The elephant seals are at a beach near San Simeon, and are protected from the public by a chain-link fence and numerous warning signs. The wind was fierce. Wind-blown sand stung as it hit skin and holding the camera still was a major challenge. A tripod hardly helped. I increased the ISO to 400 so that I could get a fast enough shutter speed to minimize motion blur while keeping enough depth of field to keep the animals generally in focus, but was only partly successful.