Dave Hartley

I’m pleased to announce that I was one of the winners in the 2009 Nature’s Best Ocean Views competition. The winning photograph was of a Weddell Seal. Here’s the story behind the image:

“We hiked about a mile across six feet of ice in Admiralty Sound with the intention of photographing a small Adelie penguin rookery. Close by was a small group of Weddell seals, sleeping near to their breathing hole.

True to form, the seals noisely slept on their sides. Eventually, one woke up, lifted its head and peered over at me curiously. I fired off a few frames thinking he would go back to sleep. But instead, he lifted his head and hind flippers high off the ground in a long graceful stretch, before finally rolling over and falling back asleep.”