Photographing Whales

[larry_t]

I would like to photograph Orcas later this year. The obvious area to go is the Pacific coast but can anyone recommend a specific place or operator in the US or Canada?

Larry

[Hank]

San Juan Islands in Washington for orcas and Glacier Bay in Alaska for humpbacks.  Earlier in the spring you can add Newport Oregon for gray whales.  Can't help with operators, though.

[englishm]

An area known as Robson Bight, in Johnston Straight, accessed from a town called Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada is home in the summer to large poplulations of Orca.  Several good operators availble.  Try to get out in the early morning for the best light and most whale activity.

Here is a link to a page on the Tourism BC web-site:  Whale Watching in BC

Hope this helps

[redneckphoto]

An area known as Robson Bight, in Johnston Straight, accessed from a town called Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada is home in the summer to large poplulations of Orca.  Several good operators availble.  Try to get out in the early morning for the best light and most whale activity.
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If you're in North America then take a look at the latest PhotoLife magazine. There's an ad in there for a whale and bear photography trip to Telegraph Cove. I've not been to Telegraph Cove but some friends in Edmonton have been on a Richard Berry workshop and they recommend him.

Here's the link from the ad: [a href=\"http://www.richard-berry.com]Richard Berry Photography[/url]

Hope that helps, Daryl - Red Deer

[larry_t]

If you're in North America then take a look at the latest PhotoLife magazine. There's an ad in there for a whale and bear photography trip to Telegraph Cove. I've not been to Telegraph Cove but some friends in Edmonton have been on a Richard Berry workshop and they recommend him.

Here's the link from the ad: Richard Berry Photography

Hope that helps, Daryl - Red Deer
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Thanks Daryl, it's a terrific website.

[bobtowery]

I tried this back in 2001, of San Juan Island, on a private boat.

It's a lot harder than one would think.  I now have much greater appreciation for wonderful whale shots - I believe you would have to dedicate many days to get a "lucky shot."  

They don't laze around on the surface and wait for you to take their pic.  You basically scan an area, camera ready,  and sometimes one or two just pop out, but only for like 2 seconds.



I apologize for the horrid look of these photos. They are from a D30, anyone remember the first digital slr? And who knows what image processing software/ability I had at that time.



It's a beautiful place in any case, good luck with your shooting!

Bob.

[andyptak]

I would like to photograph Orcas later this year. The obvious area to go is the Pacific coast but can anyone recommend a specific place or operator in the US or Canada?

Larry
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[framah]

Ok... first you want to put on a dark wetsuit and then sort of flop around along the shore line.
Soon, you will feel a rather large nudge and maybe a slight pain just before you black out from the loss of blood. This is the prime time to get those fabulous shots everyone will be raving about... at your funeral!      

[bobtowery]

Recommendations... If you go to San Juan Island (WA), to the main town, Friday Harbor, there are several orca watching boats that go out every day (weather permitting of course).

At least they did in 2001.  There have been some whale huggers that have promoted not boating in their territory because the poor dears are so sensitive.  At least as sensitive as a KILLER WHALE CAN BE.

I say this a bit tongue in cheek as friends of mine that live on the island are in on this.

A quick google will give you contact to the orca boats in Friday Harbor.

[scott t]

We go to the San Juan Islands in Washington every year, we finally ponied up the dollars for a whale watching trip. Unless you're lucky, have a fast boat, or both...this is the best way to go.

We went with Maya's Charters on San Juan island. Link here http://www.mayaswhalewatch.biz/

There are a many boats to choose from, we just like that with 6 of us, it was essentially a private charter for about the same price as a large tour boat.

We were lucky and saw Orcas, the tour before ours didn't see any, the tour after ours, two pods joined up and there were 60 plus whales. Just luck what you will see.

There were easily 20-30 boats following the pod...so I'd guess any tour would work. Boats out of Victoria, BC tended to be large inflatables, they looked fast and fun, but I doubt you would want your camera exposed.

I would recommend you take the whale watching trip early in case you don't see them on the first outing and want to go again.

Good luck - and I'd love to see anyone's tips or thoughts on getting decent shots, it is incredibly challenging. I used a 20D and 100-400, I would've given up the reach for the bigger viewfinder of the 5D, framing and staying on the whales was tough.

Cheers,
Scott

[richardb]

I've just finished a workshop based at Telegraph Cove and a participant told me about this post. We had an incredible week and saw a "super pod" form during our first day. By early evening it had grown in to a group of over 110 Orcas. The week got even better and on our last day we encountered a group of over 60 'offshore' Orcas which rarely enter Johnston Strait. This was such an usual occurence that we took many ID shots (dorsal fins and saddle patches) to help researchers identify the whales.
During the week we photographed; resident Orcas, transient Orcas, Offshore Orcas, humpback whales, fur seals, harbour seals, Stellar sea lions, white sided Pacific dolphins, Minke whales; grizzly bears and lots of Bald Eagles.
The workshop was such a success that I will repeat it next year.
Here are a few shots....[attachment=3294:attachment][attachment=3295:attachment][attachment=329
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