Ano Nuevo Reserve, California

Nikon FE2, 400mm f3.5 EDIF, Fuji Velvia, tripod

-- Andrew Y. Kim (andy_roo@mit.edu), January 21, 1999

Answers

Sorry for the very slender elephant seal pictured above, I copied and pasted without changing the filename...here's the proper picture:

-- Andrew Y. Kim (andy_roo@mit.edu), January 21, 1999.

Now THAT's an elephant seal. Wonderful expression; I wonder how long you had to wait for that one? I'd prefer it with a little less contrast between the sunny side and shady side of the face, but tell that to the sun. This is the kind of picture that could be turned into a poster with some snotty caption and sell zilions.

-- John Sullivan (sullivan@spies.com), January 25, 1999.

Nice shot Andrew. I agree that it is a little contrasty and it looks a little crowded to me, a little more space around the edges would look better to my eye.

-- Micheal F. Kelly (Kellys@alaska.net), January 28, 1999.

This female had gotten agitated by the roars of a male behind us...he was a little ticked after being beaten up and away from the main "herd" earlier in the day.

Points well taken on the comments, I pretty much did everything wrong in terms of preparation. I had only the 400mm and a 50mm with me, whereas an 80-200mm is really what was needed since you could get so close. We actually couldn't go back any farther, since there was that big angry male behind us (he ended up charging us later, a short bluff but scary enough if you've ever had 4000 lbs of blubber suddenly lunge at you). We also hadn't planned to go that day, so we ended up on the last "sunset" tour.

Pretty much in this situation, I think an 80-200mm on a monopod with a nice automatic camera like the N90s would be good gear, maybe a 300mm as well. Note that this was exactly the gear I didn't use...

Thanks again for the comments.

-- Andrew Y. Kim (andy_roo@mit.edu), February 01, 1999.