One committed photographer spent a grand total of 3,000 dive hours trying to get the perfect shots, capturing beautiful images of a rare shark feeding frenzy. Laurent Ballesta’s images show the glimmering gray reef sharks hunting in swift packs, flying through the water and feasting on the likes of helpless grouper. The challenge Laurent, 44, faced to get these images in Fakarava Atoll, French Polynesia, cannot be overstated: The grouper there spawn only once a year under a full moon, sometime in June or July, and only for around 30 minutes. In total, capturing the set of feeding frenzy images required 21 weeks of diving, day and night, spanning four years and 85,000 images. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





Laurent Ballesta’s images show the glimmering gray reef sharks hunting in swift packs, flying through the water and feasting on the likes of helpless grouper. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





The challenge Laurent, 44, faced to get these images, in Fakarava Atoll, French Polynesia, cannot be overstated. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





The grouper there spawn only once a year under a full moon, sometime in June or July, and only for around 30 minutes. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





In total, this set of images required 21 weeks of diving, day and night, spanning four years and taking 85,000 images. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





Having begun devising a plan in 2014, Laurent and his friend, Jean-Marc Belin, created a method that would allow the diver to spend 24 hours 65 feet underwater. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





The men also decreased the time for Laurent to decompress from 20 hours to six. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





With a committed team, a strategy and a mix of oxygen and other gases, Laurent began his work in 2014, returning for the next four years. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





Shooting the sharks was a tough challenge, Laurent said, as their swiftness and the darkness caused ever-changing errors. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)





There was also the matter of not getting bitten, as the diver was not in a shark cage or using a protective suit. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)