Mark Williams's Image

Mark Williams (UK/Canada) observes from above the moment five beluga whales surface among the sea ice.

Mark’s drone hovered over the ocean. He had just enough battery to get it back to land and could make only an educated guess as to where the whales would surface, so he had to think fast and time things perfectly.

If dealing with a draining battery wasn’t enough, Mark had to track his subjects swimming beneath the surface while also underexposing the image significantly so as not to wash out the detail in the whales and the ice.

Mark had come to Somerset Island in the Canadian Arctic to work as a wildlife guide and to photograph the beluga whales that gather each summer at Cunningham Inlet. In the warm, shallow waters of the sheltered inlets and estuaries - away from predatory orcas - they give birth and nurse their young.

These intelligent, sociable white whales are known for their complex, melodic songs. They’ve even been documented mimicking the rhythm and tonal quality of human speech.