Encounters of a Small, Wet, Furry Kind

Some pictures of an encounter with a curious fur seal taken on a trip that TOP reader Alek O. Komarnitsky recently took to Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands.

Alek, who describes himself as a dedicated amateur who "takes way too many pictures and spends way too much time pixel-peeping" (although his wife just says he's "a crazy camera guy"—can anybody relate?), describes the trip as "truly a trip of a  lifetime," adding, "if you ever do this, don't just go to Antarctica, do the triangle with Falklands and South Georgia which are even more impressive."

The baby fur seal actually started nibbling on the lens hood of the remote 40D. You can enjoy the whole set and travel along vicariously at his website, where there's more information, too, starting with a map.

Have a great weekend!

Mike
(Thanks to Alek)

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Comments

[Keith Loh]

This is one of my dream excursions too. I loved it the first time I saw the link from BoingBoing. I fell in love with the idea after watching Art Wolfe's episode from South Georgia. In that ep a seal sneezes into Art's wide angle. My girlfriend squeals whenever I play that episode back because they are so GOSH DARNED ADORABLE.

[misha]

Thank you for the link. Wonderful.

[Tim Gray]

I had the good fortune to be on the expedition immediately preceding this one led by Michael Reichmann on the same Ocean Nova.

Some images at

http://www.timgrayphotography.com/galleries/20090131-antarctica/index.html

[Clyde]

Puhleez, that is a fur seal not a seal. It's actually a major distinction since fur seals are closely related to sea lions and seals are an entirely different branch of pinnipeds as distinct as walrus. The ears are always a giveaway.

Sorry, pet peeve. My Master's project at Brooks was on pinnipeds of California so I've spent a lot of time photographing them.

http://clydesoles.com/PhotoGallery/Galleries/pinniped.htm

[Mike Johnston]

Clyde,
Thanks. I made the correction.

Also, I have to admit that as I was preparing that post, I thought to myself that I really should check the proper name of the animal. But I was tired, and let it go. So wouldn't you know!

Non-Error-Free Mike

[Christopher Oliver]

Given your avowed distaste for Crasher Squirrel, I find the first picture a curious inclusion in the blog.

[Christopher Oliver]

Substitute "a" for "an."

Urgh!

[Mike Johnston]

Did I avow a distaste for Crasher Squirrel? I've forgotten.

Mike

[misha]

"as distinct as walrus"

You walrus hurt the one you love. (Ow, stop hitting me.)

[Ken Bennett]

I'll just quote my teenage daughter when I showed her the lead photo:

"Awwwwwwwww."

[john robison]

Looking at the last pic got me thinking. If a radio remote could also show a 2 X 3 inch live view of what the camera sees, well, that could really be a useful feature on DSLR's.

Yes, I've seen that little video cam that can be slipped over an eyepiece. I'm talking about a built in feature.

[Clayton Lofgren]

¨Yes, I've seen that little video cam that can be slipped over an eyepiece. I'm talking about a built in feature. ¨
It's getting closer. Zigview now makes a unit that uses the liveview signal instead of the video cam.
Next step should be a wireless link to laptop.

[Adam Maas]

@Clayton: The Nikon D300(s), D3(x) and D700 can broadcast a wifi LiveView signal to a laptop when matched with the WT-4 wireless transmitter. You also need their Camera Control Pro 2 software.

IIRC the mark III 1D(s) can do this too with Canon's Wifi widget.

[AlunFoto]

Oh, my...
I'll be going in November, and have already begun losing sleep to expectation.

Thanks for the link.