A once-in-a-lifetime photograph has caught the JAWS-ome moment a massive great white shark breached its entire body out of the water behind an oblivious surfer.
The stunning snap was taken by Nathan McLaren about 2pm on Tuesday as he was taking pictures of surfers off Swansea Heads, just south of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
5Moment a great white shark appears in full view just metres away from surferCredit: Caters News Agency
5It is thought the 11-foot predator had been feeding in the water for at least half an hour before the photo was takenCredit: Caters News Agency
Nathan, 33, was on the beach watching surfer Daniel Caban, aged 20, surfing about 50 metres out when the massive 11-foot predator burst out of the water.
Pals raced the water to warn Daniel and others about the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁er fish which they believe could have been secretly feeding in the area for more than an hour while surfers rode waves above it.
Hours later Nathan’s amazing picture was wowing Australia and made the front page of the country’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.
5Photographer Nathan McLaren who took the amazing shark snap and surfer Daniel Caban who shared the waters with the big fishCredit: Caters News Agency
Electrician Nathan said: “I was just out on the beach taking a picture of a couple of the local guys out surfing and just had the perfect coincidence of capturing the lovely photo.
“When Daniel saw the photo his jaw pretty much hit the ground. He had been in the water for about an hour and I’d say that shark was feeding around there the whole time.
“It goes to show the shark wasn’t out there to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 him, but it was definitely feeding out there.
“The way the bay operates you have a wave that comes in from the right and the left and it pushes a lot of water out through the middle, you get a huge rip which pushes out all the food I suppose.
“The bay fish start feeding and then obviously the big fellas come in.
“I haven’t given the shark a name yet, I haven’t looked at the photo close enough to know if it’s male or female, I reckon we should just call it ‘Lucky’.
Nathan believes the shark might have made an appearance about 30 minutes before he took the picture but it was too quick to see.
He said: “About half an hour before the photo was taken we thought we had seen something, but obviously it was so quick no one was really too sure.
“The guys had been paddling across the bay to each break and they had come over to that break and were surfing for about 15 minutes and then suddenly there was this shark breaching.
“As soon as we saw it a couple of guys started running down and we were tooting the horn in the car and I starting waving my shirt in the air.
“At first the surfers thought we’d let them know there’s a big wave coming and they started paddling back out.
“But then they saw we were getting pretty frantic, so they got the message and came in.
“Once the guys on the beach got to the surfers they were pretty keen to see the photo they’d been told about.”
5Shark jumps from the water while surfer rides the waves off Australian coastCredit: Caters News Agency
5Onlookers thought they had seen something in the water about half an hour beforeCredit: Caters News Agency
Nathan, who lives with his partner Christina Heald and their dog Jimmy, said although people might be worried about sharks he was definitely on their side.
He said: “If you see a snake when you’re camping you’re still going to go camping if you enjoy it.
“I’m a bit of a hippy at heart, I highly believe it’s their domain out, obviously what’s happened in Western Australia is a tragedy but I don’t believe culling is the answer.
“I think we have the technology to keep them away if you are worried about it.
“Currently I’m of work at the moment, I’ve injured my back, I’d actually just come back from the osteopath when I came back and took the photos.”
