The most common whale pictures generally include a tail, also known as flukes, hovering above the water just as the whale is about to dive. I most likely photographed more than 100 whale tails during the ten days of my Alaskan adventure. Yet I discarded the great majority because they only showed water and tail, and nothing else. This one, however, is a keeper, because it tells a story. This Humpback whale surfaced, exhaled a cloud of steam known as a “spout,” displayed a dorsal fin upon its long shiny black back, saw us heading right towards it and displayed its flukes, covered in cascades of water, as it began its plunging maneuver. I cropped the image into a square, placing the flukes at bottom center, incongruously followed by a tiny gull whose wings were in exactly the same position. The expanse of water behind it speaks of the distances whales routinely cover in a day of feeding. The snow laden mountains beyond the distant shore represent Alaska itself, giving context to a humpback whale that has travelled all the way from Hawaii just to feed in these fertile waters before turning home to mate and breed. Rather than just show whale flukes, I instead attempt to tell a story featuring the flukes as a character.