“I have watched your video of the man in the kayak and the orca. I have watched it many times. It is one of the finest pieces of work I have ever seen. It is visually stunning, emotionally overwhelming, and totally satisfying. I was a photographer for many years and your video has now taken its place as my display of where photography has gone in this digital age.” – Larry
I was lucky enough to film this yesterday evening [September 5, 2016]. An incredible orca encounter with a snorkeler who hopped off a kayak.
As featured on:
The video shows orca interacting with a kayaker in Army Bay, who then gets in the water and swims briefly with the playful orca.
Overall I was in the air filming for about 9 minutes, it was a truly memorable experience and I feel very lucky to have been able to capture it. If you like the footage, please follow along by liking my Facebook page here. https://www.facebook.com/topviewnz/
You can see it on YouTube and on Facebook.
[Edit: There have now been over 600k views on YouTube and over 1,000,000 minutes of time watched – that’s close to four years!]
Getting video footage like this is something I’ve dreamed of. For a long time I’ve hoped I could be in the right place at the right time. I like paddle boarding and I always take the GoPro out hoping dolphins or orcas will come up to me, but until yesterday I haven’t managed to capture anything great. Fingers crossed I’ll have another memorable experience with marine mammals, but it will take something pretty incredible to beat this experience.
Facebook post:
17k views and counting!
[Edit, plus over 7.8 million views on ABC’s Facebook post]
Filmed 5th September in Army Bay, Whangaparaoa, Auckland.
Below are some of my favourite stills taken from the video footage.
Orca with Kayaker / snorkeler in Army Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Orca with Kayaker / snorkeler in Army Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Orca with Kayaker / snorkeler in Army Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Orca with Kayaker / snorkeler in Army Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Orca with Kayaker / snorkeler in Army Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Orca with Kayaker / snorkeler in Army Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Like dolphins, less than a week after filming the above orca encounter I filmed dolphins with a drone too. Take a look.