Return of an Icon
Post-posting update: John - posted this before looking into what had just been posted by you - sorry for the overlap in content! The more the merrier?
After a prolonged absence of nearly a century, it's now finally again possible to find sea otters in a few select locations on British Columbia's coast. The playful and almost-always active otters were hunted to extirpation (local extinction) in BC for their luxuriant fur coats by the mid-1800's. But between 1969 and 1972 a total of 89 otters were re-introduced to a few locations on the western coast of Vancouver Island. As one of the rare success stories in conservation, the re-introduced otters have thrived and have spread over the northern tip of Vancouver Island and even over to a few locations on the mainland coast. Baring a catastrophe (such as an oil-spill from a super-tanker), the prospects of continued survival and expansion of the sea otter on BC's coast look good.
Although it's hard to imagine a much simpler (or "stark") image, this one works for me because I think it captures the full serenity and peacefulness of the setting at the time the image was shot. We came across this male otter relaxing on the water's surface on a totally calm and foggy, foggy morning. At the time we were slowly cruising around in a small Zodiac ("trolling" for otters, if you will). Sea otters tend to be on the hyper-active side of the spectrum (they're almost always hunting/eating or tending to the condition of their coat to ensure it maintains its insulating characteristics), but once in a while you can catch one resting on its back or even sleeping. I loved how the fog almost completely removed the background (the faint green zone near the top of the frame is a forest just above the shoreline) and left the otter naturally isolated in the scene. The calm, fog-whitened water also helped simplify the scene and make the otter stand out through natural contrast. And, this is one of the few shots I have of otters where the highly modified rear feet (feet that are "almost flippers") show so well.
Subject: Male Sea Otter (
Enhydra lutris) taking a well-deserved break!
Location: Northern tip of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor 80-400 VR lens - handheld from Zodiac. VR on and in "Active" mode.
Exposure: 1/800s @ f7.1; ISO 320. +0.33 stop compensation from "recommended" matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Full frame horizontally - cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio with sliver off top and slightly more off bottom
More about the story of the return of the sea otter to the BC coast (along with a much larger 2400 pixel version) available on my website. You'll also find post-processing details there.
http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/
Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!
Cheers...
Brad
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