This N.L. man took a selfie with a beached whale, and took his photography to a whole new level

It's hard to describe the sheer size of a whale when it washes ashore. That's why Brendon Gould took to the beach with his drone in River of Ponds, N.L., on the Northern Peninsula.

In a social media video that has amassed over 10,000 views, Gould lies on the rocks next to a thawing and decaying sperm whale.

Sperm whales can weigh between 15 and 50 tonnes and measure between 11 to 18 metres.

 "I'm a tall feller," Gould told CBC News. "That's pretty big alongside of me."

WATCH | Brendon Gould describes the whale of a tale behind his viral video:

Photographer poses next to beached sperm whale for perspective, and gets a huge reaction

24 days ago

Duration 1:54

Just how big is a sperm whale? When one washed up on the beach near River of Ponds, photographer Brendon Gould thought of a way to capture the creature’s immensity in an image: by lying down next to it and sending up a drone.

The whale appeared to be frozen when Gould first saw it in person, so he doesn't know how long it has been there.

Thankfully for Gould, there wasn't much of a smell when he was on the ground, flying his drone above the beach.

Sperm whales are known to swim throughout the world's oceans and inhabit deep water. They're not considered an at-risk population in Canada, but the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does list it as an endangered species.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador.