Dad takes photo of 10-year-old son surfing over Great White shark
The great white shark appears to be rolling away from 10-year-old surfer Eden Hasson (Photo: Chris Hasson)
A series of photographs show a 10-year-old in a close call with a great white shark north of Newcastle, with the boy unknowingly surfing over the top of it.
It happened as Eden Hasson was surfing off Samurai Beach at Port Stephens late on Tuesday.
His dad Chris Hasson captured the shark, also known as a white pointer, on camera with its mouth open, swimming under his son.
Beachgoers stunned by photographs
Mr Hasson said he was gobsmacked by what he saw.
"It was just one of those one-in-a-million shots," he said.
"There were a couple of guys out, including Eden, and I was on the rocks."
Mr Hasson said he started taking photographs after taking a dip himself.
"I had been swimming in and out with flippers with my five-year-old and 12-year-old daughters and decided I had enough of that," he said.
"My daughter came in 10 minutes earlier and that probably proves why women live longer than men.
"I saw something just before that and I was about to call him in but he took off on a wave and just click, click, click, click, click.
"Then I just had a gut feeling and so I zoomed in and went wow.
"I quickly called everyone in and obviously the rest is history."
Southern Cross University marine biology associate professor Danny Bucher said it appeared to be a white pointer, trying to roll away from the surfboard.
"Well, it certainly does look like a great white," Dr Bucher said.
"From the look of it, it looks like it's started to roll on its back as it has gone through the wave.
"That would probably indicate that it's trying to actually swim away from the approaching board."
Ten-year-old undeterred by close shave
"Everyone was pretty amazed on the beach," Mr Hasson said.
"Eden said 'Lucky I didn't fall off, Dad'."
"You know Eden has gone for a surf today already, so we are not too worried about it — you just have to be aware.
"You put your seatbelt on in the car and you don't worry about a car accident; you just have to be aware."
Mr Hasson said there had been a rotting whale carcass nearby for about six months, which may have attracted the shark to the area.
He said he also noticed a school of mullet swim by just before he took the photos.
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
Interesting comments regarding if it's just someone duck diving, it's like one of those mind games where you can see both if you think about it.
Hmm, I can see both too. It is a mind game!
one in a million shot and a smile to boot
Fake.
It does look like someone duckdiving now that you mention it.
The shark angle is much more spicy though.
Hearing his interview on TV and his account of it, it isn't a surfer.
He has shots before as well which would of shown a surfer duck diving if they were.
15 mins of fame, the Daily Mail photo is higher res , The mouth could be a key line on the deck of the board.
IMO the 'mouth' is part of a large circular ripple around the submerging duck diver.
Makes you wonder how many times a monster has swum right past you.
Flake news , bullshark !!!
Highly unlikely to be a duck diving surfer. People don't duck dive way out on the shoulder like that. If someone was out there on the shoulder in that spot the kid would not have been doing his turn right there as he can obviously surf okay and the surfer would have been paddling hard to get out of his way. The kid would also have been angling to go around the bottom more to avoid someone sitting there (no wake also).
Lighten up , a bloke taking photos of his 10 y o and all the sceptics jump in it is what it is
need to see all the shots to make it clear, has he posted more pics or is he holding out
dad said 'click click click click'. so where's the other photos?
its someone duck diving. zoom in. you can see their foot/heel and calf shape
I'm the photographer. It's 100% legit.
The photo showed here is the zoomed in version some of the media used of the original. The Original is much further back and puts into more perspective.
Background to photo for you guys:
Im not a professional photographer and didn't even know how to use the camera properly. Thats why I just clicked about 6 shots as I had to shoot them individually.
Ive been surfing for 30 years many of those competitively. I know the difference between a shark and surfer when I see it.
I spoke to Colin Bernoskoni who is a mate of mine and was a well respected surf journo and ex pro surfer last night and he couldn’t believe some surfers were arguing the authenticity of the photo as a few other well respected surfers who've seen the original agreed it was definitely not a surfer duck diving.
Surf Legend Peter McCabe who knows me personally and vouches for my character agreed and was quoted it was 100% NOT a surfer and definitely a white. Shark experts have analysed the photo and all agreed it was a white.
There were 4 people out with Eden at the time. Two out the back on Mals when the photo was taken . One of those guys is an ex pro footy player. The guy in the foreground bottom left of the photo and his mate paddling out beside the rocks at the time. All have testified that there was definitely no surfer paddling out and the photo is legit. I called them all in straight away after the wave and showed them the image on my camera. The guy in the foreground bottom left(Josh Dickson) is a good speerfisherman. He said there was a heap of stingrays and a big school of mullet had just moved in. Not to mention Eden actually admitting there was definitely no one on that wave. It is different analyzing a photo than actually been there.
Shark experts believe the white (about 2.5 metres) was probably feeding on the stingrays(they love them) and noticed the school of mullet and was heading over to them when Eden came flying across the wave in his bright yellow wetsuit. Curious it did a last minute turn. Passive behavior. It was not simply lying on its back as you can see the movement of water.
And any surfer who understand surfing if you see the original, that surfer on a clean 3 foot wall paddling out had plenty of time to easily paddle around. If it was they were duck diving side ways and to go that deep you would have left a wake from paddling before hand. Your actually be also paddling from the shoulder towards him to duck dive under him. Its actually laughable.
These critics were simply not there and its always easy to be an arm chair critic. Everyone is an expert on surfing or sharks all of a sudden
This apparently is not out of character behavior for jouvenile whites and being apex preditors they have been documented doing amazing things and shark experts are changing their opinions all the time on what they can do. Up until a not long ago they didn’t think they could breach. Speerfisherman have seen this size white vertically poking their head out of water and having a look around.
Anyway people will believe what they want Im all good with that. I don’t really care about the opinion of others. We know what we captured and will treasure it for a lifetime. I just wanted share this special moment with friends and it went nuts after that. I have nothing to prove though I would like people to understand all the facts. 95% people can clearly see a shark in the original but I guess we get what we focus on :)
Hi Chris, to put this to bed completely could you email the original photos (all 6) to Swellnet or post them online so that the metadata from the camera is retained.? Multiple photographers that I know believe that there has been digital altering of the image to the right of the surfer and having access to the metadata would close the case and remove any doubt as to their authenticity. If you don't the doubts will remain.
alexz
Are you for real?!
Why does this worry you so much? The guy has told you the story, he has no reason to bullshit, and still there's flogs like you demanding access to metadata!
Get a fucking life mate!
Ha. Says the guy getting angry on the internet. Goose.
Sheeet ..... Chris ?
Multiple Photographers ....really ?
Are you going to name them ?
That would only be fair wouldnt it...Chris joined up toSwellnet to tell us the pic is 100% Legit
and we still have multiple non believers.
The argument will be 100% cleared up if Chris posts the original six pictures with associated metadata. He took the time out to write a long post explaining that they are legit, and this would add weight to it. I am not convinced one way or the other but without the originals (with metadata) being produced it leaves some element of doubt.
More unbelievable is that people still surf the Port Stephens and Hawks Nest area...has not it been a White Pointer Heaven for many years ?
I mentioned above it does look like someone duckdiving but from the beginning I'm pretty sure it's a shark. Like someone mentioned before, the absence of a wake pretty much confirms it.
Something to tell the grandkids about one day.
The absence of a shark pretty much confirms it.
Ha ha:)
Sorry this is a bit late. My phone has obviously not stopped. This will be my last comment as Im sure we all have better things to do like go for a surf. I orginally sent the origninal sequence to all the media outlets requesting it. There were hundreds of them. Some of the big boys got different credible surfers and shark experts to analyse them before they published them. Some didn't. Many chose to copy a cut in low res image. What has happened since is people have got hold of the orginals and saturated them with a whole lot of red arrows and writing trying to prove to the surfing world that it was fake and a surfer duckdiving. These images were originally sent to the surf media anonomously as a 1mg image with the orginal not saturated and 7 mg. which was very odd .and they did the rounds of the surf community. I have not read much social media and made few comments on websites or social media because I undeestand haters are going to hate and quickly realised everyone is an armchair surfing or shark expert all of the sudden. I am talking here for the last time because I love swellnet and live on it and simply wanted to finalise the matter from my end. To answer alexz question about the sequence and meta data. I was interogated quite detailed yesterday from Surfing Life. They did what alot of other surf media didn't do which showed good ethics and journalism and exhausted all avenues of both questions to me and witnesses and consulted with experts. They asked for the orginal sequence photos with the meta data and no saturation to scrutinise with their guys. They also rang the guy in the foreground like other main stream outlets did to asertain whether there was a surfer paddlingout. He was not a previous friend of mine and actually I didn't know him i had to track him down to tag him in the photo. He 100% agreed that noone was paddling out because he knew where everyone was(there were only 3 other surfers out other than him and eden) I feel no need to defend myself though at the very least want the facts presented as people have made many assuptions and conclusions without collecting all the facts. I agree Zenagain ignorance is Zen. From there Im ok either way what people believe as thats a personal choice. What we focus on grows. Its funny how with all this global attention the illusive duckdiving surfer hasn't come forward. Mmmm! The debate will go on but all that matters to meis that all the respected surfing crew imcluding wqs surfers and Aussie champs who know me and the boys out there and have spoken to them as wellas Eden have absolutely no doubt. Its very different experiencing a situation than analysing a photo. And when you're have a community around you that love and support you, and you choose to do no harm to anyone and you know what is right you have a good nights sleep. Desite the critics and haters. What I do know is this: Irrespective of what anyone believes it still is an amazing photo. Yes my boy had his 5 minutes of fame and so what. Let the grom enjoy the moment. He came out of it respecting and understanding sharks but not fearful of them. He had experience in how the media works and hes been branded shark boy by his mates. Everyone who knows him loves him because he so humble. He is school captain and he has had a cool story to share with his mates and a photo to show his kids. i think the rest of rhe debate is a waste of time. If the editor is reading. I love your sight. Over and out. Full stop. The link to the sequence and interview last night is here: http://www.surfinglife.com.au/news/sl-news/15588-eden-hasson-s-shark-sto...
Thanks for replying Chris and good to hear the Surfing Life guys were able to access the originals and clear the air. I only asked as a couple of photographers I know thought there had been some alterations to the images and I thought it would be a good way to close the debate once and for all. All the best to you and your son in the ocean - hopefully no more close shark encounters!
Great to see Eden was not too terrified by the close encounter. I have heard of a large White shark rolling over to look at a few surfers at the Pass, and then levelled out and kept going out to sea.
It doesn't look like a shark to me, but if the experts say it is, i guess it is, after looking at those pics from Surfing life link it sure isn't a surfer.
Chris ,
I hope you and your mates give Eden the nickname " Fonz " . Clearly cool and and calm , " jumped the shark " too .