A filmmaker out on an excursion to capture footage of sharks off the Southern California coast last month unexpectedly got the shot of a lifetime when a great white shark took a bite out of one of his cameras.
The harrowing ordeal unfolded in late April when Carlos Gauna, who goes by The Malibu Artist on YouTube, was on one of his regular trips to document the apex predators.
“I’ve been around them a lot,” Gauna told KTLA’s Lindsey Peña. “They don’t normally come at you like that.”
Gauna frequently films great whites from a kayak using multiple cameras and a drone, which is why he was able to capture so many different angles of the close encounter.
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
“It depends on the day, but I typically like to have three cameras going, an aerial drone and a couple cameras on the kayak and maybe even one on my person sometimes,” he explained.
Video from the incident shows the shark moving rapidly toward the camera before clamping down on it.
Moments before the encounter, Gauna said he temporarily lost communication with the friend operating the overhead drone, leaving him unaware of exactly where the shark was in the water.
“Not knowing where the shark is and I look back and the shadow of the shark is right there,” he recalled. “By the time I got comms with him, all I can hear is my buddy yelling, ‘He got the camera! He got the camera!’”
Despite the shark being just feet away, Gauna said conditions made it difficult to see the animal underwater.
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Guana captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna captured a great white shark biting one of his cameras off the Southern California coast in April 2026. (YouTube: @TheMalibuArtist)
“I did feel the tug and then I saw the splash afterwards,” he said. “It bit down on it and cracked it.”
Fortunately, the shark did not swim away with the camera, but Gauna said the bite caused serious damage to the dome protecting the equipment.
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Despite his years of professionally documenting sharks off the California coast, Gauna said he’s never experienced anything like this.
He believes conditions that day played a major role.
“There was a lot of bait in the water that day, a lot of sea lion activity,” he said. “Perfect situation for an encounter like that.”
The filmmaker told KTLA that the footage he posts online is meant to showcase the animals and educate people about shark behavior and ocean safety.
“When you enter the water, you’re entering their domain,” he said. “So, we have to respect that.”
When asked where exactly the great white encounter occurred, Guana explained that he prefers not to divulge the location because fishermen might use the information to hunt the ocean predators.
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