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UNCHARTEDWild Seas:
World’s Most
Striking
Ocean Life
“You can’t fall in love with something you don’t know exists,”
National Geographic photojournalist Thomas P. Peschak
shares in his new photobook Wild Seas (National Geographic
Books, Nov. 20). “As a photographer, I am a matchmaker. I
introduce people to wildlife that lies hidden beneath the oceans’
surface.” Originally trained as a marine biologist, Peschak
began photographing threatened oceans, telling Newsweek “I
realized that I could achieve more through photographs than
statistics.” From close encounters with friendly gray whales
off Baja, Mexico, to photographing ravenous sharks feasting
on sardines off South Africa, Peschak captures intimate
moments in our most fragile and remote underwater worlds
that few are so fortunate to see. —Kathleen RellihanHuman-Contact
Seeking Gray Whales
BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
Gray whales approach a tourist boat in
San Ignacio Lagoon. Baja is one of the
few places in the world where whales
actually seek out physical contact
with people, even allowing awestruck
humans to pet them. Once hunted in
these waters, a curious, friendly culture
has been passed down from mother
to offspring for more than 40 years.
(See #3 on following spread)