Distant

Distant was made during a feeding event in South Ari Atoll, when plankton-rich water had drawn whale sharks into the shallows.

Among them was Huduveli, an adolescent whale shark I had spent time observing during my work in the Maldives.

For much of the encounter there was constant movement around him, but for a brief moment he moved away from the feeding activity and into open blue water.

That separation completely changed the feeling of the scene.

Instead of the energy of the feeding event, there was suddenly space, distance and quiet.

Distant is a photograph about that brief pause - a single whale shark moving away from the commotion and disappearing into the blue.