My friends and I had a great time wandering around various parts of the Salish Sea in search of orca whales. While we did finally spot 8 transient whales on our adventure it takes either really good light or unusual behaviors such as spy hopping and breaching the surface to make the photo and alas we had neither that day. To really photograph orcas takes a bit of luck (which I often have) and a lot of time (which I never have). I have been fortunate enough to see them in Antarctica, Argentina, New Zealand, Norway, and Alaska and I was hoping to have some shots of them in my own back yard for my next book project but it wasn’t to be this time around.
Due to limited connectivity, I am only able to upload a few photos from my current trip to Brazil. The last time I photographed scarlet ibis was in the early 1990s for my book Migrations. It is terrific having the opportunity again to capture these birds with superior technology.
After my Boston & Fairfield workshops, I popped over to NYC to visit friends and see the progress on The Natural Wonders Gallery in SOHO. It is a gorgeous space and I can’t wait for it to open this fall!
These spectacular paintings of the powerful Wondjina were created 5000 years ago. The figures are life size or even larger and are cloud and rain spirits, the arcs of color around their heads depict lightning, clouds, and rain.
The Kimberley cruise workshop with PODAS was a great success. The limestone river gorges are spectacular and make for mind-bending reflections. One highlight was a helicopter ride to photograph estuarine abstracts.
More images featuring the seas off Semporna, a small town on the east coast of Sabah State, Malaysia. I was continuing to photograph the amazing Bajau ‘sea gypsies’. These children don’t go to school, or speak Malay, and the families are not even counted as Malaysian. They are off the grid in every sense- living in stilted houses atop coral reefs. These people will be among the first to permanently lose their homes (and most likely their way of life) as sea levels rise. I found some villages of sea weed farmers, and you will notice their method, particularly in the aerials. Speaking of which- I was finally able to get a helicopter after waiting in limbo for four days. But the timing was the best possible window of weather for the entire five days! I continued to shoot from my plane’s window seat on my way to Sydney, via Kuala Lumpur. The huge cumulus clouds are typical of the tropics. They contain an amazing amount of energy, and as night falls provide spectacular lightning shows. You will notice a river flowing red with sediments from inland- obvious signs of further rainforest clearing to make way for palm oil plantations.
