Finding Myself Through My Photography
Rebecca Walter
Having grown up traveling to Kenya on safari with my family and then on my own, photography has played key role in my experience. Not only to document the animals and places and peoples I encounter, photography also allows me to share my experiences with the world. I have been serious about my photographic work since I first learned how to shoot using my mom’s old Canon AE1 when I was thirteen, and have since then learned how to track African subjects with my lens, getting to know the environments and its inhabitants and the various animals’ behaviors in order to get good shots. More of an unconscious truth, I’ve learned that in order to get the really interesting and best shots, I need to know my subject really well. This proved itself again in Hawaii, as we ventured out to see whales.
After a full morning and afternoon of snorkeling off the beach, we headed to the Pacific Whale Foundation where we set off on a whale-watching trip. Humpback whales feed in Alaska and then come down to overwinter in the warm and protected waters of Hawaii for breeding and calving. Having seen whales in Alaska and then even closer here in Hawaii, I was eager to try and see more of them and hopefully closer up.
As the ship left the harbor we immediately began to spot whales in multiple directions in the distance. We came up to the first group and watched a female with a calf and a male suitor surface a few hundred meters away. With my 300 lens I was able to see them even closer, and captured a few fluke lifts and the ridges of their dorsal fins as they surfaced. Already we were so much closer than before, and it only got better. We left the trio for another group and immediately were greeted with the sighting of a calf breaching a few hundred yards out. Again we came upon a female and her calf and another suitor. The calf continued to break every 40 seconds or so, slowly slowly coming closer. At first it was hard trying to catch with my camera the baby surfacing, but soon I began to understand and could begin to predict his movements. I stayed zoomed in on the baby as much as possible and just kept my camera focused on the water and slowly moving in the direction that the baby and its mother seemed to be going. I was rewarded as the baby came up where I predicted time and time again.
The boats are only allowed to come within a hundred meters of the whales, and so as we approached that mark we came to a stop, and then turned off our engine as they began to come even closer. The baby continued to breach, and as the momma and baby explored towards us, the captain dropped a microphone into the water and played it through the boat speakers. We were immersed in whale song above water as they soon came within about twenty yards of us.
The baby seemed particularly interested in us, and the mo--being protective of her young baby--followed between him and us as he came closer. The mom surfaced and rolled slightly on her side, giving us a wonderful view of her and all the lines and ridges of her body, as the baby surfaced alongside her. My camera zoomed in on her every movement above water and captured the many textures of her body as she approached closer foot by foot.
The moment suddenly climaxed as the baby came up for a spectacular breach right off the left corner of the boat, water streaming down his body as he launched up out of the water and then back down, waves erupting in his wake. My patience and observation had payed off as I captured the moment frame by frame, up close and in focus, as the baby erupted from the water and sank back down into the waves. It was incredibly exhilarating to be that close to such powerful yet gentle creatures.
I was continually reminded of being on safari in Africa, except the boat was our land cruiser and we were watching animals and behaviors above and slightly below the surface instead of observing them on grasslands or scrub brush. My camera and my photographing techniques were exactly the same, however, transferring to the blue green waters of Hawaii from the dry savannah of Africa.
The whales eventually moved off after a few more minutes, and we watched a couple more groups, but after having such an amazing up close encounter as we had, the mere surfacing of other group was not nearly as enthralling as it had been at first. I had gotten the golden shots, and seeing more whales much farther off in the distance did little to inspire me photographically after having the baby humpback breach off the corner of our boat.
As we headed back to the dock with the wind on my face, sweeping back my hair and the sun streaming across the old volcanic mountains to my left, I was euphoric. Photographing the warm golden mountains and the shadows falling on the slopes contrasted by the cool colors of the sea with my camera, I captured a perfect moment of peace with the world. I was overcome with the thrill of what we had just witnessed and how much I simply felt right about the world and my place in it, and in quiet confidence of what I want to do with my life. This is simply what I love. With the natural world in such a sensitive and incredibly vulnerable place, we all need to change our practices and ways in which we view the world, and to take action in order to preserve and protect all that is left.
Through my photography I want to make a difference; I plan to do all I can to help protect the habitats and animals that I have been fortunate to see over the course of my life. I wish I could explain the absolute and pure beauty that I see in a whale breaching a few yards out, or in a Maasai as he walks across open grassland, wearing a red Shúkà draped across his body and carrying only a spear. I wish I could express how much empathy I feel with animals as they are pushed closer and closer together and meet with more and more human conflict.
I hope I can help others to see through my eyes, to see the world and its natural beauty as I do. I have the chance to do so through my photography. Taking what I know about animal behavior and applying it to my photography in order to push the limits of art to get the best shots possible, I only hope that I will be able to make a difference.