Something Different: Street Photography

 I've really enjoyed getting into street photography in the last couple of months, and while this is a bit of a shift for a blog post topic for me, I've realized taking candid photos of people is really just the art of capturing urban wildlife! Many of the same techniques come into play; you have to be patient, do lots of exploring, train your eye to look for things other people miss, and in general just be ready for whatever might be around the next corner! I'll continue to focus on wildlife here, but if you want to follow more of my street photography, you can follow my page on 500px.

A friend recently lent me the book Street Photography Now, which has great essays and over 300 photos by world-famous street photographers. Some quotes in the book particularly stood out to me, and captured what street photography is starting to mean to me. I've interspersed them below with some of my favorite photos I've taken over the last few months. All these photos were taken with my Ricoh GR IV.

"At a time when staged narratives and rendered images are popular, I am excited by the fact that life itself offers situations far more strange and beautiful than anything I could set up." - Melanie Einzig

"Above all, street photography communicates empathy. It shows the elegance, and the occasional absurdities, which inhabit the lives of ordinary people." - David Gibson 

"Photographing in public keeps me awake and aware, always looking around, in awe at what we humans are up to." - Melanie Einzig

"To see the complexity of life on the street is for me a kind of meditation." -Sigfried Hansen

"Street photography is like gambling. You get lucky or you get nothing." - Markus Hartel

 "Street photographers never switch off. You have to be constantly on the lookout for the unreal moment in the everyday." - Jesse Marlow

"I believe that the photographer's job is to cut a frame-sized slice out of the world around him, so faithfully and honestly that if he were to put it back, life and the world would begin to move again without a stumble." - Raghu Rai

"My personal pictures don't have to 'do' anything. They don't have to sell in a gallery or sit well beside the ads in a magazine. I don't have to make pictures that are easily categorized. They are not reportage. They are just pictures about life." - Nick Turpin 

"I only know how to approach a place by walking. For what does a street photographer do but walk and watch and wait and talk, and then watch and wait some more, trying to remain confident that the unexpected, the unknown, or the secret heart of the known awaits just around the corner." - Alex Webb

July 15 ~ Close Pass By Js

On Tuesday, July 15th I headed out to the west side after work, with most of the whales slowly, slowly inbound from south of Discovery Island. I met up with a couple friends of mine, and while we watched Js, Ks, and Ls meander their way across Haro Strait, K16, K35, and K21 - a somewhat rogue group of K-Pod whales - came by heading south to join up with the group. How odd of them to be traveling on their own while everybody else was together!

The big group of whales "hit the island" south of where we were at Land Bank, but as the first few began to round the point heading north, we all agreed we should head to Lime Kiln. Good decision! They angled in towards shore as they passed Land Bank, ending up way inside Deadman's Bay at they approached us at the south end of Lime Kiln Point State Park.

Whale coming out of Deadman's Bay

It was "Group A" of J-Pod....sort of. All our old standard groupings are falling by the wayside this summer, as the whales are mixing and matching in all sorts of new combinations. Not that we're complaining! It's just harder to keep track of who is where. In this case, we had J2, the J14s, and the J16s traveling together. (Interesting side notes: Usually J19 and J41 are with this group, but perhaps due to the death last year of J8 - who was the grandmother of J19 as well as a close companion to J2 - the J19s are now going to start traveling with their closest living relatives, the J11s. Also, L87 is usually with J2's group, but seems to be wandering a little further afield lately. On this day, he followed behind this group heading north, by himself, an hour and a half later.)

As the whales approached, they were down on a slightly longer dive, and we all waited with anticipation to see where they would pop up. It ended up being RIGHT in front of me!

J2 Granny

I was extremely lucky to have my friend Barbara with a camera behind me. I've often taken, and shared, photos of others and whales, and always hoped one day to get a great shot of me and whales. I've had a few given to me over the years, but this is the kind of shot I was dreaming of! Thank you Barbara!

I'm so low on the rocks it looks like I'm standing on the kelp bed! That's typical me - wanting to get as close to the water as possible when the whales are close. Here's the photo I was taking at the same second the above shot was clicked:

From back to front: J14 Samish, J2 Granny, and J37 Hy'shqa

Moments like these are why I go out there as much as I do, but they're always over so fast!

J49 T'i'lem I'nges - the last calf born to the Southern Residents in August 2012. It's hard to believe it's been almost two years since we've had a new addition to the Southern Residents - not good!

After J2 passed surrounded by the J14s, the J16s weren't far behind, but they were racing like they were trying to catch up:

For a dedicated (crazy, fanatic) group of us, whale-watching is an addiction. We forgo things like food and sleep to get more of it. We get anxious when we go too long with out it. We feel an overwhelming sense of happiness and peace when we get it. Yup, this today provided a much needed "whale hit". :)

July 5: Superpod!

This morning I headed out to Lime Kiln to see what I could see, and my first glimpse of the water as I walked down to the shoreline included a tall dorsal fin. "Residents!" I thought. Turns out, it was a family of four transients! They were offshore heading north/northwest in Haro Strait. (Possibly the T49As?)

See the dorsal fin??

It was a beautiful morning to hang out, at first...

The weather slowly deteriorated until three hours later it was raining pretty good. Hungry, and with still no sign of residents, I decided to head home to get something to eat. I was only home about an hour when I heard that residents were crossing Haro Strait, having swept out west the night before. Time to get back out there! I got to Lime Kiln just as the whales did.

I've seen some very lucky kayakers get some great experiences with orcas this week. While many have the dream of kayaking with orcas, it's important to remember that moments like these are not typical!

K27 Deadhead and K44 Ripple near a kayaker

While I had been one of only two cars in the parking lot first thing in the morning when the Ts went by, when I arrived at Lime Kiln this time, there were no parking spaces open at all! The shoreline was packed on this holiday weekend, despite the continuing drizzle.

Shore-based whale watchers at "Whale Watch Point"

Shore-based whale watchers at the lighthouse

All three pods were around, and I saw members of every pod, but it was mostly Ks I was seeing off Lime Kiln. As K20 Spock came by, she did three spectacular breaches!

K20 Spock

K20 Spock

I love this next shot - while she's facing "away" from the camera, you can see both of her open saddle patches!

K20 Spock

A bit later Spock's younger brother K34 Cali came by really close to shore! I love the reflections.

K34 Cali

K34 Cali

An hour and a half later, not all the whales had passed us, but there was a turnaround as everyone did an about face and started going south again, I was assuming to meet up with J-Pod "Group A" who was coming down Rosario Strait. (Note: I think the only other whales not present were the L12 sub-group, the L54s, L84, and L88.) As the whales traveled south, L116 Finn (age 4) stopped to do some foraging. I thought it showed up in one of my photos, but it didn't very clearly - he was pushing a salmon around at the surface.

L116 Finn pushing a salmon around on the surface

The whales were really spread out - some were within a few hundred yards of the shoreline:

K27 Deadhead

Others were waaaay out in the middle of Haro Strait, but the setting with the calm gray waters and stunning clouds still made it beautiful to watch them go by:

The last whales that came by did so quickly, perhaps trying to catch up to everybody else. It's hard to get good photos of porpoising whales - they were almost out of the frame on this shutter click!

I heard they did meet up with the other Js off the south end of the island a bit later and they had a big party. They stayed down there until dark, so I was wondering if they would still all be together the next morning, or if some would leave. You know I would be out there to find out! Stay tuned....(I'll give you a hint: they stayed!)

July 1: Up and Down with Js and Ls

When I got off work on July 1st I headed out to the west side and caught up with my friend Katie at Land Bank. I could tell from Hannah Heights that there were whales off False Bay, but Katie felt sure they would make their way up to where we were, and when it comes to whales, you gotta trust these kind of intuitions. Amazingly, it was one of the rare hot days on the west side of the island. We were actually too warm up in the parking area and decided to walk down to sit near the water, hoping it would be cooler there.

It was cooler (though still too warm for my tastes, in a black T-shirt anyway), but the whales took their sweet time meandering north. About an hour or so after we walked down there we started to see a few whale watch boats coming around the corner, a sure sign the whales were getting closer. We weren't even sure who was present until they passed Edwards Point, and we pieced together it was "Group B" of J-Pod (the J11s, J17s, and J22s) with the L-Pod group that's been around. (J-Pod Group A had been up north the day before and was still MIA on this day.)

The lead whales got up to just about where we were sitting when they stalled out. They had already done this once earlier in the day and it looked like they were about to do it again: turnaround and go back south. There was a lot of milling, and one could just imagine the debate going on underwater about which way to go, based on the whales surfacing facing every which way. Finally, it seemed they had come to a decision, and they started making progress south. Ready to give up, we walked back up the hill to our cars, but something kept us from driving away. It only took about two minutes for the whales to turn again and start heading "up island" to the north. Back "down hill" we went to see them!

A group of kayakers in the kelp bed off Land Bank got the thrill of a lifetime:

It was a big, pretty playful group that came by first:

This tail slap turned into more of a head stand, it was so big!

The next group was moving more slowly, and included L92 Crewser chasing after and rolling around with J28 Polaris. Things are much different in the orca world - this presumed sexual encounter was all witnessed closely by calf J46 Star. The whales looked like they were angling in slightly, and Katie could read my mind - "You want to go to the Park, don't you?" she asked, meaning Lime Kiln. Yes, I did. Whale chase again! And it worked out great.

I love this shot from the rocks at Lime Kiln of these two girls watching the whales. It really captures the essence of what it's like to be out there:

The group was a mixture of Js and Ls, but it was a bit hard to get IDs due to the lighting. Sometimes, it doesn't really matter who's who!

L95 Nigel

That's L72 Racer on the left

As I was leaving the Park, I heard that J-Pod Group A was found at the south end of Lopez Island. I wondered if the other whales thought they were going up to meet this group heading down from the north via the route they often take, but would be surprised later when instead the missing group would come up from behind them!

The following day, the 2nd, the exciting news was that K-Pod had returned! Ks made a brief and unexpected visit in mid April, but this time the first superpod of the season was in the works! We call it a superpod when all three pods get together, though in reality the L12s and L54s weren't around, so it wasn't everyone. Unfortunately I missed them, but this morning (the 4th) I went out to Lime Kiln on a whim, despite having heard last night all the whales might be headed out. When I got there I learned J-Pod Group A had already gone north very early, so I stuck around, believing there must be more whales around somewhere!

Sure enough, between 9 and 9:30 a few K-Pod whales made their way up to the lighthouse. They flipped and went back south after just four of them had gone by, however, so I only got to see a couple of them despite seeing many more blows in the distance to the south. It was still nice to say "hi" to K12 Sequim, though!

K12 Sequim at Lime Kiln the morning of July 4th

Whale Waiters

While going through pictures from years past, in many cases for photos to post on my Orca Watcher Photography Facebook page, I inevitably see the pictures I took while waiting for whales. People who haven't been to San Juan Island perhaps have the impression you can just go to Lime Kiln on the west side and see whales at just about anytime, but this is far from the case. It's known as Whale Watch Park, but a lot of us joke it should more accurately be called Whale Wait Park. So, what do you do while you wait for whales? Well, it's always a good time to catch up on your reading....

And believe it or not, the rocks are GREAT for napping. You just have find the comfortable ones:

And it's such a beautiful place, you may just be inspired to draw, or paint:

Of course, someone's got to keep a look out at all times:

In all directions:

Because even if it's getting late, the whales might still show up:

But whatever you do, you had better do it in style:

And you've gotta protect yourself from the elements, whether it be the sun:

Rain (protect those electronics with whatever is on hand!): 

Or wind, 'cause it gets cold down there by the water!

At this point, you might be wondering why all these crazy people spend so many hours waiting for the whales out there. Is it really worth all that time? Oh yes, it is. The payoff is the experience of a lifetime:

Definitely one to share with the family if you can:

But it's just as awesome when it's just you and the whales:

So if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend coming out to Lime Kiln, the best place in the world to wait for whales. Not only do you get time to nap, read, and contemplate the beautiful world around you, but you'll probably meet some very cool people - most of the people in these photos have been friends of mine now for years! And you never know, you might even see a whale.