Sperm Whale Composite Portrait II was composed off the island of Dominica in 2011 by Bryant Austin. This portrait is a crop from a much larger composite portrait that features this whale’s entire body and measures 8 X 36 feet (see below). It features a young whale named Scar with whom Bryant has had many encounters with over the years.

Life-size photographs such as these become possible when whales approach to within six feet from the camera. Bryant invests anywhere from five weeks to three months at sea, floating alone on snorkel, patiently awaiting for a whale to initiate a close inspection. When the terms of these encounters are set by the whale, they can last hours.

After two years had passed since the last encounter with Scar, Bryant was able to connect with him one last time. Scar nuzzled Bryant’s body with his head before settling next to him and presenting his entire left profile for five minutes. With a Hasselblad H3DII-50 camera, Bryant gently swam back and forth along the length of the whale’s body to capture every fine detail from five feet away. Upon returning home he would spend the next six months building a computer powerful enough to bring all of the photographs together into one seamless composite.

This print is available through the Cavallo Point Mercantile. To learn more feel free to contact Leigh Vogen at leigh@cavallopoint.com

Bryant Austin is an American photographer known mostly for his life-size photographs of whales. His photographs have been exhibited in solo shows in the U.S. and abroad, including the Monterey Museum of Art (Monterey, California), Focus Gallery (Chatham, Massachusetts), Tamada Museum (Tokyo, Japan), and the USA Gallery at the Australian National Maritime Museum (Sydney, Australia). Group exhibitions include the Peabody-Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts) and the Datz Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea).

Bryant is a 2019 nominee for the SFMOMA SECA Award. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Reuters, among others. 

Bryant was born in Sacramento, CA, in 1969 and currently resides in Carmel, CA. His first photography book, Beautiful Whale, was released in 2013 by Abrams Books. His second book entitled sun, water, being was released by the Datz Museum of Art Press in January, 2021.