How wildlife photographer Chris Fallows captures the pure world

When wildlife photographer Chris Fallows first ventured into the waters of False Bay, in Cape Town, South Africa, he noticed a thriving group of nice white sharks.

They would hunt the tens of 1000’s of seals that lived on a close-by rock referred to as Seal Island. A decade in the past, Fallows noticed 250 to 300 completely different nice white sharks a yr there.

And with somewhat luck, you would see considered one of these majestic predators leaping out of the water, snatching its prey in its jaws whereas flying by means of the air. 

Fallows’ images of this conduct in nice white sharks, referred to as “breaching,” are a few of the most breathtaking of the pure world, capturing them in mid-flight, suspended above the water.

“To see a 1,000-kilogram great white shark come flying out the water, well, that’s something very few people get to see, and certainly I never got tired of it,” Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime. 

But about 10 years in the past, the nice white shark inhabitants started to mysteriously disappear. Sightings dwindled, and vacationers stopped coming. Scientists and conservationists disagree over who, or what, the perpetrator is. But all of them agree the sharks that when cruised these waters at the moment are gone. 

“It really showed to me just how fragile our planet is,” Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime. “It affected me very deeply, but it was also a catalyst to doing what I do today, to try and showcase what I’ve been so privileged to see.”

Fallows spoke with 60 Minutes Overtime from his residence in Cape Town about his renewed willpower to guard and doc the pure world after the nice whites’ disappearance, and shared the tales behind his outstanding pictures of wildlife.

Fallows’ most well-known {photograph} is “Air Jaws”: a dramatic black-and-white shot of a fantastic white shark breaching, its jaws broad open, displaying razor-sharp tooth. 

In 2001, Fallows took a ship out into the waters close to Seal Island to attempt to seize a fantastic white breaching.

“We’d been towing a [seal-shaped] decoy for around about an hour already, not having much success. But just something said to me, just keep your concentration and keep focused,” the photographer instructed Overtime.

Suddenly, a fantastic white shark leapt out of the water. Fallows’ shutter clicked away. It was throughout in about seven seconds. “And it was in the days of film. [I couldn’t] look on the back of the camera and see if I’d nailed it.”

“I waited the whole weekend, not knowing whether I’d kind of over-imagined this incredible image, whether it was going to be sharp… [on Monday] I walked into the lab, everybody was clapping,” he instructed Overtime. 

The photograph was life-changing for Fallows. It was printed in newspapers and magazines world wide, incomes him international recognition and giving him a profession capturing images of animals within the wild. 

“It was a photograph that changed my life, and it gave me a fantastic start with my photography. And it… epitomizes the power and, I guess, predatory prowess of this incredible animal,” he instructed Overtime. 

Fallows would go on to take extra images of nice whites within the waters off Cape Town’s shoreline, diving into the waters with out a shark cage to take images beneath the nice white sharks as they swam by. 

Fallows instructed Overtime that his spouse, Monique, is a essential a part of guaranteeing that he’s protected whereas working with animals of their atmosphere. To {photograph} nice white sharks and different species, he sometimes dives with out a cage. 

“I’m incredibly privileged to… have an amazing partner in my incredible wife,” he instructed Overtime, “[She] understands those animals’ behavior, making what I do a little bit safer, but also best allows me to be in the right position to take a great shot.”

Fallows stated nice white sharks, whereas feared by many individuals, are misunderstood. He says he is realized loads by observing them up shut. 

“One of the most important educators and teachers for me was the great white shark, an animal that many people fear but I learned to love over the years,” he instructed Overtime. 

“I can truly say that I’ve never felt that the animals, you know, have been openly acting aggressively towards me… it’s the tolerance of those animals to allow me in their space,” he defined. 

Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime the story behind one other picture: a herd of elephants crossing a dried-up lake led by a large-tusked feminine.

“Sadly, we’ve got very few elephants with huge ivory [tusks] left. One of the places to see them is Amboseli National Park in Kenya,” Fallows instructed Overtime. “I was very lucky to be in the right position at the right time, from a very low angle, very close to her.” 

The {photograph}, named “Defiance,” captures what he referred to as a “tusker,” or long-tusked elephant, a uncommon sight as a result of elephants with tusks that lengthy are sometimes poached for his or her ivory.

“This incredible matriarch… defied the poacher’s snare or the hunter’s gun,” Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime. “And has somehow managed to keep her herd… both safe and sustained with food and water.”

While the lack of nice white sharks in coastal waters round Cape Town was “tragic,” Fallows instructed Overtime the rebound of humpback whales offers him “hope.” 

Since a moratorium on industrial whaling by the International Whaling Commission went into impact in 1985, the worldwide inhabitants of humpback whales has grown considerably.

Fallows has seen the results of this rebound himself off the coast of South Africa. “We now see groups of 150 or 200 together,” Fallows stated. 

“And there can probably be no more sensorial experience than photographing [them]… you smell them, you see them, you hear them, you feel the whale breath on you,” Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime. “They touch you very deeply… It’s truly incredible to be in the company of the largest creatures on the planet.”

Chris and Monique Fallows have used income from gross sales of Chris’ images to finance conservation efforts, together with their very own.  

In 2017, they bought 61 acres in Cape Infanta, on South Africa’s south coast, for habitat restoration. They’re now within the course of of buying a 26,500-acre property in Namibia for habitat restoration and to assist improve the size of wildlife corridors within the space.

Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime that folks can “tread more carefully” on the atmosphere and create productive biodiversity areas by taking good care of their “own little patch” of the world. One straightforward rule to observe: “Don’t throw plastic in the water… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen animals wrapped in plastic.”

“All life depends on another form of life,” Fallows instructed 60 Minutes Overtime. 

“Great white sharks, elephants, lions, penguins, they all have their own little families and ecosystems in which they live… treat them with respect.”

The video above was produced by Will Croxton. It was edited by Nelson Ryland. Jane Greeley was the printed affiliate. 

Photos and movies courtesy of Chris Fallows, Jono Allen, Marisa Denton, and Warner Bros. Discovery.