Articles

Photographer of the Week, Jillian Morris Brake, has the sort of “dream job” many of us fantasized we would have when we grew up. Living on Bimini in the Bahamas—home to great hammerheads as well as many other types of sharks—Jillian has some of the world’s most sought-after creatures that would make any underwater photographer salivate right at her doorstep.

But such a life did not simply lay itself at Jillian’s feet. As a conservationist, marine biologist and photographer, Jillian has made it her life’s work to help educate our next generation of ocean advocates, particularly through her non-profit Sharks4kids. She has taught underwater photography, worked on many documentary projects and recently published her first children’s book, Norman the Nurse Shark.

Through her work, you see not simply your typical tiger or hammer shot common to her area, but an intimacy with the animals. Whether in the mangrove nurseries or on the soft, shallow sands of the Bahamian watery landscape, Jillian’s work highlights the essence of why preserving our oceans and its inhabitants is so crucial.
 

A juvenile lemon shark in the mangroves of Bimini
 

A great hammerhead cruising over the sand in Bimini
 

A pair of large bull sharks, Bimini
 

A nurse shark with its remora entourage, Bimini
 

The flip side of a southern stingray
 

They may not fly but they can swim—swimming pig in Exuma, Bahamas
 

The eye of a southern stingray
 

Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bahamas
 

Jillian working in the mangroves off Bimini
 

To see more of Jillian's images, and to learn more about Sharks4kids, visit her websites, www.Sharks4Kids.com and www.shark-girl.com.