2nd Place Cold Water

Ellen Cuylaerts

"Never let someone dim your light, simply because it's shining in their eyes"

Ellen won a YS-D2 Strobe from SEA&SEA

The story:  Farne Islands, at the East coast England, have the largest colony of Grey seals in the United Kingdom. The Islands are only a 20 minutes drive by boat WHEN the conditions agrees. The United Kingdom has a rather bad reputation regarding weather. Last November we arrived  in Beadnell, close to Seahouses from where the boats leave and after weeks of no sailings we were able to hit the water 3 days in a row but on the exact dates of the supermoon, causing huge tidal changes, some nasty currents and bad visibility. But just being with the seals, seeing their popping heads at the surface, knowing they’re all around, was worth the whole trip. We stayed in the water as long as the tides allowed us, changed locations a few times and when we were dropped very close to some rocks without kelp beds around,  the sun came out and improved the visibility greatly. As if the seals knew this would be their chance on a nice portrait, they came really close, I added some Sola light to the ambient light to be able dial down my settings a bit and catch the low sun rays lighting the whiskers from both sides!

Location: Farne Islands, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Camera: Nikon D800 and Nikkor 16mm Lens (F7.1, 1/250, ISO 800) with Subal Housing and Sola 3000 Light

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