Sean Havas’s shark allure

How could you not trust this smile?: shark portrait by Sean Havas

Sean Havas really loves sharks. He wants you to love them too.

His hands punctuate in the air as he breaks down the misconceptions people have about the aquatic predators. “Everyone has this concept that sharks are mindless killers,” he says. “It’s simply not the case. They need blubber. They need high-quality meat. We’re just skin and bones.”

Havas’ pitch on sharks might be a little unsettling at first — until he shows you his photographs.

The noted underwater photographer has spent ten years traveling around the world, photographing aquaculture and demystifying these “incredible, majestic,” predators of the sea. The first show of his decade-long career, “Shark,” opens this week in the Mile End.

Natural Geographic and its like reproduce scores of very similar photographs of the much-feared fish — what Havas calls “ID shots”: simple, no-frills pictures. This Montrealer aims to add a bit of romance to the mix.

His photographs play with perspective, ratio, lighting and depth. He points to one silhouetted picture of a Great White Shark, taken from below, with rays of light escaping from the sides of the creature’s massive body. “This is the way I like to see it,” he says.

The pictures — reproduced as near life-size as he can get them — are meant to hang in anyone’s living room, without evoking a pearl-clutching panic reaction.

Havas speaks with a mix of contempt and sadness when he considers most people’s Jaws-informed conception of sharks. “They think it’s like going to war,” he says of his exploits, “but if you play by the rules, they’re incredibly peaceful.”

It’s ironic that people are so in love with whales and dolphins, Havas explains. They’re just as violent as sharks, but with a much better PR campaign. People thought all whales were Moby Dick until recordings were released of the massive mammals singing. Since then, he says, it’s been all “save the whales,” his voice carrying a twinge of jealousy.

In an effort to use every channel to help others understand his love, he runs his own shark-diving expeditions around the world. Sporting a rather dark tan, he explains that he’s just back from Mexico — where his diving companion was an autistic boy.

With 100 million sharks being killed every year, it’s about time we start loving them, he says. And he’s hoping to teach Montreal. ■

“Shark” opens August 1 at Galerie Espace (4844 St-Laurent), and runs until August 14. The vernissage takes place Friday August 3, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.