Short Film: In The Eye Of The Whale

by Michael dEstries February 8, 2010
Categories: Animals, Film/TV.
Photo: Bryant Austin

whale

In an effort to help protect whales and bring attention to conservation efforts, photographer Bryant Austin has created stunning life-size shots of the magnificent animals. His work is the result of taking hundreds of high resolution images of a whale and then piecing them together into one complete, life-size whole. From Treehugger:

Bryant Austin’s inspiration for this project began five years ago while diving in the Kingdom Of Tonga. Austin was six feet in front of a humpback whale calf when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder — he turned to face the eye of the mother. She extended her 15-foot, one-ton pectoral fin to gently let him know that she was watching him. It was at this moment, when Austin locked eyes with the mother whale, that he realized what had been missing in the field of whale photography and conservation, an emotional connection…mammal-to-mammal, species to species.”

A short film documenting Austin’s work called In The Eye Of The Whale debuted last week at the Ocean Film Fest 2010 in San Francisco. You can check out some incredible photography of his work here and view the film below.

Short Film: In the Eye of the Whale from MMCTA on Vimeo.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →

pierre

great work, my man. keep it up.
Penny

That was fantastic!
Phyllis

Incredible and so very moving. Bryan has such a sensitivity to these whales. I could not watch without a few tears and letting myself engage in such a way that I could feel his joy as well as his sorrow.
Josie

Inspirational, the chill stabbed through my spine and stright into my heart. More than word can say.
WhaleShephard

Where are all pro-whalers, can’t they look to a whale in eye?
- ddpalmer
  
  Of course we can’t.
  
  that is why we shoot them in the back, by the thousands.
  - enola gay
    
    Are you a whaler DD? I thought the Japanese were not slaughtering humpbacks? Oh thats right, they threatened too but did not? Or perhaps their Nth Pacific hunt is when the humpback massacre occurs?
billy jean is my lover

From the SF Chronicle:

Most damning, however, was that the sushi was harvested from a sei whale, which puts the truth — again — to the lie that the Japanese whaling fleets are only killing minke, a more plentiful species {which still does not excuse the slaughter} in the name of research. Researchers have proof that baby blue whales have been killed by the fleet and found their way into sushi bars in the Tokyo ginza. It takes skilled researchers, not some minimum-wage Joe manning the explosive harpoon, to distinguish a whale on the move in the open ocean. And it’s clear the Japanese are concerned more with killing whales and asking questions on species identification later. How many more whales, endangered or not, will be killed by the Japanese hunter/killer ships before the world puts a stop to their seaside butchery? When are countries such as the U.S. going to use their muscle to put an end to this obsolete and obscene practice? Isn’t the proof that they are hunting endangered whales enough to get the international community to put a stop to the slaughter?