I have been pretty quiet on the Blog lately, with a family wedding in Boston and a visit with friends in Montreal. Believe or not, I have not taken a picture in nearly two weeks - a situation that bears an eerie resemblance to a vacation. So, just to keep the visuals coming, I am posting an unpublished out-take from the Amazon River Dolphin story I did for National Geographic last year. Although I took thousands of images, only a dozen made it into the final story, while some others got left out - including some of my favorites. This simple underwater portrait, showing the extraordinary beaks of these freshwater dolphins, is one of those. Mind you, these Pinocchio-length snouts are a bit exaggerated by my wide-angle lens - I was shooting at 12mm... But after what may be 50 million years of evolution within the Amazon, these guys really do look pretty odd.
Nikon D200 in Sea & Sea housing, 12-24mm DX lens
I’ve seen that article in the NG magazine, the photos were amazing. I like this one too, that photo should have been published also in magazine. 12mm? You should be very close, but they don’t seem scared.
I was often very close to the dolphins underwater ( I had to be with visibility measured in inches, not feet) but found them gentle and unaggressive – even the one that whacked my housing with his tail and flooded my camera. I’m sure it was an accident!
So they are as friendly as they relatives in the ocean. That’s interesting that they are living in other places but all of them have a good temper:)
That is an amazing shot1
It looks quite close to the surface so no flash I guess.
Did the dolphins hang around? They look very inquisitive!
Hey Matt – Yes, it was taken just a few inches from the surface with natural light – really the only option in this murky water. Never tried flash, but I don’t think it would have worked well with the amount of debris suspended in the water (not to mention their reaction) The dolphins hang around this area most days, but at other times they vanished, presumably off chasing fish somewhere.
That is a beautiful shot! Wow!!
Thanks Chandira… Great faces, great animals, shoot of a lifetime.