Alaska’s fascinating wild creatures
As a 700mm equivalent lens on the 1D Mark IV, I was a little tight for these bears with the 500mm, but I needed the frame rate of that camera to capture the sequential action. In order to increase resolution on this image, I merged a handful of photos that I took just seconds apart.…
Mother polar bears with cubs present some of the best photography scenarios largely due to the playful personalities of the young cubs. Born in January, these little cubs grow quite quickly and spend the time before heading out on the ice pack developing in ways that will help in their survival. On average, female polar…
I just returned from 3 weeks of guiding two trips in Alaska’s Arctic and they were as unique and productive as usual. I know that some who follow this blog have a future interest in joining the Alaska Arctic Photo Tour that I co-guide with Hugh Rose. For that reason, I thought I’d share a…
A calm day this time of year along Alaska’s typically windy arctic coast is a treat. Such was the case yesterday, at least for a short while. During a photo session with the polar bears, one walked over to the edge of the water and lowered its face to reveal a beautiful reflection. I happened…
The nomadic caribou of Alaska’s arctic roam widely across the northern regions of the Brooks Range mountains. Several thousands were visible along the snowy tundra near the Philip Smith mountains, and I experimented with various focal lengths. They were quite far off but the herd shows their dispersion well. At least two in one group…
I’ve had few chances to get a good photo of a snowly owl in flight, over the snowy tundra of Alaska’s north slope. On my last trip there many were spotted but this is the only one that I had a chance to photograph, and that was a long reach. I used my 500 with…
I just returned from co-guiding a photo tour to Alaska’s arctic, and getting ready to return for trip two. We had excellent polar bear photography with favorable conditions including some unusually calm weather. The light however, was in general pretty dark and gray, which is typical for coastal arctic Alaska weather this time of year.…
The tundra of Alaska’s arctic coast is hunted frequently by birds and fox, in particular, looking for rodents. I watched this red fox (in an cross fox color phase-its actually the same species just a variation in color), catch a number of rodents in a very short time. The fresh fallen snow is a contrasting…
This curious polar bear stood up on his hind feet to get a better look across an inlet in the Beaufort Sea. During our current photo tour, we have had a mix of weather, including snow, clouds and sun. Some fantastic experiences watching and photographing the bears have been very enjoyable.
I just returned from a trip to photograph the brown bears in Katmai National Park and a rapid change of gears has me headed for Arctic Alaska, in pursuit of polar bears, aurora borealis and Arctic wildlife. I’m co-guiding a group of photographers, who are very excited for what lies ahead in the next 10…