Breaching Orca in Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound is a sheltered waterway in Southcentral
Alaska. I’ve been photographing there since 1989, the
year of the infamous Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, and it is one of
my favorite destinations. After perhaps thirty photographic
trips there since that time, this is my first and only image
of a breaching orca.
Such images are not easy to come by. Orcas, or killer whales,
are quite mobile, and predicting any sort of breaching activity
is difficult, let alone having your camera pointed in the right
direction at the right moment. Fortunately, both of those factors
fell together for this image.
While the quality of light is not spectacular, I do like the
sense of power given by the spraying water. The added bonus
of an image-stabilized lens provides great help when photographing
from a moving boat.
Subject: Killer Whale (Orca) breaching
Location: Port Gravina, Prince William Sound
Camera - film - gear:
- Canon 1Ds digital
- 300mm f2.8L
- 5.6 @ 1/400
- 100 ISO
- Hand held
Alaska Engagement Calendar
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| Patrick J. Endres | P.O. Box 81312 | Fairbanks, Alaska 99708
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