What Are You Looking At?

A few weeks ago Bethany and I went out for a brief hike at one of the local parks with the famous Uncle Robert and Aunt Sylvia. We were walking along the shore when we happened upon this sleepy seal taking a nap in the sunshine.

After taking some photos from a distance (making full use of my 12x zoom), I decided to be a bit bolder, taking a step or two towards the seal. He didn't seem to mind that at all, so I continued to inch towards him until I was only about five feet away. I was taking lots of pictures, but I was a having a difficult time of it because their was very harsh backlighting, resulting in severe shadows.

I took care of that by climbing up onto the same rock as him and walking around to the other side so that the sun was now behind me. I was certain he would become frightened and swim away, but he stayed exactly where he was. He quietly barked at me once, as if to say, "Hey buddy, get your own rock." He never left, even when I got so close I could have pet him.

Because of the harsh mid-day lighting, I found that this photo works better in black and white. As always, I recommend that you view the large version of the photo by clicking on it. This one looks much better against the white background too. What do you think? You can see the original by clicking here.

Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 42mm, f/6.3, 1/125 sec, ISO 50