Arise

There is something unforgettable about seeing a whale shark appear from below.

In South Ari Atoll, I watched this adolescent male rise slowly from the darker water beneath me, his shape becoming clearer with every metre as he moved towards the light of the shallows.

At first, he was little more than a silhouette.

Then the familiar pattern of spots began to emerge, followed by the full scale of the animal as he continued upwards through the blue.

The encounter lasted only a short time, but the transition from darkness into light was what stayed with me.

Arise is a photograph about that moment of emergence - one of the ocean’s largest animals appearing almost silently from a world we cannot see.