Rafting Lava falls, Grand Canyon The most famous section of rapids on the Colorado river is Lava falls. Depending on the flow rate of the water, it can be class V, or in Grand Canyon rating class 10. It looms as the mother of all rapids, and becomes the climax of success, or possibly disaster,…
DetailsDeer Creek, Grand Canyon National Park The schedule and pace of moving 280 miles through the Grand Canyon in a raft leaves but a few days to stay off the river and explore. On one of these precious few days, we hiked through the famous Deer Creek, which is a magically beautiful trek. The creek…
DetailsNarrow canyons that intersect the main Colorado river are common in the Grand Canyon. But not all are as stunning as the views in Elves Chasm, which spills streaming water into a series of cascading pools, laden with green mosses and delicate ferns. Even on a sunny day, the narrow walls of the canyon block…
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Unkar Rapids, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona There are many situations within the Grand Canyon landscape that require a super wide lens, due to the enclosed and tight nature of the canyon walls, and the sense of space one can convey by grabbing epic turns in the winding river. Such was the case with this…
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If you have ventured down the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon, you are likely to have spotted these ancient ruins, nestled high in the cliff walls of the canyon, dating to approximately AD 1100. Archeology is part of the fascination of a trip through the canyon. Dry desert conditions bode well for preservation of…
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The Colorado river flows through the Grand Canyon, and is joined along the way by the Little Colorado river. The minerals present in that river result in a beautifully aqua-colored water. We did a short walk along the river at mid day, although in harsh light, at least it was perpendicular to the direction I…
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In keeping with the theme of sharing images from my recent month long trip on the Grand Canyon, here is a panorama stitch which combines 7 vertical images. I did not grab my 14mm for this hike, so I resolved the larger view by stitching images together. This scene is located pretty early on during…
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After one month of camping along the 280 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the first night in a hotel room in Flagstaff, AZ left me feeling claustrophobic; the hot shower however, was both real and surreal. I bit on an invitation for this journey since I’ve heard for years of…
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The past week has been tasked with preparing my office for my upcoming 5 weeks absence, and parallel planning and packing for a 28 day rafting trip down the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon. There is no connectivity along the way, which means you won’t hear from me on this blog until late March.…
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Polar bear cub, late evening light. While it can be easily argued that most of the best photos have defined and dramatic light, the new high ISO performance of today’s digital SLR’s have produced a whole new genre of low-light images that simply could not be captured previously. Certainly not in the same quality league.…
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Female Pine Grosbeak in autumn plumage The female pine grosbeak has a beautiful, rusty brown/orange color in autumn, which seems to blend in perfectly with the dried leaves of the willow bush in which she seeks food. The male, in spring plumage, is quite dramatically displayed in brilliant red. While at a rest stop along…
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Mt Sukakpak is a notable mountain in the Brooks range, with a prominent set of peaks that change drastically based on the angle of view. It’s always amazing in nature photography, to observe the changes in light and color from day to day, at the same location. Last October, I took these pictures less than…
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The Roller Coaster, James Dalton Highway, the Haul Road For those of you familiar with the TV reality show, Ice Road Truckers, then you have heard them speak of this section of the James Dalton Highway know as the roller coaster. It makes a pretty radical descent, with an equal rise on the other side.…
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Caribou migrating in Alaska’s arctic Alaska’s caribou are nomadic ungulates that traverse hundreds of miles across much of Alaska. In the arctic, their presence is sporadic due to their varied movements. On occasion, if one is lucky, large herds can be observed migrating and feeding on Alaska’s arctic north slope. While this group of animals…
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Polar bear symmetry While her cubs were off playing, this female polar bear curled up on the snow and dozed off occasionally. The posture makes a beautiful, symmetrical pose. It is a cropped version of an image taken with a Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm + 1.4x extender, which translates into a focal length of…
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Brown bear (ursus arctos) and red salmon (oncorhynchus nerka) I watched this female brown bear capture many red salmon in the Brooks river of Katmai national park, in southwest Alaska. She had one cub of the year to feed, who watched from the river bank keeping alert for other bears. This picture was taken at…
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Full curl Dall sheep ram I took this shot a few months ago while traveling through Alaska’s Brooks range. Dall sheep rams with a full curl are generally pretty wary due to hunting pressure which has increased in the region over the last decade. Due to the breeding season, a few rams were mingling with…
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I’ve been digging through some files from that latter part of 2011, doing some clean up work and getting folders in a completed state. Occasionally I will shoot a series of images which are to be stitched into a larger file in post production. I do this for panoramas, and sometimes to increase the overall…
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Cinnamon Bay Beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands Given the current temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska this morning, which weighs in at -40 below zero, this scene is about as far away from my current view as possible. My week on the Island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands was filled with views of…
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My dreams of the expansive and crystal clear views under the Caribbean were not fully realized on this trip due to some stormy waters and the resulting turbidity. However, I spent some time snorkeling in the 80+ degree water, which yielded awesome sights of underworld creatures like, octopus, coral, squid, sharks, brilliantly colored fish and…
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When I left Fairbanks for a little tropical reprieve in the US Virgin Islands, it was minus 35 degrees below zero. What a contrast to this Caribbean scene! My journey, although short, was partly a vacation although a photographer is never really free from the addiction of picture-taking. Significant rain and clouds in the first…
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I’m on vacation in the Virgin Islands. Yup, a rough life. Fairbanks was minus -30 degrees when I left, and even though I really like winter, the white sand and aqua water will be a fantastic break. A few photos in the making but nothing too serious. While I’m gone, I scheduled this post of…
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I found out that the new year started with one of the photos published in my new 2012 calendar “Alaska: Profiles in Nature“, was featured on the search website: www.bing.com. It was a polar bear picture that I took a few years ago in Alaska’s arctic. Pretty cool.
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A year in Review: 100 Favorite Images from 2011 Years ago, I started sharing a collection of 100 favorite pictures from my year’s worth of photography. It’s a bit more expansive than the top ten or twelve, and seems to me more reflective of what I have been up to. 2011 turned out to be…
DetailsThe views of los cuernos, or “the horns” in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile are astonishing. This picture was taken just a short walk from my hotel, along the Pehoe lake, which is a beautiful aqua blue color (not so evident from the angle of this picture), but often in raging white-cap…
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