Bull caribou in autumn tundra, Denali National Park, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS, w/2x (1000mm), 1/200 sec @ f/8, ISO 800
The cool weather and colorless landscape is the exit sign for autumn in Alaska’s interior. Fairbanks had an unrivaled stretch of clear skies and balmy weather for much of September. As the transition now moves quickly into the darker and cooler months of the year I’m posting this colorful photo as a goodbye to that wonderful but short season. In early September, this bull caribou began the process of shedding the velvet coating on its antlers. It happened to be my last day in Denali Park, and my last opportunity for some caribou photography after finding this majestic bull. Close access was difficult so I took this frame at 1000mm. Low light rendered an exposure of only 1/200 sec using ISO 800, but it resolves quite nicely in spite of that.
