Biography
Ron began diving in 1952, becoming interested in spearfishing and underwater photography. Valerie was born in Sydney, started diving in 1956 and spearfishing in 1960, eventually winning several Australian championships for ladies in both spearfishing and scuba. The couple met while both were members of the St George spearfishing club in Sydney. They became champion spearfishers, but switched from killing sharks to filming them after becoming fascinated with marine life. They married in December 1963 at Hurstville, N.S.W., and had no children. They made their living in the 1960s by touring briefly with underwater footage they had filmed. The Taylors were credited with being pioneers in several areas — the first people to film great white sharks without the protection of a cage or anything else during the making of the movie Blue Wilderness in January 1992, a huge milestone in ocean exploration together with South Africans George Askew and Piet van der Walt, founders of the South African great white shark cage diving industry. The Taylors also filmed the shark sequences for the film Orca. The Taylors were also the first to film sharks by night.
Read more about this topic: Ron & Valerie Taylor
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