July 30, 2011

Catonsville native has escaped death twice while filming sharks

Catonsville native has escaped death twice while filming sharks

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For a decade beginning in the mid-1980s, Caloyianis and Berger worked on 30 to 40 projects for National Geographic, many of them about sharks.

Caloyianis won an Emmy and an Oscar in 1998 for cinematography in the National Geographic special, "America's Endangered, Don't Say Goodbye." Other Emmys followed. He has supplied underwater video for TV commercials and movies. He and Berger were honored with a CINE Gold Award for the 2000 documentary, "Realm of the Lobster."

Closer to home, Caloyianis and Berger have volunteered their video talents to document a number ofChesapeake Bay improvement projects, including artificial reef construction and oyster habitat restoration.

"There is no other individual who has spent more time beneath the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and documented its marine life," said Martin Gary, a Department of Natural Resources biologist who learned to dive from Caloyianis. "His visuals are a powerful legacy for future generations."

Next year, Caloyianis expects to begin work on a project he's dreamed about for 20 years: A 3-D IMAX film about the Chesapeake Bay.

But for now, he hopes people reflect on the message of "Jaws Comes Home."

"Those white sharks are back, but it's tenuous. We need to learn a lot more about them. The answer is conservation," he says. "The ocean should be for everybody and everything. The sharks belong out there."

candy.thomson@baltsun.com

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