One Photographer’s Quest to Redefine the Shark

With his magnificent underwater images, Gerardo del Villar wants to rehabilitate the reputation of the ocean’s great predators, inspire conservation, and encourage responsible ecotourism.

A sea without sharks is an unhealthy sea. Underwater photographer Gerardo del Villar knows this well and wants everyone else to understand it too. At the beginning of his adventures interacting with sharks, his goal was to portray their strength: their formidable bodies, jaws, and teeth. Today, the Mexican photographer prefers to tell their stories, to change the perception that they are ruthless killers and show instead the threats they face in order to highlight the state of the seas.