Is a celebrated cinematographer, photographer and TV presenter specializing, whose works highlight the majesty and complexity of the natural world. A talented versatile cameraman that brings a unique talent and approach to his storytelling, not only placing his viewer directly with the subject matter, but making them care deeply about it as well. Cristian fearlessly puts himself in the water face to face with intimidating subjects such as piranha and caiman, dispelling stigmas through his lens, showing their behaviour, life history and unseen world. Some of his best-known work focuses on anacondas and octopuses in The Secrets of the Octopus. Wildly known for his work in Central and South America, Cristian has also worked with numerous subjects and locations from Norway to New Zealand. Cristian is dedicated to raising awareness and respect for nature.

CHRIS HARVEY-CLARK,

B.Sc., DVM Bio

is a research  veterinarian and marine biologist based at Dalhousie University. He an ongoing research program studying the biology of the Greenland shark and the Atlantic torpedo ray, species that are little known to science, and  over 40 publications and book chapters on veterinary aspects of marine and wildlife species.  An avid diver with over 3,000 dives since 1976,  in 1996 he produced the first photo illustrated guide to North Atlantic marine life in Canada, “Eastern Tidepool and Reef’  a best seller at 10,000 copies, with  an expanded new version “Maritime Marine Life’ released  in 2021. In 2003 he was principal author of the Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines on the use of fish in research, teaching and testing, the first regulatory publication to recognise the ability of fish to feel pain and be subject to moral concern.  He is actively involved in  endangered marine species research ranging from sea otters and Atlantic Whitefish to blue whales, white sharks  and leatherback sea turtles.

In his second career as an underwater image maker he has been director of photography in over 50 marine themed documentaries.  He published the first documentation of basking sharks mating in 1998 in the journal Copeia, , did the first in Canada dives with blue sharks in 2000 , filmed mako sharks underwater for the first time in Canada in 2002, and recorded Greenland sharks underwater under natural conditions for the first time 2003-2010, which resulted in 4 publications and numerous documentaries. He has had a tagging research program with the Ocean Tracking Network since 2014 investigating the movement and behaviour of the Atlantic torpedo ray.  In October 2020 he used a cage while documenting  Great White sharks underwater for the first time in Canadian waters. In November 2021 he and Canadian Navy Diver Michael Schwinghammer became the first divers in Canadian waters to have a prolonged encounter with a 10 foot Great White shark while open water diving on a shipwreck in Halifax Harbour. Chris recently won the 2023 Pottersfield Press national creative nonfiction award for his memoire, In Search of the Great Canadian Shark.  In Fall 2023 he was at sea continuing 4 years work photo identifying  individual white sharks in Canadian waters on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, which will be featured on Discovery Channel Shark Week July 2024. He lives in Herring Cove, Nova Scotia.