Eden Hasson had been surfing for most of the afternoon at Samurai Beach, near Newcastle, when he went to catch one more wave.
The 10-year-old, who was with friends and family, paddled at the northern end of the beach and took off on a left-hander.
He thought he saw a dark shape nearby, but continued on as his father Chris - a lifetime surfer - took photos from the shore.
The dark shape also caught the eye of Mr Hasson, a real estate agent, as he stood on rocks at the northern headland. He continued snapping away as Eden rode the wave into the beach and started paddling out again.
Then he zoomed into the photograph and saw it - the head of a 2.5-metre great white shark in the face of a wave, with Eden surfing next to it. He immediately called Eden back to the shore.
"Check its mouth," Mr Hasson wrote shortly afterwards on Facebook. "It's rolled over having a good look at his yummy yellow new wetsuit."
Gonna need a bigger surfboard.
Gonna need a bigger surfboard.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”