Alaska’s fascinating wild creatures
Alaska polar bears While guiding a group of photographers on a recent tour for Alaska polar bears, aurora and other opportunistic arctic subjects, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time with these playful polar bear cubs. Like many young animals, they are curious, playful and active, when the parents often sleep or rest.…
Cloudy skies, although not good for aurora, offered some good light for afternoon photography of this family of polar bears. The sow with two cubs take shelter from the winds common to the north coast of Alaska’s arctic. Shooting directly into the wind with lightly blowing snow at temperatures around freezing present some problems with…
Every year in early October I co-guide a photo tour to Alaska’s arctic with friend and colleague Hugh Rose. We do two trips back to back actually, taking 8 photo and nature enthusiasts on a venture for the magic of the emerging arctic winter. While we are omnivorous regarding subject material, the aurora borealis, polar…
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…
A few days ago when I left my home for a trail run through the boreal forest, I saw a grouse in my front yard. But not the usual grouse, i.e. spruce or the roughed grouse, both commonly observed. But this one looked a little different. It was a sharp-tailed grouse, which has been seen…
In keeping with the theme of wildlife in a contextual landscape, I took this photo in Sable Pass, which is a region of Denali Park that is off limits to hiking. From the road, I watched this bull caribou on a distant ridge and the late evening light sprinkled in a little. I was hoping…
On a very gray day with low lying clouds, a little opening in the sky dropped some light on a mountain dome along the base of Sable Mountain in Denali Park. I quickly grabbed my 100-400 and captured this fleeting moment from the sun roof of my car. The light was gone in a few…
There exist many “almost” shots in my photo experiences over the years. An adage says that “almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”, and I don’t deal with either of those. While the “almost” encounter does not result in the acquisition of a photo, at least the photographer is left with the process, and…
The wet autumn season in Alaska has coughed up only a few clear sky days. My nine day stint in Denali Park during Aug/Sept saw many dark gray clouds and rain. However, there were a few moments of brilliance, with an emphasis on the “few”. The fall colors in the park were magnificent, vibrant and…
One Giant Salad Bull moose in August are finalizing their summer season of gorging themselves on vegetation to fuel the growth of their massive antlers which will serve them in establishing dominance during the autumn rut (or mating season). I photographed this bull moose browsing on alder leaves along the drainages in the tundra landscape…