Humpback whale breaking the surface while feeding in Seward, Alaska. Those grooves on the throat are called ventral pleats, which are folds of skin that allow the the mouth of the whale to massively expand. On the upper jaw you can see baleen coming from baleen plates, and it can be from 18 inches to 3 feet long in the back. As the whale rushes to the surface it opens its mouth to collect the schooling fish, and then forces the water back out through those baleen filters to collect the fish. Getting this photo was pretty tricky. I wanted an angle as low as possible, so I was laying in the cold wet sand with the icy water splashing on my hands. The birds would react a split second before the whale break the surface, so I had that time to aim and get a rough focus, then in the blink of an eye I had to center the whale, focus, and snap the shot. It was one of the most memorable days I've ever had! This was my first wild whale, which was a bucket list experience. Usually you only get an experience like this from a boat so to see this from shore, this close, and to get the shot from this angle, makes it very special to me.