It's always thrilling to fill the frame -- or most of the frame -- with the face of an animal. The seals I've encountered here in Antarctica allow a very close approach, and I only had to use my 70-200mm lens to take these pictures.
The two seals seemingly in combat are southern elephant seals, and I walked among these giants on a beach. They seemed oblivious to me and the other passengers from the ship.
The prized shot, though, is the leopard seal. In the movie 'Eight Below', the leopard seal was a monster predator, and that image stayed with me.
They are surprisingly non-agressive, although a few years ago one of them dragged a snorkler down to 230 feet and drowned the victim. Their gaping mouth is pretty intimidating. I waited for a half hour for the seal to arch upward and open it's mouth.
The seal with it's flippers crossed is a weddell seal. I was about 10 feet away from it and it seemed completely unconcerned about my presence.
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