Apex

For so long, this was a subject I overlooked. And for so long, I could not figure out why that was.



Visually, few animals are more striking. Their distinctive patterning makes it seem as if it they were designed for a black and white image. As far as impressive, imposing, and intelligent creatures go, there aren’t many that compare.



After trying to understand my rationale, I realized my primary reason was that I associated these animals with captivity. Ten years on from the “Blackfish” documentary, images of the whales in those tiny tanks stuck with me. There was also an element of personal shame for having attended these “parks” as a kid. How “wild” was an animal that I had only seen in man-made structures? And if I made that link between orcas and confinement, others may see them similarly.



It didn’t take long to realize the flaws in my logic. These animals have traversed the oceans for six million years. The very reason I felt hesitant became the motivation to photograph the species – to dispel my own notions, and hopefully those that others may hold. These images resonate with me because of this. Orcas swimming and hunting where they are meant to – in the wild.



Orcas in Norway engage in carousel feeding, in which a pod surrounds a school of herring and coerces them into a bait ball. Normally, particles in the water can act as distractions in an image, but here they help tell the story. The small white particles are the scales of the herring that have been eaten.



Today, there are still over 50 orcas in captivity across seven countries, over a third of which were taken from their natural habitats. I’m not the first to photograph these animals, but I wanted to try and do my small part to continue to normalize a sight that, regrettably, may have been clouded because of human actions.



From the top of the world and the top of the food chain, this one filed under “A” for “Apex,” and for “Atonement.”