"From space, the planet is blue.
From space, the planet is the territory
Not of humans, but of the whale."
The name of our project is a homage to the Heathcote Williams
and his seminal 1988 book-long poem "Whale Nation".
The Whale Nation Project started documenting cetacean
strandings. Although the genesis of the work was based on a
conceptual idea, the final output was to have a strong
educational-driven outlook.
The production leg of the project officially started on Boxing Day
2011 when a huge 55 feet long Bull Sperm Whale stranded on a
North Norfolk beach. Since then the idea has grown out of the
constrains of stranded whales.
On the Summer of 2014 we travel all the way to the South Pacific
Archipelago of Vava'u in The Kingdom of Tonga or Friendly Islands
as James Cook called them after visiting them extensively in his
second voyage of discovery around the South Pacific.
We were documenting the migration of the Humpback whales form
the cold food-rich waters of the Antarctic Ocean to the warm
shallow waters of Tonga.
The project was extremely demanding both from a physical point
of view for someone who suffers terrible sea sickness as well as
economically.
We spent 2 weeks in Tonga, out of which we were able to go in the
water with the whales 5 times, once in the small island of Eua and
4 times around the Vava'u archipelago.
Editorial, Fine Art, Scientific and Stock Cinematography & photography. Specialised in Aerial, Motion and Underwater.
Awards 2021
PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris.
Silver Medal in the Nature/Underwater category for the series "Antipodean Fur Seals of Australia and New Zealand".
International Photography Awards.
Honourable Mention Nature/Underwater category for the series "Antipodean Fur Seals of Australia and New Zealand".
2016
PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris.
First Prize Gold Medal in category: Press/Environmental for the series “Like Fish out of water”.
Third Prize Bronze Medal in category: Nature/Other for the series “Like Fish out of water”.
Black & White Spider Awards in 2016 in Beverly Hills, California, USA
“Hide and Seek” and “Eye to eye contact” received 2 Honourable mentions.
2015
Fine Art Photography Awards, London.
Winner First Prize Gold Medal in category: Wildlife / Animals for the series “Whale Nation: Humpback Whales of the South Pacific”.
Nominee in Nature category for “Strandings”.
PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris.
Winner First Price Gold Medal in category: Nature/Underwater for Whale Nation: “Humpback Whales of the South Pacific”.
People’s Choice in category: Nature/Underwater for Whale Nation: “Humpback Whales of the South Pacific”.
Winner Third Prize Bronze Medal in category: Nature for Whale Nation: “Humpback Whales of the South Pacific”.
International Photographer of the Year Award.
Third Place Winner in category: Nature/Wildlife for Whale Nation: “Humpback Whales of the South Pacific”.
Honourable Mention in the category: Photojournalism/Story for “Like fish out of water”.
Monochrome Awards, USA.
5 Honourable Mentions in Wildlife, Fine Art, Nature and Portraits categories.
Outdoor Photographer of the Year.
Finalist ‘Outdoor Photographer of the Year” 2015.
2014
Fine Art Photography Awards
Photographer José Javier Delgado Esteban was awarded 1 prize in Wildlife / Animals for the entry entitled Whale Nation: Humpback Whales of the South Pacific at the 1st Fine Art Photography Awards competition.
