What's your most memorable wildlife experience?
"In 2000, a whale died in False Bay, South Africa and 28 great white sharks fed on it for over 18 hours, eating two thirds of the whale. Nobody before or since has seen so many adult great whites together. It was just the most unbelievable experience to be within arm's length of these incredible animals. To see the complete breakdown of social structures and behaviour atypical of the species was just spectacular."
What's the proudest moment of your career to date?
"That I have never done anything to jeopardise an animal. Most of the time I'm on my own or with my wife, so I could do whatever I wanted, and nobody would be any the wiser. I think the fact that I can look in the mirror and know I've always done what is best for the animal while trying to capture a great image is, for me, my proudest achievement to date – and I hope it's a quality I never lose."
What's the toughest shoot you've ever done?
"In terms of wildlife interaction, it was probably photographing while walking along the ocean floor in New Zealand – in the dark, 65ft down, running out of air. I had multiple great whites around me, and I had no idea where they were. They'd swim through the occasional beam of light that my strobes were illuminating. That was a very tense hour or so!"
What would you say are the biggest challenges with wildlife photography?
"I don't work with captive animals, so they're all wild and free to come and go as they please. The most difficult thing is that wildlife is disappearing so quickly; it's becoming more and more difficult to find the subjects that I'm used to photographing. A lot of the areas that were wild are no longer wild, so it's a race against time."
How important is understanding animal behaviour when it comes to wildlife photography?
"That's the most important thing; while I might not be of the same technical standard as some of my peers, my greatest strength is my knowledge of my subjects. I've spent a huge amount of time around predators, and I have a thorough knowledge of what my subject may do, so I can prepare myself for what might happen. They say luck is where anticipation meets preparation, and I think that holds true."