Photographer tells how he captured stunning ‘Sharknado’ snaps of great white leaping behind surfer

A California photographer captured a “Sharknado” moment as a great white was seen leaping out of the Pacific behind a surfer.

Jordan Anast was taking pictures of a surf competition at San Onofre beach between Los Angeles and San Diego when the dramatic breach occurred.

“I thought, ‘That’s a big dolphin,’” the longtime surf photographer said as he took a picture of surfer Tyler Warren calmly riding a wave.

Mr Anast says that it was only when he looked back at the images he realized what he had captured.

“It was a case of being in the right place at the right time. It’s the kind of shot you only ever get once. It doesn’t even look real, it’s like something out of ‘Sharknado,’” he told The Independent.

“Over the decades I have captured some memorable moments for others, but this is one was for me,” he added on Instagram.

“My passion has always been to stop time for one second, capture a memory for someone or something that will last forever and show the world my pics through my lens. These shots will always be a part of San Onofre history and that is pretty cool.”

Sharknado is a series of sci-fi horror movies in which man-eating sharks are scooped up by water spouts and dump sharks into cities.

Mr Warren, who is also a well-known surfboard maker, told the photographer that he did not even realize that he was in the water with a great white.

The picture was taken during the San Onofre Surf Club’s annual competition on Saturday 22 October.

San Onofre State Beach is a known “hot spot” for great white sharks in Southern California, according to marine experts.

It is thought that the sharks are attracted to the area by a plentiful food supply.