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Shark PhotographersAussie Couple FacesBy BETH MOHRHOLLYWOOD — Valerie Taylor takes care of her home, raises her own vegetables, keeps a few chickens andbumps into sharks.Why not? She is a housewife with a career.Ron and Valerie Taylor of Sydney, Australia, are a team of underwater photographers whose latest work can be seen in the film, “Jaws,” the story of a town plagued by a 26-foot great white shark.Mrs. Taylor became a diver 20 years ago as a teen-ager living on the ocean’s edge in Australia.“THE WATER was practically in our backyard and it seemed natural to go down and dive in,” Mrs. Taylor said in aninterview.Friends and neighbors, aware of the danger of sharks, didn’t consider it quite so natural.“People thought I was crazy,” Mrs. Taylor said. “They were sure I would be bitten. That was before we learned to differentiate between dangerous and harmlesssharks.”That also was before she married Taylor. Enthusiastic scuba divers before they met, they increased their skill, developed their underwater filming talents and learned the ways of sharks together.THE GREAT white shark andthe tiger shark are the onesdangerous to man, they say. Other species are considered harmless.“We gained knowledge by experience,” Mrs. Taylor said. “Common sense is very important. If you see a shark coming at you, you react accordingly.“Sharks are not used to aggression and have a tendency to leave you alone. They seem to take the attitude, ‘If you want this part of the water, keep it.’”Not that sharks always turn away from humans moving into their territory.WE HAVE been bumped quite often, but never bitten,” Mrs. Taylor said. “If you are bitten, you rarely recover.”A great white shark has never bumped the Taylors.“They don’t bump, they just bite,” Mrs. Taylor said.The Taylors had a specialproblem in fulfilling their assignment for “Jaws.”“THE AVERAGE length of a great white shark is 14 feet,” Taylor said. “The one in the story is 26 feet. We worked out shooting angles to help achieve the needed effect and suggestedthat producers use small men and cages for other diving sequences.”The Taylors must spend part of their shooting time outside the protective cage, one usually keeping watch while the other films.“It is not the shark you areValerie and Ron Taylor of Sydney, Australia, were enthusiastic scuba divers even before they met. They have increased their skill, developed their underwater filming talents and have learned the ways of sharkstogether.working with, the one you can see, that is dangerous,” Taylc*said. “It is the one who coiursup unexpectedly.”“I have had some very frightening times watching Ronwork outside the cage,” Mrs. Taylor said, adding that she, too, takes turns in the open water. She filled in briefly as one of the doubles for a “Jaws” actor.
Newspaper Details
Oxnard Ventura County Ad Visor
Oxnard, California, US
Sun, Dec 15, 1974
Page 50
Full Page
Clipped by
Hal M.
MI, USA 18 Oct 2022
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