Jaws camerman dies: Inside the world of Ron Taylor, pioneering underwater cameraman for Jaws

PUBLISHED: 09:33 EST, 11 September 2012 | UPDATED: 09:59 EST, 11 September 2012

A collection of iconic images taken by the late Ron Taylor, who shot footage for the hit Spielberg movie Jaws, reveals how important these underwater creatures were to him and his devoted wife.

The shark expert and pioneering underwater cameraman died at a hospital in Sydney on Sunday aged 78, after a battle with myeloid leukaemia.

Along with his wife Valerie, Ron spent years filming great white sharks and was reportedly bitten on several occasions himself.

Come on over Valerie: Ron Taylor's wife poses with a great white shark in a shot taken by the late Ron Taylor, who shot footage for the hit Spielberg movie Jaws

Great white hope: Ron and Valerie Taylor take the temperature of a Great White Shark that had been tangled in a steel trace. The shark expert died in Sydney on Sunday

The couple dedicated their lives to persuading people that sharks were worthy of respect.

Their impressive images of the huge creatures caught the eye of director Steven Spielberg, who asked the them to film footage of a great white for his 1975 blockbuster.

The collection of images includes shots of Valerie with the giant mechanical shark used in the making of the film Jaws and Ron building his own underwater camera housing in his workshop.

Dedicated: Ron Taylor is pictured here in his workshop. The shark fan switched from killing sharks to filming them after becoming fascinated with marine life

Taylor was best known for his hair-raising footage of live sharks used in the blockbuster Jaws (1975).

Filming off South Australia, the Taylors used a small shark-proof cage with a small diver inside, so that the real sharks would look as large as the 25ft mechanical model used in the film.

In the course of shooting the sequence, a great white became tangled up in the cage’s cables and began thrashing about violently as it tried to break free. The resulting footage, taken by Taylor himself, was among the most memorable in the film. 

Open wide: Taylor's wife Valerie poses with the mechanical shark used in the making of Jaws. Through his work, Taylor became well known around the world, particularly among those with a passion for the environment

Up close and personal: One of the thousands of pictures taken by Ron Taylor of a Great White Shark. Taylor and his wife made their living in the 1960s by touring briefly with underwater footage they had filmed

Although both Taylor and his wife began career as a champion spearfishers, both switched from killing sharks to filming them after acquiring a keen interest in marine life.

The Taylors were credited with being pioneers in several areas: the first to film great white sharks without the protection of a cage during the making of the movie Blue Wilderness in January 1992.

Say aaagh: Valerie Taylor poses with the 25 foot long mechanical shark used in the making of Jaws, while a model maker inspects its massive jaws

In familiar pose: Ron and Valerie prepare to dive with their underwater camera in the hope of getting some more superb footage of the creatures that inspired them

The couple also filmed the shark sequences for the film Orca, and were the first to film sharks at night.

They made their living in the 1960s by touring briefly with underwater footage they had filmed.

Wildlife conservationists led the tributes for Taylor, who died at a private hospital in Sydney, after battling myeloid leukaemia for two years.

Andrew Fox, who worked with Taylor on shark conservation said the cameraman was affected by criticism that the movie Jaws reinforced the notion that great whites were death machines.

Biting off more than he can chew: A Great White is captured from the boat mouthing the motor on the charter boat in South Australia on which the Taylors were travelling

'That's something that [my] Dad and Ron talked about a lot along with [late Jaws author] Peter Benchley,' Fox said. 'All of them … felt a sense of shame, in a way, that they made so many people terrified of sharks and going in the water.'

But in later years, Fox added, they came to realise that 'it's actually the movie Jaws that spawned people wanting to learn about great whites'.

Much research and interest in the Great White Shark has come about since the movie, says Fox, who added that Taylor was 'right up there with Steve Irwin and David Attenborough in Australia'.