This Whale Tail Took Grand Prize in the Photo Contest
Until last year, photographer Reiko Takahashi was working as a semiconductor engineer, escaping the office a few times a year to pursue her longtime passion for marine life, diving, and underwater photography. Then, in early 2018, a last minute trip to snorkel off the coast of Kumejima Island near Okinawa, Japan, brought the photographer face-to-face with humpback whales for the first time, where she unwittingly captured the image that won grand prize in the 2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest.
“I was really longing to see the bond between a humpback whale and her calf,” Takahashi recalls. Fascinated by the close relationship between whales and their young—and the time they spend together at the beginning of life—Takahaski committed herself to researching the animals. Though she photographed many types of marine life—sharks, manta rays, jackfish, and more—she had yet to swim with humpback whales, a species she longed to see in person. “I became crazy about whales,” she admits.
source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/features/photography/2018-travel-photographer-of-the-year-humpback-whale-underwater/
By freedivinguae