Elephant Seals

Written: January 10, 2004
Last Updated: January 11, 2004

Eric, Rae, and I photograph elephant seals in San Simeon, near Hearst Castle.

Eric, Rae, and I got up way early on Saturday morning (6:30 am) to photograph the mating and birth of elephant seals in San Simeon. The epicenter of the earthquake that hit California a week or so ago was not too far away from our location. Hearst Castle loomed in the background looking a bit like Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

We were joined with fellow nature photographers, Christine Humphreys, Bruce, John, and Paula. They were all using Canon cameras (save for Paula with a Nikon), from the EOS-1Ds to the EOS-10D, to EOS film bodies. They also came prepared to photograph wildlife, armed with a pair of 600mm lenses, a 300/2.8, and a 100-400mm. I felt quite inadequate with my 70-200 with a 1.4x tele-extender (thanks, Bruce)! They say wildlife photography begins at 400mm, and after seeing their photos, I agree!

Elephant seals look like giant blubbery slugs. They were all lounging around in the sun, occasionally humping around to assert their status. We missed photographing the exact moment of birth for 3 elephant seals. We knew that they were born when the seagulls swooped in to feast on the afterbirth. Some of the seals were really, really big. We learned that the largest elephant seals can grow up to 15 feet in length and weight over 2 tons! They could hump rather quickly on the sand, but in the water, they become sleek and fast torpedoes.

We got to the site around 10:00 am and stayed there until sunset. Eric was great driving both to and from. What a trooper he was! I offered to drive part of the way back, but my sub-standard stick shift driving skills quickly awakened Eric enough to finish the drive. Along with getting certified, I'm going to have to perfect my stick driving for Eric!

After we returned to the South Bay, we had dinner at Amber in Mountain View. Hot and spicy Indian food sure tasted good after a windy day on the coast!

Now for some photos. Check out Eric's photos as well!


Eric driving at sunrise	Rae with my reflection at the gas station	Rows and rows of elephant seals
Eric Cheng	Male elephant seal	Adam and a seal
Male seals stake their beach claim	Raar!	Waves
Rae	Cliff view (by Rae)	10D and 600mm lens
Rows of blubbery seals	Christine and Eric	Rae
Seal snot	Chris photographing	Rae and the 600
Adam and the 600 (by Rae)	Mother and child	Beachmaster
My turf!	Closeup #2	What you looking at, Willis?!?
Eric and Chris	Adam, Eric, Chris, and Bruce (by Rae)	Eric
Adam and Eric (by Rae)	Eric and Rae	Prelude to a fight
3 second count	Fishing	Minas Tirith... or Hearst Castle!
California Coast	Hole in the head	Seagulls eating the afterbirth
Newborn and mother	Photographers	Catching the moment
Showing who's #1	Newborn	Eric and the 100-400
Cooling off	Eric photographing me	Chris and Eric
Nursing	All alone!	Snorty yelps!
Sundown	Sunset	Rae
So cute!	A male elephant seal and photographers	Rock outcroppings
Eric at Amber	Rae and me (by Rae)

Enter The Photo Gallery

Reader Comments

Looks like a fun trip, time to clean the CCD too... :)

--posted by Tim Chong @ Monday, January 12 2004, 22:05 pm EST

[Cynthia pointed me at this URL.]

Wow, nice pictures! This makes me want to get the 100-400mm IS lens even more. Drool... :-)

--posted by Dave Zarzycki @ Tuesday, January 13 2004, 21:11 pm EST