Scotts Valley Man Gets Personal with Whales to Stop Whaling

Scotts Valley, Calif- Committed to Whale conservation through the arts Bryant Austin of Scotts Valley travels the world taking photos of whales that no one has ever dared to take before.What makes Austin's work stand out? He is the only person in the world to take high resolution life-size underwater photographs of whales and he is self taught. A series of photographs are composed along the whale's body at distances less than eight feet. The resulting images are then digitally blended together to form a seamless high resolution to-scale photograph.But committed to preservation Austin says "Hopefully I wont be the only one for much longer, I want more people to explore this work and these compositions." Most people have only ever seen about 10% of the whale. By communicating their true-scale and depth Austin hopes to unveil their mystery. Entire seasons are invested in search of whales who exhibit inquisitive and accepting behavior. Austin lets the whales come to him, "it is something entirely on their terms." According to Austin and his non-profit team, the Marine Mammal Conservation Through the Arts, sometimes they wait three months developing relationships with the whales. Once they trust him, he is able to capture them at their most relaxed, from just feet away. Over time he says the whales start to respect you. "They are very big, the closer they come to you the more real they become. Sometimes they reach out and touch you. As long as you remain motionless they will just swim around you" says Austin. Austin's collection is scheduled for touring exhibitions in Norway, Japan, and the annual International Whaling Commission meetings. "I am interested in serving audiences that have no interest in whales, who have no reason to be moved by whales" He plans to exhibit his work in Whaling nations to help raise awareness of the great mammal. He says that is important for people to see whales in this way so that they can have a memory of them so that they start to understand them.