As a mammal, the polar bear is the lord of the Arctic. Powerful, solitary, beautiful. This is one of my favorite photos from the 2013 photo tour last October. The bear pauses while walking across ice recently frozen in a bay, as the Romanzof mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Brooks Range…
Since the month of March is in sight now, this is a shout out to all of you aurora photographers. The period around the equinoxes tend to have slightly heightened aurora activity, and I’ll be out in the field for a few weeks myself next month. A special thanks to all of you who have…
With the release of the Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS with a built in 1.4x there was a lot of enthusiasm in the photography community. But with a retail price of $12K, it really forces some serious evaluation before making a purchase. I felt that I would need the lens in my hand for a period…
I receive many questions on How to Photograph the Northern Lights–which is why I wrote an eBook on the topic. While I don’t have the time to answer all of the questions, I decided to post my response to a few questions here for the broader community. Exposure Q: For proper exposure of the aurora should…
The wildlife density found on South Georgia Island is mind-bending and not easily or adequately portrayed in a picture. On a ridge overlooking this long beach, the king penguin rookery was filled with birds and raucous noises. The different colors, notably the brown stripes in the crowd of birds are the young chicks sporting a…
I took this picture during a zodiac ride through a graveyard of icebergs in Port Charcot, off Booth Island along the Antarctica Peninsula. It was the third excursion of the day, returning to the ship about 10:00pm. One thing that the Cheeseman Ecology Safari trips are known for, is their maximized time in the field…
The penguins of cartoons are often a combination of a number of the penguin species. The gentoo penguin is the one that contributes the orange feet that have come to define what a penguin’s feet should look like. Ask a child to color a penguin and you can bet the feet will be orange. The…
Perhaps the most sought after photograph of a seal in Antarctica is the leopard seal. It is a top predator in the Antarctic waters, save that of the killer whale. It’s physical size and oddly shaped body, with a giant head and jaws, is formidable. It has been well photographed, and in some visually striking…
The voyages to Antarctica are lengthy and adventurous. The direct route there from the southern tip of Argentina in a large ship is about a two days, and longer if you visit South Georgia Island along the way. Once at the Antarctic Peninsula, daily visits are made to shore at a number of different locations.…
Of all of the species of penguins found in Antarctica, the Adelie is my favorite by far. I think this in part attributed to their cartoon like appearance, with definitive and simple lines of color demarcation. The white circles bordering their eyes make them seem eternally happy and engaged. But they are favored even more…