--- title: How to Photograph a Whale | TIME description: Photographer Lisa Denning talks about her process of making pictures of humpback whales off the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia canonical: https://time.com/video/2GUJJOs5/ og:title: How to Photograph a Whale og:description: Photographer Lisa Denning talks about her process of making pictures of humpback whales off the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia og:url: https://time.com/video/2GUJJOs5/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2GUJJOs5/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Photograph a Whale twitter:description: Photographer Lisa Denning talks about her process of making pictures of humpback whales off the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2GUJJOs5/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # How to Photograph a Whale > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: How to Photograph a Whale [Watch (HLS stream): How to Photograph a Whale](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2GUJJOs5.m3u8) (5:39)  _Published 2011-01-13. Photographer Lisa Denning talks about her process of making pictures of humpback whales off the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:08 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Humpback Whale Communication and the Search for Alien Intelligence](/video/1AbUurSg/) ### Humpback Whale Communication and the Search for Alien Intelligence [How to Photograph at Night](/video/UkEDGERp/) ### How to Photograph at Night [The Year in Pictures: Whales, Blimps and Saturn](/video/XdGfseuY/) ### The Year in Pictures: Whales, Blimps and Saturn --- ## Transcript >> The first time I was close to a whale, I was in complete awe and I feel like I instantly fell in love. I think that some people are usually intimated by the sheer size of a humpback whale, but for me, for some reason, I had a sense of joy and ease. And I was floating there, watching her as she came closer and closer to me. My name is Lisa Denning, and I have been photographing dolphins and whales for about 10 years now. I have always loved being in the ocean and photographing these amazing interactions that occur in the wild seemed natural to me. To photograph a whale, you have to where the whales are. This year, I have returned To the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia which is directly south of the main island of Tahiti. It's a gorgeous little island with a population of about 2, 000 people, and it's also where you can see the humpback whales. So the first step is to rent a boat, and you wanna work with a knowledgeable guide. The local captains here, historically come from a long line of family whalers, and they think we're nuts. They really prefer to stay on the surface of the water. But on the way out, the anticipation always rises from me. These captains here are amazing. They have an incredible eye for spotting the whales and tracking their movements. Though on this day we went out to a spot where a mother and calf had been seen earlier in the morning. Lots of people think you need a bunch of dive gear to take photos underwater but all you really need is some snorkel gear, a camera, and some patience. The best of my photographs, I think are the ones taken within about 30 feet of the surface. I really enjoy just working with the natural light of the sun shining down through the water. So for this picture here, we had been floating above a mother and a baby whale. We saw the baby slowly slowly rising to the surface, and it was amazing to watch her come up through the rays of the light, and she very slowly took a breath and went over to each individual person floating there in the water, circling around our groove, stayed up for about three to four breaths, and then went back down to her mom. >> The best way to take photos, and actually the most respectful way, is to get into the water near to where they are, and then let them choose to come close to you. Generally, the most curious ones are the babies. They have to breathe more often, so naturally, they are up on the surface more. The babies have to breathe about every two to three minutes, really one of the most important things to remember when you are in the water close to a mother and a calf is that they are very acutely aware of all of their surroundings, and so it's important to remain very calm in the water, and to not make any sudden moves at all. This way, they can choose the interaction that they want to have with you. And as that does start to happen, there is just nothing like it. You can see the whale turning and coming towards you and you know they are coming closer and closer, and they come up to you and kind of roll over and look at you right into your eye, and you are looking right into the eye of this whale. There is just nothing like those moments. It's just magical. >> On this trip, and really on every trip that I am with the whales, I am always very aware of the bittersweet timing. I knew that these very same whales could soon be in danger of being killed as they return to south to the Antarctic to feed during the winter months. The Japanese whaling fleet usually leaves in November or December for their annual whale hunt. They still manage to get around international whaling bans by saying it's for scientific research. But lots of whale meats still ends up in public markets for people to eat. To know that in the past 20 years or so, tens of thousands of whales and dolphins have been killed by countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland. It really does make me sick to think about it, but I think by taking pictures, in a small way, I hope to preserve their quiet power and beauty so that others can see that they really are worth protecting. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How to Photograph a Whale","description":"Photographer Lisa Denning talks about her process of making pictures of humpback whales off the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2GUJJOs5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-01-13T16:16:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2GUJJOs5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/2GUJJOs5/","duration":"PT5M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/2GUJJOs5/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```