This extraordinary image shot by Allan Cronin wasn't down to dumb luck. Now announced as a finalist in the Wildlife category of this year's Ocean Photographer of the Year, Cronin had been closely watching the local wildlife. And that tipped him off to what might be about to happen.
A fur seal gets firm hold of a New Zealand rough skate, flinging it clear of the water in a burst of spray, while a crowd of seabirds shows up for whatever falls their way. The scene is chaotic, visceral and a reminder that nature is not all bunnies and rainbows but, as the poet Tennyson once put it, red in tooth and claw.
It's a terrific picture, and a tribute to the patience of the photographer. Cronin – an ex-electrician turned whale watching guide and skipper – was just offshore from Kaikōura, on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. He paddled close to the edge of the continental shelf and simply waited.
"We kept a close eye on the fur seals and the birds waiting for a moment like this," he recalls. "The fur seals are incredible predators and very messy eaters, which causes much competition between the seabirds as they jostled to be closest to the action. But not too close, in case the seal feels like adding a side dish."
How it was taken
Cronin shot on a Sony A6600 with a 70-350mm zoom at 113mm, giving a 35mm-equivalent focal length of around 169mm; useful reach for staying back from a feeding frenzy without losing the action.
He locked in a shutter speed of 1/2500 sec – more than fast enough to freeze water droplets mid-air and stop a thrashing skate from blurring into a smear – while f/6.3 and ISO500 proved reliable settings for bright open water with plenty of light to spare.
Manual exposure throughout suggests he wasn't leaving the camera to guess at a scene with this much contrast between dark seal, pale fish and white spray.
Ultimately, though, what made the image a success wasn't luck so much as a local who understood the food chain well enough to predict it. The seabirds gave away the location, the shutter speed handled the violence of the moment, and the kayak kept Cronin close enough to matter without becoming part of the story himself.
It's all a reminder that some of the most dramatic wildlife photographs come down to two simple, unglamorous skills. Namely, knowing where to look and having the patience to keep looking.
The Ocean Photographer of the Year contest draws thousands of entries from photographers around the world, across categories including Fine Art, Conservation Impact, Conservation Hope, Human Connection, Adventure and the new Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds.
Winners will be announced in September. The award is presented by Oceanographic and Blancpain.
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