Whale of a Tale

This is one of the first photographs I ever took on a digital camera, at a point where I still had no clue what the difference was between RAW and JPEG file types. I had the faintest idea about exposure, but at least I was training and developing my eye. My aunt and uncle luckily live in Maui, which makes a trip to Maui lovely especially for the Christmas season. When we go, we usually do the non-touristy things to avoid crowds. But, because we had a first timer with us, we planned a whale watching trip. To be honest I do love the touristy things when it involves animals and it's for a good cause. So, it was a win for me! On the day of the trip, we boarded the boat and fought the other tourists for the best seat. I was excited because in my mind capturing a breaching whale would be epic. Although, as I thought about it more, I wanted it to be different and unique. I love all the information these tours give you. To protect the whales from the boat propellers, our captain was required to turn off the motor of our boat whenever a whale was within 100 feet. I find this funny because the whale can then basically decide when you can leave. I fondly remember that the whale I photographed wouldn't leave our boat alone, so we were stopped with the whale for a while. It was incredible watching this massive whale swim underneath our boat that was at most a third of the size of the Whale. Over the span of 30-40 minutes this whale would surface, blow air and dive back down then go under our boat. All I had to do was just wait for the perfect moment where I had movement and layers in the shot. I personally love this image, and it's by far one of my favorites because it's not like every other and it speaks volumes with its movement and variation of blues.