Behind the Shot: Humpback Whale & Gentoo Penguin
Hero image of samuelchoyphotography.com, taken in Antarctica, January 2026
This was one of those moments that reminds me why I love wildlife photography.
I was aboard Quark Expeditions’ World Explorer, taking part in a Zodiac cruise around Pléneau Bay. That morning, we were simply exploring the area and learning about the wildlife around us.
The conditions were pleasant, with filtered sunlight occasionally poking through the foggy haze. The water was fairly calm, but the Zodiac was moving enough to make shooting through a 500mm lens challenging.
I was shooting with my Canon R7 and RF100-500mm lens, along with my DIY red dot scope (which is super useful in wildlife photography, by the way).
Then, a whale spouted.
I immediately trained my camera in that general direction and double-checked my settings. A moment later, the humpback surfaced. I quickly tried to aim and focus, hoping I would catch a frame before it disappeared again. Its back arched above the surface, and I managed to rattle off five shots.
Yes, only five.
And that was it.
The whale was gone.
Maybe I got something. Maybe not.
We moved on and turned our attention to the other wildlife in the area. There was a gentoo penguin colony, kelp gulls and Antarctic terns. All in all, it was a wonderful morning on the water.
A week later, back home, I started going through the tens of thousands of images from the entire trip. By that point, I had seen plenty of blurry rejects and similar frames.
This one initially looked like another fin and arch shot. I have enough of those already.
Then a dark blotch in the frame caught my eye.
I zoomed in.
My jaw dropped.
It was a gentoo penguin.
Not only was the penguin in focus, but it was perfectly situated as the whale’s back reached its apex. The timing was incredible. I had been concentrating on finding and photographing the whale, completely unaware that the penguin was there.
I had better photographs of humpbacks from the trip. Some had the classic fluke waterfall. Others had beautiful ice and snow-covered backgrounds. There were plenty of very nice whale photographs.
But this one stood out among them all.
Shooting a humpback from a bobbing Zodiac was challenging enough. Finding a gentoo penguin unexpectedly photobombing the frame, perfectly in focus and positioned at exactly the right moment, made this feel like a one-in-a-million shot.
This has become the hero image on my website because of what happened beyond the photograph itself. I couldn’t have planned the timing. I couldn’t have positioned the penguin. I didn’t even know it was there when I pressed the shutter.
Sometimes the best part of photography is the story you don’t see until later.
The timing of the whale, the penguin, and those five measly frames feels providential.
As Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” To me, it speaks to the way God orchestrates the events and seasons of our lives in His perfect timing.
That is what I see when I look at this photograph.
Beauty, in its time.
