An Esperance film crew has had a great white shark come within a metre of the camera lens, while filming for a new project off Port Lincoln in South Australia.

Dave Riggs makes nature documentaries through his own production company, based in Esperance.

Mr Riggs was in a boat around the Neptune Islands, about 70 kilometers off Port Lincoln in South Australia, working on a new film.

The large shark breached the surface, about a metre from where another crew member was crouched at water level taking the photo at the back of the boat.

"Basically it's a very curious great white shark," Mr Riggs told Kirstyn March on ABC Goldfields-Esperance, with a casual calmness in his voice.

"She was around 15 foot long, and wasn't being aggressive, believe it or not, but certainly looks like it in that image. But that's how they assess their surroundings."

When asked what was running through his mind, while being so close to the ominous jaws of an animal that would for many, immediately knot our stomachs with fear, Mr Riggs replied: "Wow, what an animal. It really looked like a throwback to the dinosaur era, it was quite incredible to be honest. I think it's a perfect illustration as to why we need to preserve it; it really is the last living relic of a bygone era."

Mr Riggs said that where they were working around the Neptune Islands, there were a lot seal pups entering the water.

"They're basically very curious, any vessels that pull up in the location, the sharks will come and have a look," said Mr Riggs.

"I just felt obliged to post it I guess, because it's real... it's not being aggressive, it was not attempting to kill anyone, it was just very curious," he said.

Mr Riggs is determined to challenge the view that great white sharks are simply aggressive predators.

"It's like any top-of-the-line, apex predator; you grab a cat by the tail and give it a pull and see what happens... all animals are aggressive in their own way, and great whites just happen to have very sharp, pointy teeth," he said.

Are we encouraging sharks to approach people through interaction?

"Simply us being in the water, is encouraging these inquisitive sharks to come take a closer look.

"There's no doubt that there are more sharks around... but if we were genuinely on the food chain list, if we were on the menu, we would not be in the ocean," Mr Riggs said.

Mr Riggs said the crew on the boat and the people he works with are passionate ocean advocates

"We're endeavouring to encourage everyone to appreciate our place in this environment, this isn't our planet, we need to co-exist.

"What would the ocean be without these big beasts? They're scary and they're freaky, and there are fatal altercations occasionally, but we have to learn how to live with them," said Mr Riggs.