The road that transects Denali National Park crosses 4 mountain passes and many river drainages. This is astonishing for a road that is only 90 miles long, and one of the reasons that majestic views are not lacking on that journey. And, this lends to photos of wildlife contextually placed in this wilderness mountain setting.…
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As a follow up to my previous post “wolf pack kills moose calf” last week, in which a colleague and I photographed a predator/prey scene in Denali National Park, I thought I’d make a few comments on the photographic equipment and technical side of that shoot, and then share a few pictures taken following the…
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I joined my friend and colleague Hugh Rose for a one-day professional photography permit in Denali National Park on Thursday. Historically, (that is over the last 15 years) whenever Hugh and I join up in the park, we encounter something special to photograph, and this short trip rivals all previous ones. When exiting the park…
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If you can’t beat em, join em. That was my thought over the Memorial Day weekend-sort of. This is in context to the wildland forest fires and subsequent smoke that is plaguing much of interior Alaska. Intsead of running from the smoke, I figured what the heck, I might as well run to it, and…
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Fairbanks and interior Alaska has enjoyed an incredible warm and wonderful spring, on the heels of a very dry winter. The unfortunate payback for this is a tinder box landscape and I’m sorry to say that forest fires are dotting much of the interior. I’m just hoping for some rains in the near future, to…
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About 12 years ago, while building my house, I suffered a traumatic brain injury during a fall on concrete, in which I landed on my head. Fortunately, no permanent damage was done, but I did acquire a good excuse for which to blame my seemingly increasing loss of memory. That experience piqued my interest in…
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There is a new mode of travel available in Fairbanks this summer. Although populous in other locations around the nation, the magically balanced Segway can now be rented for a tour around town. On a photo shoot for www.EcoSegAlaska.com, I had a chance to not only photograph them, but ride one as well. Virtually silent,…
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One would think that far away from the masses of humanity, in a remote wilderness setting, without road access, that one might not need to lock the door of their cabin. However, bush living introduces a different type of security concern. It is the time of year across Alaska when bears are waking. They are…
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The Kobuk river in the western Brooks range is designated a wild and scenic river. Last weekend was the first time I’ve flown over it, and it kindled an interest to make a river trip sometime in the near future. Break up this year along Alaska’s major river systems of the interior was relatively gentle,…
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It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed in Alaska, 4 months to be exact. International travel and surgery have kept me busy but it felt good to venture into one of my favorite places over the weekend, the Brooks Range, a massive range that arcs across Alaska’s arctic. I was doing an assignment for…
DetailsWhile in the Galapagos with my 5DII in a housing, I played around a bit with the video capture, and the emphasis is definitely on play. If things got good I focused on still images, but this is a little video I captured of sea turtle swimming gracefully. They are such amazing creatures. It’s not…
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Perhaps there are some of you out there who have wondered about getting a housing for underwater, or over/under photography. I have used the ewa-marine U-BXP100 plastic bag housing for years, and decided to break into a system with more control, and therefore purchased the Ikelite housing for my Canon 5DII. I took the housing…
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Now that I’ve processed all the images from my April 2010 trip to the Galapagos, I’ve gathered a few favorites to share in a gallery. It was black-lava-hot down there, especially for an Alaskan, but in spite of that overhead sun, some color leaked out of the landscape. You can see all of the photos…
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Sky control is fundamental to landscape photography. The term refers to ways in which a photographer manages the disparity in exposure values between the sky (which is often bright) and the foreground (which is often dark). The “balancing” is necessary because film can’t record the full range of tonal value (dynamic range) that the human…
DetailsIf you have been tracking the development of RAW image processing programs, then it should be getting increasingly more clear that the need to generate derivative .tiff or .psd files of your master RAW files is getting increasingly less necessary. In the beginning days of processing RAW files, it was cumbersome, slow, and in general…
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I’ve seen pictures of Machu Picchu over the years, but none of them really prepared me for the first hand view. This “lost city of the Incas” is a commanding site, filled with mystery, and perched in the most spectacular mountain jungle location. I shared a few pics on a post a while back, just…
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The Waved Albatross, sometimes called the Galapagos Albatross, breeds primarily on Espanola Island. Like other albatrosses, it comes to shore only to breed and rear young. In the Archipelago, this happens in response to food availability, which is generally in early April, and we were fortunate enough to see the very beginning of their arrival…
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South Plaza Island was our first shoreside visit, and it was perfectly timed with sunset, which happens quickly along the equator. The gentle afternoon light was warm and luminous accent to a landscape rich in green and yellow, due to recent abundant rains and the short-lived blossoming period of the portulaca plant. Plants in general,…
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There was a news headline back in 2009 that excitedly reported a female tortoise, paired with the famous Lonesome George, laid a clutch of eggs. Unfortunately, the eggs were infertile, and it appears that the possibility of offspring is grim for this last remaining of the Pinta Island subspecies of Tortoise. George continues to play…
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The Galapagos Islands are the only place in the world you will find a marine iguana. The color variation differs from island to island among the archipelago, and on Espanola Island, the iguanas have a red and green hue. They are as bizarre to watch as they look, and like most reptiles, don’t move unless…
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The enchanted islands of the Galapagos are appropriately named. Located about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, they are uniquely situated at the convergence of warm and cool water currents, a contributing factor to the amazing diversity of life found among the archipelago. After a week exploring the region both above and below the…
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Saturday morning was my only early morning photo opportunity at Machu Picchu and I woke at 5:30 to thick fog and rain. It made for a disheartening morning greeting, high in the Peruvian jungle, but afforded time for coffee and breakfast. The crowds arrived at 6AM, and I ventured out after them and long after…
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Having just spent the day trekking around the lost city of the Incas, or better known as Machu Picchu, it is clear why it stands out as Peru’s primary tourist attraction. The mystery surrounding much of the ruins leaves one to imagine all sorts of purpose or reason for many structures and objects. But mostly…
DetailsOllantaytambo Inca ruins, in the Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo, Peru, often overshadowed by the more famous Machu Picchu are certainly worth a visit. I spent a few hours there after a day filled with travel and visits to other locations prior to a late afternoon arrival. More time would be allocated in a future visit for…
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It’s going on six weeks since I had shoulder surgery, and I have not taken one photo in Alaska in 2010. That is the longest photo-free period for me ever. However, that is happily ending as I’m pushing equatorial boundaries again for the second time in three months, with travels to Peru (Machu Picchu-if the…
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