Andy's Memorable Marine Adventures

Andy Belcher is a talented Bay of Plenty freelance photographer with 82 top photographic awards to his credit. They include British Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Australasian Underwater Photographer of the Year and Nikon Photo Contest International. Ask him a question on his photographic career and he’ll usually answer you with “Gosh, where do I start?” And that’s the way it’s always been for Andy. Utterly self-taught, with no qualifications (and proud of the fact) Andy believes his open minded approach to learning has enabled him to break photographic boundaries – simply because he never knew they existed. Andy’s business success can be partly attributed to his versatility. He shoots a wide variety of commercial photographic imagery from tourism to underwater, he runs photo workshops, offers private tuition, writes and photographs magazine features and has just completed his third children’s book.

LEVIATHAN OF THE DEEP!

Three years ago I made my first trip to Vava’u in northern Tonga and when I boarded my aircraft in Auckland I had no idea what incredible adventures awaited me. On day one we boarded Beluga Diving’s whale swimming boat Gladiator and headed out into pristine blue water. After two hours on the briny we were floating beside two humpback whales. To describe my first encounter with a 40 tonne humpback as life changing is probably an understatement. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to make sure it was me! I soon realized that using the camera’s viewfinder at the surface simply showed a lot of surface water and not enough whale. So, I threw caution to the wind, held the camera below me and used the point and shoot technique which worked much better. By taking heaps of images I hoped that one would line up perfectly on the whale.

Humpback whales are often called Acrobats of the Sea and lots of action happened above the surface too. To capture a breach required a good position on the boat, concentration, patience, a fast focusing lens and a fast motor drive. The D3 shoots nine frames a second and I managed to get a few images of this humpback before it splashed down.