Monk Seals

The nice warm, sunny days brought out lots of Monk Seals to the beaches of Midway. The majority of the beaches are closed to human activity because the Monk Seals are so easily disturbed. Too bad they don't seem to know which beaches belong to them and which belong to the people! Seriously though, they can have whatever beach they want. I managed to find one seal sound asleep on the beach. By positioning myself behind my cart and some shrubbery... and of course the camera... I managed to look entirely NOT human. I watched her for a little while, firing off shots now and again. At one point she rolled over, looked right at the camera, scratched and rolled the other way and went back to sleep. That split second was all I needed to grab my portrait with my long lens and teleconverter. When I was certain she was asleep again I crept away. I always love being able to get within photography range of an animal, getting the shot and getting away without effecting the animals behavior in the slightest. A great feeling.