The sharks of Mer Island

Morning cats!

The shallows of Mer island's incredible beaches are iconically filled with Sardines. It's quite a sight to see, however where there are bait fish there are always bigger fish and... Sharks. Mer has more sharks than I have ever seen in my life. Black and white tip reef sharks, huge Blind Sharks, sneaky Grey Nurse sharks (sneaky because they look just like blind sharks and will rip your leg off!), the epic tiger shark and, of course the Hammerhead shark, which are rumoured to tip dinghy's and can be seen chasing eagle rays close to the beach. It's enough to stop you going out in a boat ever again.

My first time fishing on the beach really opened my eyes as to how many sharks were around and how close they got to beaching themselves when in a feeding frenzy. I used to tell people how the kids grab their tails and jump into the water to scare them, i'm sure no one believed me. One day I was lucky enough to have my camera at the beach as a heard of sharks were feeding on sardines. These are a few of the images I captured on that day.


Enjoy : )
Lee.

I have the following three images from this series for sale in my Etsy store

Name: Shark Attack

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Name: Shark Attack Square

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Name: Shark Attack #2

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Mer Island as seen through the Yashica D

It's been a few days since I arrived back on Mer Island. The place has been absolutely transformed by the monsoonal rains we've experienced over the past few weeks. It's been great to get back into a routine and my head back into my art.

A few weeks before we left the island I captured a handful of images with a Yashica D camera. The Yashica D is a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, meaning it has two lenses, one for viewing the image and one for capturing the image. The Yashica D is a medium format camera, which takes square images on 120 film. I had never used a TLR camera before and decided to use black and white film, attempting to capture that grainy, film look that these cameras do so well. Many say the medium format TLR cameras eclipse the image quality of any 35mm digital camera; I tend to agree from what I have seen. I used 400-asa film, which allowed me to shoot in lower light and not have too much grain. The images turned out quite well for a camera made in 1959. What I am blown away by is the build quality of the Yashica D; it's solid and works so smoothly for its age.

I took the camera back to the mainland for the holidays; unfortunately my Labrador managed to smash it. These are the only images I have from my days with the Yashica D. The best part about using this camera was being forced to take my time when considering and composing an image. Using old film cameras without meters really slows you down. 

The images here are of Mer Island, with some portraits of my adopted family (mother Etta Sam and brother Tyrese Passi), my wife Hayley Wilkes and one double exposure, another fun aspect of using these cameras.

Happy New Year! Gelam in Silhouette.

Happy New Year!


What a year it has been. In January we moved from Brisbane City to Mer Island in the Torres Strait, which is certainly the craziest, scariest and most incredible thing I’ve ever done. I've been adopted by a Meriam family and now have two cultures, three languages and countless siblings, uncles, aunties and grandparents, which is a pretty big change for an only child from a small family. We've had the most incredible year on Mer and have had the opportunity to do so many things that very few people will get to do. I'm eternally grateful to all of the incredible Meriam people that have welcomed us to their island and educated us along the way, genuinely some of the most lovely and inspiring people I have ever met. I would also like to thank all of our family and friends on the mainland for your support throughout the year. We miss you like crazy and couldn't have done this without your constant support.

The following series of photographs entitled "Gelam in Silhouette" were taken on Mer Island and are composed of Mer Island's most sacred landmark. The story of Gelam is ancient and extremely important to the Island of Mer. The titles of these photographs are quotes from different conversations I have had with elders about Gelam. please follow this link to watch Elimo Tapim tell this wonderful story.

G1 "Where the small hut is"

G2 "I can see them from here, but only at night"

G3 "That's the nostril, a cave with unknown treasures"

G4 "It's level for building, they rebuild every night"

G5 "Never go up at night and keep your lights on"

G6 "Just be careful up there"

If you are interested in purchasing any of these prints please follow this link to the Life in Fine Art Etsy store, or contact me directly at the email below.

Happy New Year people! Bring on 2014.



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