Skerry captures images that are unique, memorable, and award winning -- but he has a higher ambition. As "a photojournalist first and foremost, I work with researchers and provide them with photographs that are useful" in their study of ocean flora and fauna, he says.

Sperm whales are majestic, intelligent, and maddeningly elusive, escaping to ocean depths when pursued or spooked. Still, their ranks have been thinned by whaling, overfishing, and other contact with humans, to the point that the world's conservationists assess them as either vulnerable or endangered. Skerry wants his photos to inform the scientific research and education efforts that will bring whales more attention and potentially some relief. "I feel a sense of responsibility and urgency to make people care about the marine giants," he says. "I want to give them, for lack of a better word, some humanity."