Right Whale Video and More Nature Photos

Nature Photographer Brian Skerry’s Close Encounter

National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry describes a magical experience:

Being a nature photographer can be a magical experience. It is also not without its risks.

Famed National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry knows this first hand. The video above is of a close encounter he had with a Right whale off the coast of New Zealand.

Getting the Right shot (sorry, that was just too hard to resist) is of course a matter of skill. But it is skill combined with patience, timing, and sometimes a bit of luck.

But then, “luck” happens when talent and opportunity align. Without his experience and skills, the lucky shots wouldn’t have happened. Even with them, there are no guarantees. Take this shot of the flying Manta:

‘This was one of those serendipitous moments … I was in an inflatable boat ready to go diving. I had my underwater camera and a surface camera, and this manta made three leaps in the air and I quickly shot a few frames. One worked out’.

While the shots aren’t guaranteed, the excitement is. And when everything “clicks” it is pure magic.

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To see more nature photos by Skerry, view Emma Froggatt’s article on the Guardian.
Leaping Manta photo by Brian Skerry