Whales!

a_auger · Aug 26, 2014

Hello everyone! Here are some more shots from my vacation in the Gaspésie region of Québec. On the same day that we wekt kayaking to see some seals (see my other thread), we went on a whale cruise in the afternoon. By this time of the day the wind had picked up and we went out to sea in a large Zodiac type boat and there were some pretty big waves. I got very lucky by being placed in front of the boat, so this way all the water that splashed everyone (we had bright yellow rain suits lent to us) was diverted to my left and right. I managed to protect my camera from water for the most part.

As for the whales themselves, we were pretty lucky to see more than a dozen over two hours. It was pretty tough holding on with one hand and shooting with my 7D and 70-300mm lens at the same time, not to mention focusing and framing in the midst of all the waves! It was a hell of a lot of fun. "Spray and pray" shooting was in order here, something that the 7D excels at! Out of the 700+ pics, about 20-30 were good shots. Here's some of the best ones:

1: Humpback whale coming up for air

2: Mom and her young (also humpbacks)

3: Two adult finback whales (note the hook-shaped fin). The finbacks are the second largest whales in the world, behind the great blue whale.

4: My best shot that day. Pretty proud of this one. Uncropped too (save for aspect ratio)

Hunter58 · Aug 30, 2014

Nice! Sounds like a tough shooting situation but you did well.

pthrift · Aug 30, 2014

Very nice shots!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4; probably while slacking off at work

AlanKlein · Aug 30, 2014

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Nice shots too. Very interesting. They have white markings like killer whales.

Raj_55555 · Aug 30, 2014

This is in my bucket list..lovely shots.

a_auger · Aug 31, 2014

AlanKlein said:
Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Nice shots too. Very interesting. They have white markings like killer whales.

I was told by the guide that killer whales usually stick to the west coast of Canada/US. It's quite rare to see one in the Saint-Laurence because the water's too cold!