For a medium that’s meant to evoke feeling, emotion, and a message, sometimes you can’t escape the reality that you are playing a numbers game.

In these icy waters, there’s no studio, no controlled lighting, no models, and no bait to attract your subjects. You have just your long freedive fins, a wetsuit that feels like it’s asphyxiating you, a camera encased in a cumbersome housing, and a prayer.

Over nine days in Norway, five of those were spent cruising up the northern coastline. You spend between four to six hours each day on your small Zodiac searching for the subject you came to photograph. Around 45 minutes offer opportunities to get in the water with the animals when they are comfortable with your presence. In the water, you have between five to ten minutes of encounters where you’re close enough to photograph the whales. During those moments, you’re gifted maybe twenty seconds of magic. You need your settings dialed in, a fair bit of luck, and the awareness to be looking in the right direction. 

In aggregate, I’d say there was a minute or two in total when there was a chance to capture a worthy image. Five or six photographs over the span of a week that would earn their place on paper down the road.

Early on my third morning, we were fortunate to find a pod that would eventually begin their hunt in one of the fjords. Amidst all the chaos—orcas circling the fish, bits and pieces of herring floating around you, colossal humpbacks and fin whales emerging from below to get their piece of the pie—it becomes a challenge just figuring out where to point your camera. 

I caught a glimpse of two large bull orcas maintaining the shape of the bait ball out of the corner of my eye. I turned quickly, managed to lock focus, and snapped a few images. Not dissimilar from Goldilocks’ conundrum, a half second earlier had the whales too far apart, while a half second later showed the animals overlapping. But at this moment, it was just right. A coordinated dance of two apex predators—not their last, but likely the last that many of these herring would witness.

With all the adrenaline and excitement that comes with being in the water with the orcas, it still comes down to chance. It’s a game in which the house should always win, but you take the plunge into the cold, dark water anyway. Even with the narrow odds, you trust that you can still come away with something meaningful from this world below.