Besides my time in Baffin Island, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more beautiful or evocative place than the Great Bear Rainforest which I visited back in September. Sailing around this vast eco system as we scouted for whales, wolves & bears was a wildlife experience at its purest.

High up on my wish list for this expedition was to see Spirit bears, a sub species of the Black Bear which is mainly found on three islands in British Columbia. In the end sightings of this rare bear eluded us, but that disappointment was more than made up by a series of encounters with humpback whales which were extraordinary.

The most memorable encounter led to this image- one of my favorites from last year.

A Whale Finale

We came across a small group of humpbacks who started breeching, with one humpback breeching close to our boat at least 20 times. It was incredible behavior to witness. However, when the whale started slapping its pectoral fins backwards & forwards, which researchers think is one way they communicate with other whales, I had in mind an image I wanted to try and capture.

I got a more elevated position & switched to portrait mode and then underexposed by 3 stops as I wanted to isolate the white underside of the fin against the sea that was now close to black. This enabled me to create a black & white and abstract image of the humpback. It wasn’t easy with the timing but managed to get this image before the whale moved off.

In fact, when Mark Cawardine, one of the world’s leading whale experts describes this whale encounter as one of the best he’s experienced in over a decade, I appreciated that I had witnessed something very special. Bearing in mind this was also the first time I had ever seen Humpbacks I couldn’t believe my luck.