About a month ago, photographers Shawn Heinrichs and Kristian Schmidt‘s revolutionary whale shark fashion/conservation shoot went viral on the internet — using incredible photography to draw attention to the plight of the whale shark.
Following in the footsteps of that project, Heinrichs and Schmidt teamed up again, this time putting together a mesmerizing set of photographs alongside the above video as part of the conservation effort Manta Ray of Hope.
Another incredibly difficult shoot (technically speaking), Heinrichs and Schmidt enlisted the help of underwater dancer Hannah Fraser and a whole team of assistants both above and below water to make the Mantas Last Dance video and photo shoot happen.
Shooting in the beautiful waters off the coast of Kona Hawaii, all of the images below were captured in the ocean as Fraser interacted with wild (and curious) manta rays in the water.