ML138461
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Subject: (Interview). Subtitle: Flip Nicklin. Timecode In: 00:00:31. Timecode out: 00:26:32. Equipment Notes: Stereo=1; Dual-Channel Mono. NPR/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY RADIO EXPEDITIONS "OCEANS OF LIFE" INTERVIEW WITH NGS PHOTOGRAPHER FLIP NICKLIN AUGUST 8, 1995 FN: ... smooth area on the sea, and look down there and discover the whale is still there, and once Jim Darling and Karen Miller saw that the first time -the people i was working with in hawaii -and then we could get in the water, and see about taking a camera down there to those animals. it was very, very exciting [br: yeah]. and one of the first things you find out is that it's the sound -you know what the whale looks like. you've seen the whale when you put your head under water, there -it's like putting your head into a kettle drum [br: ok] -there is this tremendous booming sound. br: tell me about diving in the ocean w/all of these creatures 1:15 fn: i grew up in a diving family. my father ran a diving store in san diego -still runs a diving store with my brother in san diego, and free-diving, snorkeling, was how we grew up, and primarily for spear fishing and catching abalone. so when i came into starting to work with whales, it was that my background was skin diving, not using scuba tanks, but just taking a big breath and going down. it turned out that it was good for what turned out to be my niche in photography, is to go up and try to be around those animals, and trying to be as quiet, and undisturbing as possible, so that you can get in there, and look at what is going on w/o causing a change or reaction because of the noise, and when you go underwater bubbles -for one thing they are loud going in; they are also very bright and white, and they expand as they go up. so instead of doing that, most of my work -almost all of my work has been just taking a big breath, being very quiet and trying to be around the animals w/o changing the situation. 2:15 br: humpback whales -what is it like to dive w/whales fn: the most exciting thing about it and my start to diving w/whales was in hawaii, and to try and take an animal that lives most of its life underwater, so if you are really going to see it, and see its behavior and interactions you have to get into the water with it. the most exciting thing when i started when working with jim darling and karen miller in 1979 and working with singing humpbacks. you've got an animal that is in a world that you can't see very far, so sound is very, very important. you can't use visual signals, you use sound signals to give your message -whatever it is, whether it's to stay away or to come closer. however you want to communicate to the other animals. the other animals around you. we knew humpbacks were signing. roger payne had done his work off bermuda. jim darling was continuing that work. and one day, in 1979 in march, with a whale called frank, he looked down after the whale dived -or karen actually looked down -and through the smooth area that the tail made as it descended, they found that the whale didn't continue to swim, it was still there, and by looking through that little window in the ocean, that smooth spot, they could see the white pectoral of the male moving back and forth, and could hear the sound of the whale coming up through the hull of the boston whaler. and i happen to have been there working on a film with my father, they called us over, and this was the first time we got in w/signing whales. and it was tremendously exciting. i mean you go up, look for the smooth spot, see the whale, slip over the side, and when you slipped over the side and put your head under the water it was this booming sound -you heard some of it in the boat, but it was nothing compared to putting your head underwater and it was like being in a kettle drum. 4:29 br: and then you dove down. 4:32 fn: well, the firs... (Notes truncated)
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- 22 Mar 2005 - Ben Brotman
- Digitized
- 22 Mar 2005 - Ben Brotman
- Edited
- 22 Mar 2005 - Ben Brotman