Orca Tail Tale
It’s hard to believe a full year ago I was aboard the Snow Goose enjoying the tail end of an epic Alaskan adventure. This image is from one of my favorite, and most exciting moments of that trip. The captain had taken a small group of us out on a skiff in search of wildlife. Off in the distance we spotted a pod of Orcas and stopped to watch. Soon the killer whales approached and swam around our skiff, a few of them diving beneath the boat. Once they passed, the younger, more playful family members began slapping their tails hard and producing large splashes. The churning water from all of the activity caused the boat to rock making photography challenging. I set my shutter-speed to 1/2000 and stood with my feet planted and arms against my body, both hands holding and stabilizing my lens and camera. Then I fired away whenever a tail would lift, drawing gallons of water with each pull. Wildlife photography doesn’t get much more exciting than that! 7/17/2017
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