alex_semenov

When a Giant Octopus attacked me in the Sea of Japan it was pretty scary. It was an Enteroctopus dofleni which can grow up to 6 meters. I was taking pictures of beautiful sea stars and I felt that I couldn’t move my leg. I looked down and saw a huge red octopus climbing up on my leg. Maybe I hit him or something, but he looked pretty angry. I was pretty scared, so the only decision I could make was to hit him with my free leg. After a few kicks he fell down. When my buddy saw him, he pointed to me that he want to communicate with this monster. When he got close, the octopus jumped on him like "facehugger" from "Alien" movie. But he was an experienced Japan sea diver, so he took this guy's tentacles and turned him to show me. I was lucky to make a photo. It was pretty emotional!

A Sea Angel hunting. The problem is that nobody knows what you feel at other side of the camera when make a photo, so for me the most amazing photograph is a hunting Sea Angel (Clione limacina). It’s a unique creature, planktonic pteropod mollusk, who lost its shell in the evolution process and become a swimmer. When the Sea Angel hunts, his head divides on two parts and those hooks pull out. All this process lasts for seconds, and the Angel swims with a crazy speed, but I shot it. So, technically, I think it’s my most amazing photo.

Sharks are really just swimming dinosaurs! Their brains are tiny and function mostly on reflexes and perfected pre-programmed behaviour. If you know what a shark usually does before it attacks, you can prepare for it. You take off your BCD, for example and turn the tank towards the shark. That’ll prevent it from biting you. Really though, if sharks are aggressive, you should be just carefully ending you dive. If you’re diving in dangerous locations, you should use a shark shield – a special stick that you can poke in the shark’s nose. They don’t attack often though and they’re really predictable. Mammals, like leopards, for example, are much more dangerous and clever.

Suffer in silence.

This one