Seals and sea lions recognize their pups by breath scent, which leads to to the tender moment of Figure 1 that I have entitled “A mother’s kiss.” For me this is the best photograph that I took on my trip last month. And I realized that we want so much to anthropomorphize these cousin mammals of the sea that we are drawn in particular to behavior that we see as “human like:” a smile. a kiss, or a laugh. And what can be more human-like than a mother kissing her child. I waited and waited and finally got exactly what I wanted.

“Twas not my lips you kissed, but my soul”

Judy Garland

Canon T2i with EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens at 220mm, 1/400 th sec at f/7.1, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE mode.