Photography for Advocacy

Zero-harm, ethical photography of marine life and the aurora borealis from the shores of Vancouver Island and San Juan Island

We are flipping the practice of humans profiting from nature into nature profiting from humans.

Every penny of profit from the sale of our prints goes to registered marine life advocacy groups such as the Georgia Strait Alliance and Straitwatch.

FOR THE ORCAS showcases the work of freelance photo artists from the Pacific Northwest.

Grey Whales, Humpbacks and Orcas Need and deserve our protection

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jenna Darcie

Jenna is a lifelong photographer and career scientist turned dispute resolution consultant with experience in negotiation across multiple areas of law.

For more than a decade near her home on Vancouver Island, Jenna has respectfully photographed whales from shore, documenting hundreds of independent sightings. Whale and aurora borealis photography are her primary passions.

FOR THE ORCAS emerged from witnessing the need for stronger, enforced protections for orcas, greys, and humpbacks.

DANTE AUBERT

Dante Aubert is a San Juan Island-based wildlife photographer and whale advocate.

A former IBM technologist, Dante now channels his expertise and passion into capturing the Pacific Northwest’s wildlife and supporting his community. He is always looking for new ways to integrate technology into his creative and volunteer pursuits.

How you can help

  • Respect local regulations. Report violations.
  • Donate to groups untainted by commercial profit.
  • Purchase one of our prints.
  • Observe whales from shore.
  • Connect with land-based whale observation communities.
  • Don’t fish/purchase Chinook salmon.
  • Advocate for strong habitat protections & science-based policy.

Aurora Borealis

Although it is considered mid-latitude, Vancouver and San Juan Islands provide spectacular settings for vibrant auroras. Often diverting from the classic green auroral streaks, the sky above our ocean creatures comes alive during moderate-to-strong magnetic storms, and a camera’s eye has the ideal sensitivity to capture what the human eye (retinal cones) cannot.

We offer some of our favourite images in framable prints and New Year calendars to help support our marine life advocacy.

Dedicated to CRC‑766 Beloved Grey

Last photographed by Jenna in the waters of Haro Strait in 2022, this gentle boy struggled to forage while being closely pursued by a tour vessel for “entertainment.” Shore-based photographs like this provided experts with evidence of emaciation.


To date, there are no regulations providing ailing grey whales additional protection beyond the nominal 100 meters, an exclusion zone that remains largely unpatrolled.

The greys have suffered an alarming spike in mortality due to starvation and malnutrition. As of May 26, 2026, more than 50 greys have been found deceased on beaches from California to British Columbia. This tragically surpasses the numbers for the entirety of 2019, the previous record, speaking to the urgency for increased protections.

The primary factor is thought to be food scarcity in the Arctic owing to warming oceans depleting the abundance and quality of amphipods and other benthic crustaceans the greys require. Secondarily, food scarcity requires the whales to stray farther into inland waters such as the grey seen in English Bay, Vancouver in May 2026. This increases their risk of boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

While CRC 766 shied from invasive bipeds in his ocean home, some whales become dangerously accustomed to vessels. In regions such as Baja, tourists are even permitted to touch young greys. Expert marine biologists in B.C. can identify these so-called “friendlies” by altered behaviour around boats. The romanticism of such encounters obscures a tragic reality:

The starving greys need space.

WHALE CHAT

  • Neither Killer nor Whale

    Neither Killer nor Whale

    Orcas and the Public Relations Disaster of a Name “Killer whale” is a strange name to pin on an animal that doesn’t kill people and isn’t a whale at all. The label sticks, though,… read more

  • Meet Noah

    Meet Noah

    that’s “SOME FIN!” “Noah” (T049A1) of the T049A Transient/Bigg pod stunned me from shore a while back. The dorsal fin of an adult male Bigg’s killer whale can reach approximately six feet (1.8 m)… read more

  • Identifying Orcas

    Identifying Orcas

    Did you know that individual killer whales can be identified by the shape and size of the dorsal fin, including distinctive nicks or scars along the fin’s trailing edge? Equally distinctive is the gray-and-white saddle… read more

Questions? CONTACT ⏵


IMPORTANT NOTICE: All copyright and all other intellectual property rights in this website and its content are owned by or licensed to Jenna Darcie or Dante Aubert, as permitted by law. None of the content may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, transmitted, stored, sold, or distributed without written consent of the copyright holder(s).

© Jenna Darcie 2026