United States
£ GBP
Seeking Leviathan is a photographic portfolio with exceptional underwater whale photography by two-time Wildlife Photographer of the Year finalist Christopher Swann, featuring roughly 150 photos, many of which are double-page spreads. The text includes, among other things, a short autobiography, several of his original charts and facsimiles of his log books, and descriptions of some specific encounters and various sections with his thoughts on whale watching.
The photography of Christopher Swann, better known as Swanny, has featured in magazines and media across the world including National Geographic and he has twice been an awarded finalist in The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Swanny is based in Baja California Mexico and the west coast of Scotland.
Swanny first went under the water as a young man in the Royal Navy because he wanted to be a diver and the sea had been his lifeblood for the last forty-five years. He sailed old square riggers, dived in the oil fields of the North Sea, spent several months filming killer whales in the sub-Antarctic and travelled with Inuit in the Arctic Ocean.
For almost 30 years he ran his own whale-watching company, helped with films and research; whales and dolphins were at the heart of everything he did. Slowly, through all that, he came to photography; initially ‘just looking’ was all the delight he needed. Now he is concentrating on photography, mainly his two passions; cetaceans and the wildlife of Baja California. He still runs whale-watching trips occasionally for those interested and he is available for talks, film help and photography assistance.
"It is truly spectacular and a magnificent tribute to a magnificent and very precious group of animals."
– Sir David Attenborough
"Your work is stunning, over and over again. I’ve spent enough time with cetaceans to understand a little bit about how difficult it is to get a good photo, let alone one iconic image after another as you have achieved."
– Carl Safina
"Christopher Swann or Swanny as he is known, is one of the most remarkable people I have had the chance to meet. He is a brilliant photographer and an outstanding cetacean expert. His personal knowledge of whales, marine mammals and their behaviour is unrivalled. Once at sea with Swanny, you soon realise why people call him the Whale Whisperer"
– Tessa McGregor, BBC radio presenter/producer
"Swanny's images are stunning and beautiful, taken by a photographer who has put his heart and soul into exploring, understanding and loving marine life, in particular whales. I have had the privilege of being out at sea with Swanny, looking for and observing whales, and his skills in understanding the sea and whales are unmatched. His photographs are important messages to us about the beauty and wonder of oceans and why we should protect these habitats."
– Dr Tiu Simila, Norwegian killer whale expert
