Nanaimo undersea photographer wins international award

Although he was raised in nowhere-near-the-ocean Saskatchewan, when Shane Gross was a child, he’d dress up in a homemade scuba suit and deep-sea dive around the living room rug. He describes his younger self as being a “shark nerd.”

“I would beg my parents to get a [real] little shark to put in the bathtub,” Gross says. “Wisely they did not do that.”

But they did agree to let their six-year-old watch Jaws.

“It was my favourite movie,” Grross smiles. “I was rooting for the shark.”

Although nobody was surprised when Gross said he wanted to be a marine biologist when he grew up, nobody was more disappointed than he was to realize he couldn’t afford to get the education.

“I went to business school instead,” Gross explains. “Thinking, if I could make some money, I could travel to the ocean.”

The plan paid off. Gross eventually moved to the Bahamas, became a real diver, and spent as much time as possible with the creatures in the sea.

“It’s so incredibly rewarding when you are in the water with a big wild animal,” Gross says. “To me, that’s when I feel the most alive.”

It’s a feeling Gross wished he could capture, so he got a loan to buy an underwater camera and taught himself how to use it. “Just Googling around,” Gross says, adding that he would also study the Instagram posts of photographers he admired.

“Most importantly, I was getting in the water and shooting and making every mistake you can think of.”

After all the work, Gross started producing compelling moments under the sea, which he compiled on his website. 

But the more time he spent capturing images of the ocean’s animals, the more he witnessed the challenges facing them. It compelled Gross to become a professional photojournalist, based on Vancouver Island, focusing on marine conservation.

“I look at science but science is very cold. It’s hard for people to connect with it,” Gross says. “I believe photographs can connect, to bring the science alive for people.”

Now Gross’s work is being recognized with an international ocean photography award from the Save Our Seas Foundation — one of just four grants awarded around the world.

It’s major recognition for work that feels more satisfying for Gross than being a marine biologist, an award more prestigious than young Gross could have ever dreamed of receiving.

“I’ve now been in the water with 33 different species of sharks,” Gross smiles. “I think that little shark kid would be pretty stoked!”