Photographer Maggie Shannon discusses the complexities of shark hunting

Date
4 February 2015

26-year-old Brooklyn photographer Maggie Shannon has just been touted as one of Magnum’s 30 under 30 – which given the prestige of the organisation is no mean feat. A quick flick through her portfolio confirms Magnum’s assertion that she’s a talented image-maker, but there’s one project in particular that stopped me dead in my tracks. Tucked in among the intimate portraits of strangers and documentary-style images of female musicians at work was the lifeless head of a shark staring blankly back at me.

The image was from a series made in the summer of 2014, when Maggie took a day-trip out to Rhode Island to shoot a competition she’s been around since childhood; the Monster Shark Tournament. The resulting photographs are breathtakingly candid – just gory enough to be very uncomfortable viewing, but also hugely engaging – so we chased Maggie up for some more information about this unusual event.

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

Give us a little background to what we’re seeing in these photos…

These photographs were shot during the 2014 Monster Shark Tournament held in Newport, Rhode Island. Over the course of two days, big game fishermen from along the east coast formed teams and went out to fish for sharks. Usually leaving before dawn, they returned to the weigh-in spot in Newport to have their catches judged. While the other boats waited in line, a tournament staff member attached a rope to each shark’s tail and hoisted it up to a white platform to be weighed. Only the largest fish were presented and the fishermen lost points for bringing in a shark that was under the weight limit. Scientists and researchers were also on hand to collect samples and the boats’ captains could choose between keeping their catch or donating it to the researchers or a local food bank.

How did you come across the competition in the first place?

The Monster Shark Tournament used to be held in my hometown on Martha’s Vineyard. Originally, a tonne of fishermen from the island would participate but after the Discovery Channel did a feature on the event a lot of them stopped coming. According to a fisherman that runs the local bait and tackle shop, they were less interested in becoming TV stars and were just in it for the sport. Seeing a helicopter and TV crews must’ve killed the atmosphere for them. After that, it was mostly outsiders coming in from Boston and Providence. The town started to receive tonnes of complaints about the party-like atmosphere so it was moved to Newport, Rhode Island last year.

"To be completely honest, it does seem like the presence of the marine biologists is because of the backlash from the violent nature of the tournament."

Maggie Shannon

What are the motivations behind an event like this? You say there’s a scientific presence here but does that serve simply as a way to mitigate the perception of brutality?

To be completely honest, it does seem like the presence of the marine biologists is because of the backlash from the violent nature of the tournament. I know one of the head marine biologists from Boston used to come and give educational talks while it was on Martha’s Vineyard, but I didn’t see him in Newport. Though I can’t say anything about this with certainty, I’d be interested in finding out if they had been with the tournament from the beginning, or if they were asked to join after some bad press.

The motivation for a lot of these fishermen seems to be a mix of doing something they love – like being out on the ocean all day – the challenge of catching something as tricky as a shark and also getting publicity for their charter boat companies. The fishing industry is in a lot of trouble and many fishermen have started charter companies to try and make ends meet. This event is great exposure for their businesses.

What kind of work did you have to do in advance to gain access to an event like this?

I was in touch with the previous organiser, Steven James, for the past couple years about getting access without much luck – at one point he asked me why I wanted a bunch of photos of dead sharks. After he passed away I was emailing with his wife and she didn’t seem that interested in allowing me to shoot the event either. So I just decided to show up and see if I could talk them into it.

I got to the harbour where they held the weigh-in a couple hours early and met the whole family. Steven James’ niece is a student at the School of Visual Arts which is where I got my MFA. She helped explain my ideas to her family and her grandmother Doreen took me under her wing and gave me complete access. I’m so grateful for both of them and their help with this project.

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

Film or digital?

Digital. I wanted something easy, quick and light since I knew I would be moving around a lot. I usually shoot with a 4×5 field camera but I didn’t think that would make sense for this type of event.

What camera were you shooting on?

Canon 5D Mark 2.

Did you approach the project with an open mind, or did you already have strong opinions about the subject at hand?

I grew up with this event being held every summer so I think I have a complicated history with it. I loved going down to see them weigh the sharks each summer when I was a little kid, but as I got older I started to have mixed feelings. It’s very easy to dismiss the entire thing as a massacre of sharks but I think theres a lot more going on here than just that, which is one of the reasons I wanted to photograph it. Not only was there a scientific and sociological element, but being able to see sharks up close was a really magical experience.

Sharks are animals revered and feared by humans, but this series creates a sense of empathy, maybe even pity for the animals. Was that your intention at all?

For this whole shoot I felt like I was walking a fine line between celebrating the event and being repulsed by it. I had been in communication with the people running it for a couple months before. Doreen James, Steven James’ mother, was in charge and the weekend was held as his memorial. Their entire family was involved in running everything, from selling T-shirts to weighing the sharks. Doreen was kind enough to give me complete access to the weigh-in area and the whole family was really helpful. I didn’t want to betray their trust but I was also so fascinated by the brutality of it that I couldn’t help but let that guide some of the photographs I made. Being able to look at these fish up close showed not only their strength but also their fragility. By bringing these apex predators up from the deep, the fishermen are showing us something out of our own world, and that moment should be treasured, if carefully critiqued.

"By bringing these apex predators up from the deep, the fishermen are showing us something out of our own world, and that moment should be treasured, if carefully critiqued."

Maggie Shannon

What role do you feel a photographer has when it comes to reportage?

It’s so complicated and never just black and white but tonnes of grey! I never really consider myself a documentary photographer either. If anything, maybe I’m a portrait photographer. But really I guess the best way I can explain is when I was tutoring a young photographer recently and she was having a lot of trouble taking portraits of people on the street. She was trying to put her own ideas onto the people she was shooting and didn’t like how the picture turned out if she didn’t see her story in it. I tried to explain to her what I thought she was doing but really I thought it was such an interesting problem; how as photographers we come into a situation with our own ideas and aesthetics.

For the Monster Shark Tournament I knew I wasn’t going to be dealing with my own ideas because this is such an explosive issue that everyone feels very strongly about one way or another. For this reason I tried simply to take photographs that I thought were beautiful and I think describe the tournament as a more complicated thing than just a killing spree of sharks.

Above

Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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Maggie Shannon: Swamp Yankee

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About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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