Wildlife Images - Michael S. Nolan Photography

With literally thousands of hours of time on the ocean and tens of thousands of images in my files you might think it would be difficult to choose my favorite images, and it truly is. The power of an image is to invite you, the viewer, into a time and place and make you believe you were actually there, right beside me as I tripped the shutter. These fractions of a second, caught on film, represent some of my best times in some of the best places I have had the privilege to travel. Thank you for allowing me to share them with you! I hope you enjoy the view!

The beauty and grace of Spinner Dolphins are often portrayed through images of their magnificent spins. I wanted an individual coming into the camera fully looking at the viewer. A clean, simple, elegant portrait of this beautiful dolphin is what I had in mind. Depth of field is always a problem for an image like this because of the need for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. To keep the dolphin in tight focus from the tip of the rostrum throughout the body is the challenge. The blue backdrop of Midway Atoll makes the perfect negative space for this image.

Canon EOS-1N Body with Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens. 1/750th @ f5.6 on Fuji Provia 100 film. Image taken on Midway Atoll, NW Hawaiian Islands, U.S.A.

Every so often a curious dolphin pod will grace me with a close inspection and encounter. On those magical and rare days I almost feel as if I have become one of the group! On this particular day in March these Spinner Dolphins circled my boat for over 2 hours, much to my delight and amazement. After shooting the entire roll of film in my underwater camera, I simply left the camera on the boat and enjoyed the chance to swim with the pod. The experience will last a lifetime, the image is the frosting on the cake…

Nikonos V body with Nikonos 15mm f2.8 lens. Fuji Velvia film. Exposure unrecorded. Images taken near the island of Lanai, Hawaii, U.S.A.

The most powerful muscles in the animal kingdom are those in the flukes of a great whale. When two or more whales get to throwing those flukes around the action can get pretty serious! These two Gray Whales are actually in the process of courtship. In total there are three Gray Whales in this image, with the two males jostling to be the animal in position to mate with the female. In their excitement these guys are oblivious to anything going on around them, including our tiny boat. The action is fast and furious!

Canon EOS-3 Body with Canon 300mm f2.8L IS lens. 1/1,000th @ f4.5 on Fuji Provia 100F film. Image taken in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Lunging out of the water with it’s mouth agape, this Sperm Whale bull demonstrates the power of the leviathan of which legends are made. The subject of many novels, poems, and sea shanty’s this is truly the most enigmatic of all great whales. My imagination is always drawn to this whale, to the things it has seen on its great dives, to the fights with giant squid, to the canyons and trenches it has roamed. It is always a challenge to find these animals in their deep-water habitats, and to stay with them in open ocean conditions adds to that challenge. Brief glimpses like this one make that challenge all worthwhile!

Canon EOS-3 Body with Canon 300mm f2.8L IS lens. 1/1,000th @ f4.5 on Fuji Provia 100F film. Image taken near Isla San Pedro Mrtir, Gulf of California, Mexico.

With their long pectoral fins and ability to clear the water during a breach, Humpback Whales have got to be the most photogenic of all the great whales. Though I have seen and photographed Humpback Whales breaching in Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, California, and even in the Caribbean I never lose my sense of wonder when these animals catch air. The power, grace, and majesty of whales are all best represented by those brief seconds when a Humpback defies its watery environment.

This first year calf is breaching in Icy Straits, SE Alaska. This is one of almost 50 breaches this calf performed in less than 30 minutes! I have often seen young Humpbacks repeatedly breaching, but this animal really was going off! Best to sit back and just enjoy the show!

Canon EOS-3 Body with Canon 300mm f2.8L IS lens. 1/800th @ f3.5 on Fuji Provia 100F film, pushed to ISO 200. Image taken in Icy Strait, SE Alaska, U.S.A.

A gentle rain shower had just moved through the AuAu Channel and the windward side of Lanai was glistening. The trade winds had died and the water laid flat. This adult just shimmered at it breached clear of the ocean’s silvery hold, shaking water like quicksilver from it’s massive body! Incredible!

Canon A2 Body with Canon 300mm f4.0L IS lens. 1/750th @ f4.0 on Fuji Velvia film. Image taken in the AuAu Channel, Maui, Hawaii, U.S.A.

As any wildlife photographer knows; great images sometimes take years and years of patience to be in the right place at the right time. The above two images are a perfect example of a time when patience paid off. This Humpback Whale mother and calf literally circled our boat for almost 45 minutes while being pursued by five adult males, all of whom were vying for position to be near her. The calf was very small and light in color, with its dorsal fin still folded over. A very recent birth to be sure! As the males became more aggressive, the mother chose to swim her calf closer and closer to the boat. We were only in 35 feet of water over a reef near the island of Lanai. Sensing that the male whales were intimidated by the boat the mother and calf swam even closer to us in order to elude them. The males continued to push each other around, but would not approach very close to the boat. We had become a chastity boat! The work of thousands of boating hours had paid off in an incredible morning encounter with a mother and her newborn calf!

Nikonos V body with Nikonos 15mm f2.8 lens. Fuji Velvia film. Exposure unrecorded. Images taken near the island of Lanai, Hawaii, U.S.A.

Sometimes the best image of an animal is a simple portrait against a simple backdrop. This Green Sea Turtle image has captured lots of attention since I first published it, almost 10 years ago. The eye contact, the body pose, the beauty of the shell, and even the reflection above the animal all make this image one of my favorites ever! This turtle is famous! She has appeared in books and magazines, in calendars and posters, on shirts and hats and mugs and magnets and murals and even on television!

Canon F-1 Body with Canon 24mm f2.8 lens in Aquatica housing. Ikelite 150 strobe set at ½ power. Exposure unrecorded. Fuji Velvia film. Image taken off the coast of Maui, Hawaii, U.S.A.

How does a photograph best express the power and strength of an Orca, the world’s largest dolphin? In a breach, of course! This adult female is fully extended and ready to come crashing back into the water. I love the stormy lighting, the white water surrounding her, the droplets flying off her body! To me, the entire feeling this image invokes is classic Pacific Northwest. I was thrilled when this image was chosen as a two-page spread in Jacques Cousteau’s last book, Le Monde Des Dauphins.

Canon F-1 Body with Canon 200mm f2.8L lens. Exposure unrecorded. Fuji Velvia film. Image taken in Boundry Pass, between Washington State and British Columbia.

The first rays of the sun have just topped the horizon and bathed this female California Sea Lion with golden light. An early morning cruise (after a sleepless night, anchored near this Sea Lion colony) produced this beautiful portrait. Working in the Gulf of California in the summer requires taking advantage of the only cool time of the day…sunrise!

Canon AE Body with Canon FD300mm f2.8L lens. Exposure unrecorded. Image taken on Isla San Pedro Mrtir, Gulf of California, Mexico.

Following a pod of Common Dolphins into the night is a rare event. Usually weather, sea conditions, or dolphins spread out to feed make it impossible. On this night everything came together as the sun set over the Baja Peninsula and the pod continued to travel as a tight-nit group. A perfect ending to another day on the ocean!

Canon A2 Body with Canon 200mm f2.8L lens. Exposure unrecorded. Image taken in Canal de las Ballenas, Gulf of California, Mexico.

Swimming with large numbers of Blue Sharks in the open waters off San Clemente Island, California made for exciting images. Unfortunately, these sharks are under incredible pressure due to over fishing. Encounters like this are very rare today.

Nikonos V body with Nikonos 15mm f2.8 lens. Ikelite 150 strobe set on ½ power. 1/90th of a second @ f5.6 on Kodachrome 64 set at ISO 80. Image taken in open water (no cage) near San Clemente Island, California, U.S.A.

The power of an image is often in its ability to spark the memory of an amazing event. Here Dr. Tim Clark is catching a ride on a baby Whale Shark in deep water in Hawaii. Tim and I had spent the day in search of offshore dolphins when we came upon this young Whale Shark on the surface. The animal was interested in the boat…as long as we left it idling in neutral. When we shut the motor off, the animal would dive! Both Tim and I slipped into the water, leaving the boat purring away in neutral. We were over 10 miles from land, with over 130 gallons of diesel in the tank. Had that boat accidentally shifted into gear while we were occupied with the shark, it would have run for days on its way to Tahiti!

Nikonos V body with Nikonos 15mm f2.8 lens. 1/90th of a second @ f5.6 on Fuji Velvia Film set at ISO 40. Image taken in open water near the island of Kaho’olawe in the Kealiakahiki Channel, Hawaii, U.S.A.

The greatest thing for me about spending so much time on and in the ocean is that you just never know what you might find! On a trip to northern Canada to film Belugas, we encountered free-swimming Polar Bears instead! All suited up in my drysuit, I actually tried to get some underwater images of these guys, but poor visibility and an unwillingness to get too close thwarted that attempt! I have since returned to this area for more Beluga images, and again have been lucky enough to encounter bears as well. Perhaps a trip to specifically film the bears is in the near future!

Canon EOS-3 Body with Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens. 1/800th @ f4.0 on Fuji Provia 100F film pushed to ISO 200. Image taken in Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada.

One of the most endangered marine mammals in North America is the West Indian Manatee. Boat collisions, red tides, and loss of critical habitat have all combined for a huge decrease in the number of Manatees in North America. Photographing an animal like this, in an area teaming with people and boats, always brings mixed emotions. The beauty and grace of these gentle creatures is offset by prop scars and murky waters, waters that were crystal clear only a decade ago. The fate of this animal is very much in jeopardy, and filming them takes on special significance. There is always hope that the West Indian Manatee will be here for many future generations to see and photograph!

Nikonos V body with Nikonos 15mm f2.8 lens. 1/90th of a second @ f5.6 on Fuji Velvia Film set at ISO 40. Image taken in Homosassa Springs, Florida, U.S.A.

I hope you have enjoyed these images and a little about the making of them. Look for more images to be added here as new trips and encounters bring new photos. Just as a surfer is always looking for that perfect wave, I am always looking for that perfect shot! Of course the magic is in the experience and the image is only the visible reminder caught on film for all to share…

Aloha nui loa,

- Michael