Story Behind the Photo: Wave Rider
One of my favorite things to do is be on a boat watching marine life above and below the water. The Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary is Southern California's Monterey Bay in terms of sea life. Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary protects 1,470 square miles of ocean waters around the Northern Channel Islands: Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara islands. This diversity of cetacean species offers a great opportunity to whale watch year-round. The most common sightings are of gray whales from mid- to late-December through mid-March, blue and humpback whales during the summer, and common dolphins throughout the entire year. You can also witness super pods of dolphins.
I would take the Condor Express boat ( 75’, quad-jet catamaran) out of Santa Barbara. The biggest challenge photographing marine life is as follows: You are on the boat with 127 passengers who want to see the same marine life. The boat is a moving vessel. Depending on the seas it can get rough. You need a heavy long lens and cannot use a tripod. Conditions require an ultra fast shutter speed, a super telephoto lens because of the distance of the animal from you, a lens with a fast aperture required to gather as much light. Under these conditions a cellphone would not work. Lighting conditions are tough with the sky reflecting off the water and bouncing off waves. The marine life is not use to posing for the camera. They can come up at any view point off the boat. By the time you spot them along with 127 passengers and get into position they are down deep. So I tend to stake out a good vantage point and what ever comes in my view I photograph. So sometimes you lose out if they happen to come up on the other side. Dolphins are so quick and can be in super pods of 1000 plus. Now the challenge is to focus on the best angle. Be quick and hope with a fast shutter speed and lens you will freeze it in motion. Also you hope that the lighting gods are with you. With this particular photo I placed my body so I was facing towards the back of the boat. Goal was to capture the dolphin when it was riding a wave. Take a long breath, hold the camera and lens close, let my legs go in sync with the motion of the boat and take the shot.
So did I get it? I would not know anything until I get back to my studio and look at the days photo shoot. You dont have time during the action to look at what you shoot. When I get back to the studio the first order is to make a backup to two different drives. After backup the moment of truth you start to review the days shoot. Okay first photo might be nothing but sky, nothing but sea, remember a boat goes up and goes down and sometimes you miss the marine animal in the photo set. Now a passengers head blocking your shot and then what you spent the entire day waiting for this photo.
