important to us.”

Although great white shark attacks on humans do occur, they are very uncommon and usually a case of mistaken identity – confusing a human on a surfboard for a seal for example.

In fact, people are more likely to suffer a fatal lighting strike than experience a deadly encounter with a shark.

But climate change, poor fishing regulations and human interference has seen shark populations around the world drop by as much as 90 per cent in the last five decades.

For more information see www.mediadrumworld.com

ENDS