Meaningful moment between father, son and whale caught on camera

Sawatsky Sign-Off: Whale Photo “It’s my best memory ever!” Adam finds out why a remarkable photo of an orca is proving so meaningful for a father and son.

Saanich, B.C. — Finn Nelson will never forget that day his dad asked if he wanted to go see a whale in the wild.

“I was like, 'OK,'” the nine-year-old smiles. “Let’s do it.”

So the boy and his dad — Joe Nelson — started searching along the shoreline, after hearing a pod of orcas had been spotted in the area.

“We were excited that we actually might see (a whale) for the first time,” Joe says. “Because we’d never seen them before.”

At the same time, a Iwan Lweylle was searching for the same whales, along with a boat full of tourists.

“I was not really focused on taking pictures,” the guide at Nature Trek Canada says.

Iwan did get a shot of harbour seals that day, but as you can see from his past pictures, Iwan’s seen countless orcas at work, along with grizzlies, wolves, and otters.

“My biggest concern was taking care of the customers,” Iwan adds.

On the other hand, Finn’s biggest concern was making sure his dad’s camera was ready for whatever they may find.

“You’re going to see your first whale,” the boy recalls saying optimistically.

But if you take a look at the video they captured, you’ll see the father and son ended up seeing their first few whales.

“This is crazy!” Joe can be heard proclaiming as six orcas swim in front of them

Iwan says the tourists on his boat where equally in awe.

“Their mouths were opening up,” Iwan smiles. “And they were pointing.”

So Iwan started pointing his camera from the water, just as Joe began recording a video on the shore. Both captured the moment a large orca’s head shot out of the water right in front of them.

In the video, Finn squeals with delight. In the picture, you can can see the boy’s mouth shaped like an ‘O’ and pointing forward as the whale seems to rise from the ocean to catch a glimpse of him and his dad.

“It’s an an amazing picture! How often do you have someone taking a photo of you with a whale in the foreground,” Joe says, before laughing. “Or — taking a picture of a whale with you in the background, I should say.”

No matter how you say it, Iwan is offering to give the people shown in his photo a framed copy of his picture as a gift. Just to be kind.

“I take pictures because I enjoy it,” Iwan says humbly. “Not to get recognition.”

And now Finn and Joe will always remember how it looked, that day they’ll never forget how they felt.

“It was wonderful! I got to see my first whale with my dad,” Finn smiles. “It was like my actual best memory ever!”