I woke up crazy early to get to SWF in the morning and then signed up for a BIP. It was incredible! It was with Juno, who was completely adorable! All of SWF's 3 belugas are juveniles, and even though Juno was the oldest, he still was quite energetic and distracted. The trainer informed me that he learned differently than the other two belugas. He wasn't too crazy about doing the "hula" or doing any high targets. She insisted on asking him to hula several times; early on, he preferred sprinklers and spitting water. He bobbed up right in front of me and spit all over me! It was adorable. He reminded me of those sour patch commercials because later in the interaction he just laid his head in my lap and stayed there for a while, despite the trainer's gestures trying to get him to get off. He definately ran the show, and performed most of his antics without ques. He would even get ahead of himself, performing a trick that came after the one he was being prompted to do. He really enjoyed vocalizing, especially rasberries, and would occasionally back up from both of us and just start making noise. His little melon was going to town; it was adorable! An awesome experience, for sure! The water, surprisingly, was just the temperature I imagined it, and I sat down quickly and was practically gasping for air from the "take your breath away" cold, as they describe it.

I caught the Believe that was starting just after I got out of WA, and suffered the consequences of getting to the stadium too late. I was too close to the slideout, but managed to get some good shots. BH was great as well, and sat in the "soak zone" seat that was just out of reach of the "soaking" and was able to get some good shots. I was hoping that the FKWs would do the behavior (I don't know what it's called) where they come at the audience with their jaws open because I was sure I could get a good shot, being so close. But they didn't. I got some great shots at PPP and DC. I also had a brief interaction with Trua in the UV. I took 's advice and took a towel to wipe off the glass, which he liked, but got bored with. When I put it away, however, he kept coming back to see where it was. He'd first come head on towards me, then turn to the side and hover, staring hard with his cute little eye.

As I upload, please don't shun all other work for the orca stuff. Remember:

Update

I forgot to mention that April is Autism Awareness month and I was so happy to see a ton of people at SeaWorld wearing shirts that said that SW supported Autism Awareness month. I was so happy! I have a relative with autism and awareness of this disability is greatly needed, since most don't even know what it is. Way to go SW!!

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I know that I've been through the whole "please comment when you " thing a million times. I'm going to repeat myself in that and in this: I would like constructive comments. Tell me what it is you like about the photo please, not just the subject. Please don't give me some one word nonsense that does me no good. "Awesome" does nothing for me. Normally, I respond to every single comment with the exception of a smiley face or "you're welcome." I refuse to respond to "cute," "nice," or "this reminds me of..." that doesn't come alongside some solid critique (compliments or constructive). I'm not trying to be rude, but how can I possibly care about your personal anecdotes when I cannot even get you to tell me why you like my picture? That's all I'm asking. If you're going to my work in amounts that require more than one digit, please leave good solid critique for at least half of it. And please do not collect my work. I notice that a lot of people are doing this and it could not be more aggravating. At least a is flattering; adding my work to your collection just means that you're trying to amass some kind of archive for yourself. I don't want my work to be thrown into your personal storage unless you are a club and have some type of purpose. (Stop BSL, for instance) I really am not trying to be rude, mean, or nasty, but I'm increasingly frustrated. I post my artwork here, on deviantART to receive criticism, critique, and compliments to help me improve as a photographer and an artist. If you'd like to or collect pictures, join myspace, webshots, flickr, or some other site that isn't dedicated to artists, but archives.

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Believe Soundtrack Challenge

The tracks of Believe are...
(1) Call of the Sea
(2) Discovery
(3) Breach
(4) Danger Below
(5) We Are One
(6) Share the Joy
(7) One Drop
(8) Something Far Greater
(9) Testimony
(10) Flood
(11) Shamu, Shamu
(12) Pass the Torch
(13) Celebration
(14) One World
(15) Believe Walkout
(16) Black and White
(17) I Speak Shamu
(18) Lilt
(19) Shamu Overture
(20) Mother and Child
(21) Trainers
(22) Shamu Finale


(1) Complete it any way you like. Photography, traditional media, literature, digital media, pixels, etc. Anything.
(2) And you don't have to make them include Killer Whales either! Just submit whatever you think best represents the idea!
(3) If you don't own the Believe soundtrack, interpret the titles of the songs and do it that way!
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Featured Deviant

~orcafreedom1


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Featured Cetacean Art

"The Guardian" by
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Featured Animal Art

"Herd Brothers " by
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Featured Other

"Stereo Sound" by
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Cetacean People:


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Awesome Photographers:


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Awesome Artists:


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Awesome People Who Watch Me:


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Clubs:


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Listen to What They Say Buttons:


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