It's been a while since I've posted... here's something a little different.
Swimming with humpback whales.
The Silver Bank, 100 miles north of the Dominican Republic. It's awe-inspiring when such gentle giants choose to come so close to you in the water!
All underwater shots taken with an old Canon 40D in an Ikelite housing and 8 inch dome port with a Tokina 10-17 mm fisheye lens. Topside shots taken with a Canon 7D mk1 and Canon 70-200 f/4 L IS mk1.
Fantastic shooting and what an experience that must have been. When a breach is the ho-him image so to speak you know you got something quite special.
Eric
National Geographic just came to FM ! These are really cool photos, but I'm sure the experience will be remembered for a lifetime. Thanks for sharing .
Amazing set of images! Looks like you take considerable risk of being hit by a lot of fin or flipper. The results are spectacular. These are a big shift from your usual big cat images.
eyelaser wrote:
Fantastic shooting and what an experience that must have been. When a breach is the ho-him image so to speak you know you got something quite special.
Eric
Thanks Eric. The top-side shots were not easy either. Between the waves, the water spray, and not dropping the camera overboard, it's a bit surprising that I got any shots at all! and without falling over the sides of the inflatable with the camera (came close twice)
---------------------------------------------
Bsmooth wrote:
National Geographic just came to FM ! These are really cool photos, but I'm sure the experience will be remembered for a lifetime. Thanks for sharing .
surfnron wrote:
Top o' the heap Hobbes, and stuff we seldom see here ~ Ron
Thanks Ron. Thought it might be a little something different to share.
---------------------------------------------
AGeoJO wrote:
Wow, truly amazing images; l love them! What an amazing experience to be able to swim with humpbacks. YG my vote!
Joshua
Thanks Joshua. The best way i can describe being in the water and having one of them do a close swim by is it's like getting religion.
---------------------------------------------
OwlsEyes wrote:
Wow!!!
What an experience... love some of those images where the head and eye are visible and clean.
Thanks. The whales were a LOT closer than they appear from the images. The first few days I was trying to decide whether to use the 10-17 fisheye or the 17-40. During the whole week I never took the 10-17 off the camera, and most of the shots were at the short end.
---------------------------------------------
kwilliam8 wrote:
Wow, these images gave me the shivers (in a good way)! What an experience - thanks for sharing!
Keith W.
Thanks Keith.
---------------------------------------------
jeetsukumaran wrote:
Magnificent. Wonderful images of close encounters with a vibrant alien civilization and culture with whom we share our planet.
Thanks. When they swim by you see their eye blinking and following you. It really makes you wonder what they are thinking.
dclark wrote:
Amazing set of images! Looks like you take considerable risk of being hit by a lot of fin or flipper. The results are spectacular. These are a big shift from your usual big cat images.
Dave
Thanks Dave! And don't worry... I'm not done with the big cats... and never will be
I have a lot of material from Botswana from this past November that I'm still sorting through.
The first couple of days the close proximity was a bit of a concern. 10mm is REALLY wide... even for a whale! As you said, that's a lot of fin, tail, and body mass there. Accidents can always happen but the whales really know where their bodies are and seemingly try to avoid collisions. Some of the baby whales were so incredibly curious, that they would swim by rolling in the water as they went, literally within only a couple of feet a few times. It was a little scary, thrilling, and magnificent all at the same time.
