Sharks are one of the most fascinating species on our planet.
And among them,
the great hammerhead shark is probably the most authentic and singular creature that has ever lived.
My name is Zimy, I'm a film director, photographer and ocean conservationist.
We're here in Bimini in the Bahamas which is an absolutely unique place,
because this is one of the only places in the entire world
where we can constantly see great hammerhead sharks.
Our goal here is to dive with these sharks,
interact with them and use 360 cameras to get unique perspectives
of our interactions with these apex predators.
We also want to use this footage to raise awareness about the great hammerhead sharks
which are critically endangered sharks,
and also to let people know more about sharks in general.
My name is Logan.
I'm a shark feeder and I run specialized shark dives with tiger sharks and great hammerheads.
So for this shoot we're using 360 cameras,
and to be exact we're using the brand new Insta360 X3.
We have them mounted absolutely everywhere.
So we have some here in front of the main camera housing.
With this one we're going to be able to capture ourselves capturing the action,
but we're also going to be able to capture the sharks when they're in front of us.
We also have mounted some on the arm here with a ball mount.
That way we can capture different perspectives of us from the side,
and we're also going to use the 360 cameras on our mask to capture our point of view
and using the 360 camera we can get like a super wide angle,
so we can clearly see the entire environment of us interacting with the sharks.
If everyone could at least once in their life
dive and see these animals in real life,
our entire perception of them would completely change.
It would go from complete fear to respect and fascination.
When we are in the water, sharks are obviously attracted by the baits we're using,
but they can also be attracted by shiny objects such as the domes of the cameras.
The reason for that is that first of all the sun is reflecting on a dome,
but it is also believed that sharks can actually see their own reflections inside the domes.
So we're going to try and use it in our advantage to get unique perspectives of the sharks.
Hopefully, the sharks are going to try and get after the smaller dome of the 360 camera
and hopefully, they're gonna try and eat the camera.
With the 360 camera we can reframe the shots in post-production,
meaning that once I'm inside the shark's mouth
I can choose while I'm editing if I want to aim at the back of the mouth,
at the teeth or wherever I want.
If we were using normal action cameras
the shark could be just holding the camera towards the bottom of its mouth,
it would be pitch black and you wouldn't see anything.
Also, we're using a selfie stick on the camera
because if we're using the camera without the selfie stick,
there would be big chances that the sharks could actually swallow the entire camera.
With the selfie stick hopefully the shark is going to spit it out,
and hopefully we're gonna get this unique footage.
Through this film I really want to show people and make them understand
that sharks aren't the deadly creatures that the media's are always portraying.
They are amazing animals that have evolved for millions of years
to become the absolute top predators that they are today,
and the most amazing part of it is that despite being on the absolute top of the food chain,
we can still get out there and safely dive and interact with them which is absolutely breathtaking.
The number one word I would use to describe the sharks that I work with is "tolerant."
There's no species of animal on Earth that I feel
would allow us to do what we do with these sharks and still be the way that they are.
They tolerate us being in their environment, not even mind us, allow us to exist with them.
It's really a magical thing.
I cannot believe what just happened.
We just had the most insane dive ever.
I mean we're just the three of us in the water,
we had perfect conditions, perfect visibility and we had four great hammerhead sharks.
Among them we had Gaia, which is the biggest hammerhead I had ever seen.
She's also the biggest hammerhead around.
And we also had Joker the tiger shark.
It was just mind-blowing to see these two amazing species just swimming together
and it was actually one of my dreams to be able to witness this one day,
so I am so so so happy right now.
And it was super interesting also to see the difference in behavior between the two species
because the hammerheads they're like super elegant, super careful with what they do,
but the tiger she just didn't care.
She was coming at us super playful and literally trying to bite everything.
She destroyed, like, literally destroyed the 360 camera housing.
I mean the housing is like, we can't use it anymore.
But the, the camera inside is totally fine and the footage we got is just out of this world.
With these new camera technologies,
we can now get footage that was simply impossible to get just a few years ago.
And images are a key element when it comes to ocean and shark conservation,
because without images the oceans would be slowly dying without anyone noticing.
For me personally, I owe my whole entire life to sharks.
It's not only about my career and where I'm at today which I completely owe to sharks as well,
but it's also about the person that they taught me to be.
One very special lesson that they gave me is that
even though you have the power to hurt somebody you can still practice tolerance,
and for that, I am eternally grateful.
With projects like these, we can not only show people how beautiful and fascinating these animals are,
but we can also explain that they are rapidly disappearing because of our impact.
And hopefully, it will inspire people and create a whole new generation
that is now seeing the ocean as a place of magic and beauty that must be respected.