Monk Seal, Kauai

There are only about fifteen hundred Hawaiian monk seals left on earth, and nearly all of them live in these islands. Spend enough mornings on the right Kauai beach and now and then one hauls out of the water to sleep on the warm sand. This was one of those mornings.

Shot from straight above, high enough that the whole scene flattens into pattern. The seal had settled into its own shallow crater, and a thin wave wrapped all the way around it, drew a clean ring in the sand, and slid back out to the turquoise. A few seconds of that shape, then the next wave pulled it apart. From overhead it reads more like a painting than a photograph.

One of the rarest animals in the world, asleep on a beach with the whole Pacific to itself. Printed and finished to gallery standard, made to bring a piece of Kauai onto your wall every day.