* 2021 Openbook Award
* 2017 London Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year – People’s Choice Award
* Nature Category, 2017 Prix de la Photographie Paris – Gold Prize

In pursuit of his dream of photographing the whales of his native Taiwan, award-winning photographer Ray Chin traveled the world studying underwater photography. Thirty years of his extended encounters with cetaceans are recorded here in this touching and astonishing collection of photographic works.

Dolphins leap from blue seas off Taiwan’s coast, their wheeling bodies frozen in time, droplets of water fanning outwards. A pod of humpback whales gather at the surface of the ocean inside the arctic circle as a lone whale lunges skyward, filling its mouth with herring. With technique perfected from decades of experience, photographer Ray Chin opens a window onto the world of our oceans, providing these mysterious glimpses of dolphins and whales in their natural habitats.

As a specialist in underwater cetacean photography, Ray Chin spends most of his life waiting – sometimes an entire an entire summer – in order to capture those few precious seconds when a pod of dolphins slides past his lens. His patience is born of passion, and it is his passion that sets him apart. His wildlife photographs are works of art, unparalleled in their clarity and detail, pregnant with the ephemeral sense of the passing moment. Ever faithful to his original impulse to photograph the whales and dolphins of Taiwan’s waters (a third of the world’s cetacean species can be found there) he traveled the world studying and improving his skills, only returning after many years to finally photograph these immense and mysterious creatures.

The first and second parts of this book describe how Chin began photographing the ocean, and from there, how he committed to the path of underwater cetacean photography. Part three documents the whales of diverse regions – including Taiwan, Tonga, Argentina, and Norway. In the last two parts, Chin shares what he has learned on his journey, and reflects on the relationship between humans and whales, and the nature of their interactions.

The Whale Odyssey is the distillation of three decades dedication to the craft of underwater photography and a tribute to Ray Chin’s love of sea creatures. Through Chin’s lens, readers can swim with the dolphins, and come face to face with the leviathans of the deep.  A must-have book for lovers of photography, the ocean, and aquatic wildlife.