I shot these Saturday, September 29th on the NYC Whale Watching boat the American Princess with Gotham Whale.

There’s a difference between "bragging about your work" and being "proud of your work"-- don’t get me wrong…I DO BOTH, HAHA! In this case, I am proud. I have trained myself to know my equipment to the point where I do not have to look through the eyepiece on the fly and capture, with accuracy, using a 300mm 2.8 and sometimes with a 1.4 extender bringing it to 420mm, action photos on a rocky boat. It’s a big lens to throw around but it’s the best choice in almost all situations, except for this one. If I had the 200mm in my hand instead of the 300mm (which I do carry on my hip as the other camera) this breach photo would have been spectacular. But still, I think for the situation, they are great photos. This humpback, known as NYC0087, blasts out of the water in a full breach right next to the AP, about 50 feet away or less. The splash might have reached the boat, that’s how close it was. The breach was to the back, not front, and caught us all by surprise. The splash concussion was so loud it sounded like the worst belly flop you have ever heard…times 100! The photos of the breach - tack sharp and on the whale’s body you can see the white outline of the American Princess. Love that…

The time we had with this whale was short, but It was made up for by way of everything being in place. To make the photos spectacular things need to all come together like the background, the clarity of the air, the maneuvers the whale was making, the positioning of the boat and the settings chosen for the photos. ANY changes to one of these conditions can make a spectacular photo somewhat indifferent. These are some of my favorite photos taken this year, I still have until Dec 15^th to top these. 

Jump on the American Princess Cruises with Gotham Whale to see this for with your own eyes.