Sea Puppies!
It had been forever since the camera's been out of the bag so this morning I took some time out in the fog to go find something to photograph. You know when you just have a feeling about it- like the time is right to go make some images. So I went down to the harbor and figured to look for some kind of fog play scene. Walking down to the shoreline I heard this kind of murmuring that sounded like a baby and here were these two little guys! Baby seal pups laying on top of each other next to a boat launch about 30 feet from the low water at that time. I couldn't believe my eyes- you see lots of seals around here if you want to see them and I've seen the pups from afar all amongst their crew but I've never seen them so alone and by themselves. I have heard though that it's no reason for concern as it's common to see pups without their moms around so I figured to try to enjoy the opportunity and make them my subject. And I knew these silvery gray seals against the reddish brown granite rock scrabble would absolutely pop in black and white. It was the kind of moment where I was so excited to get to meet these guys and photograph them that I was completely nervous and trembling- that's when you know that you have a great picture that you want to make. They were totally unafraid of me- first I approached quietly and looking the other way and sidestepping closer to them and whispering to them like I would to a dog, and they just kept on mewling and never looked afraid or hardly even cared that I was there at all. This kind of behavior really shouldn't be encouraged and it very well could probably be construed as illegal by some eager naturalists and for that I'm really sorry. But I just had to say hi to them and photograph them. I wish I had some kippered herring for them or a nice tuna sandwich with pickles- but THERE you go- that's why the whole thing becomes a big hullaballoo and all that's where the humans muck it up for the rest! So after a while they made their way down to the water and mewled off into the fog and I hope I get to see them again. That was the coolest thing I've experienced in a while! Sometimes you get lucky- I just knew I should try to make photos this morning!
-sorry I didn't film the ending- I wanted to go back to making stills, but I photographed the ending:
and some more of the raw files-
And off they go. And then I photographed that rock with the chains on top of it for a while- figured they intentionally pointed it out to me- thanks guys!