“I find that sometimes the images can get redundant [when you’re] capturing the same images shoulder to shoulder with others,” says fine art nature and wildlife photographer Scott Joshua Dere, who photographed this bonnethead shark in the clutches of an osprey in Sebastian Inlet State Park in Florida alongside a group of photographers. Searching the scene for something different from what the others were capturing, his eyes locked on a larger-than-usual fish in the distance in an osprey’s clutches. He began making photos as the osprey soared past. The striking photo, “Air Superiority,” recently scored him a Gold Award in the nature category of Exposure One’s One Shot Photo Contest.

Camera and lens: Canon EOS 1DX Mark II, Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM lens

Exposure: 1/4,000 second at f/4.5, ISO 400

Post-production: He cropped the image to remove the bird, only leaving its claw. “This way viewers are forced to use their imagination to understand what they are seeing,” he says. He also removed the blue color of the sky for a stark white backdrop as well as any drops of water.

Photographer’s note: “For me, this image is powerful,” he says. “The crop gives the image so much more interest, perspective, and wonder compared to the full frame shot that shows the whole bird with the shark. … The claw looks to be tremendous as it clamps down on the small shark’s face. The bird’s rough legs and sharp claws are rugged in contrast to the slick-looking skin of the fish. The sharp fins mimic the edgy look of the talons. … Incredible to think the osprey dove into the ocean at a considerable speed and submerged completely to grab this fish and had the strength and the stamina to pull it up from the ocean’s grip and fly away with it.” 

Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.