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Richard Irwin says it’s very special to snap a rare moment capturing nature’s interaction with humans.
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Over the past few weeks Mr Irwin has snapped a dolphin and what he believes is a stingray in separate photographs near surfers in Port Macquarie.
Mr Irwin generally focuses on an interesting landscape to photograph. He said he just happens to be in the right place at the right time to catch nature too.
A couple of weeks ago Mr Irwin was at Shelley Beach when he heard surfers yell out there were dolphins around.
“I anticipated they would jump out near them so I just got my camera ready for that shot,” he said.
The camera Mr Irwin used on the day captured six frames per second.
He said he was happy to catch such a special and rare moment.
Mr Irwin said the photo of the stingray jumping out of the water took him by surprise.
He was checking out the surfing conditions at Oxley Beach in March and took some snaps of a couple of bodyboarders who braved the dangerous surf.
Mr Irwin didn’t realise he had captured a stingray leaping out of the water until he got home and uploaded the photos in editing software.
He said he had never seen stingrays jump out of the ocean but had heard of them jumping out of the river.
Mr Irwin said the action might have been related to the big swell.
An Australian Museum spokesperson could not confirm if the photograph contained a stingray.
“Stingrays generally don't jump out of the water although they can get quite large,” he said.
“There are a couple of species along the NSW coast that grow to around two metres in disc width but I doubt they would jump out of the water as they usually stay close to the bottom.
“Mobula and manta rays are known to jump out of the water, particularly the former.
“I have seen both jumping out but not in a surf zone.”
Mr Irwin is a keen surfer and said some of the best action shots come from others who ride the waves.
“Being a surfer I generally check the weather to see what the swell is like and will go to get some shots on the day,” he said.
Photography is something which Mr Irwin has been passionate about since he was 15-years-old.
He started out using a minolta weathermatic to capture his friends surfing.
Mr Irwin went to Port Macquarie for high school but moved away to join the airforce. He returned to the town in 2004 and is a keen cyclist and surfer.
Photography has become a serious hobby for him over the last four years.
He said he has taken about 30,000 photos.
