If the earth could sing, its voice was ringing melodiously during the Labor day weekend in interior Alaska. Autumn is that fleeting season which peaks at various times based on altitude, but generally between August 23 and Sept 15 reveal the strongest colors. It’s a particularly good time of the year to photograph for a…
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In late August the salmon streams of Prince William Sound are filled with pink salmon. To these streams comes a frequent visitor, hungry for abundant meals of fish-the black bear. I watched this bear fish in the stream for about an hour or so. It was obvious he was near satiation, since the only parts…
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I’ve been on a two week photo excursion across Alaska, (thus the absence of posts for a bit) attempting to capture in time, this brilliant but short autumn season, so indulgent in color and splendid light. Part of this trip included some time in Denali National Park. This year I missed my application deadline for…
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It seems that the James Dalton Highway, or the Haul Road, has grown increasingly popular as a segment to add to one’s motorcycle roadway achievements. While the road is a mix of pavement and gravel sections, there are plenty of steep hills and precarious conditions awaiting the two wheeler. Rain can turn the road surface…
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A band of Dall sheep ewes and lambs are commonly seen along the Atigun pass corridor, the continental divide of Northern Alaska’s Brooks range. I’ve viewed them nearly every visit, in all seasons. Over time, they have grown familiar with vehicular traffic, and are often observed on or very near the road. These two lambs…
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The explosion of color that happens quickly and brilliantly, is now underway in Alaska’s arctic. The reds of the dwarf birch and blueberry bush leaves brighten first and the yellows of the willow and balsam poplar trail a bit behind. Eating ripe blueberries while photographing demands participation, which I did often while hiking along this…
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If you have been following my blog recently, you have seen a few images of my attempts of aerial photography in the Brooks range mountains of northern Alaska. My two trips prior to this one were confounded by the forest fire smoke that engulfed much of Alaska’s interior. Arranging and coordinating flying in accordance with…
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This image of a brown bear catching a red salmon at Brooks falls in Katmai National Park is comprised of three independent images, stitched together to generate a panorama or 3:1 format image. This offers a high resolution file that embodies a wider format more suitable for some reproduction uses, for example, a billboard. In…
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Rain, moist air, and wind direction have given Fairbanks residents some reprieve from the forest fire smoke that has in the past few weeks made air quility very bad. Since I have not photographed much recently due to this, I thought I’d make a post from a previous trip to Katmai National Park. This frame…
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If you are at all apprised of the weather conditions of interior Alaska, you know that it is a record setting hot and dry month of July. This usually means forest fires, and as of today there are 79 actively burning across the state. Canada and Russia are also experiencing forest fires, and collectively, there…
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On a recent trip to Katmai National Park to photograph the brown bears, I grabbed this shot of an Osprey flying by with a fish in its talons. I had just removed my 1.4x converter, which dropped my focal length from 700 to 500. I could have used that extra length but it all happened…
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My last post about the Brooks range reflected the common frustration of photographing in Alaska’s interior with summer forest fires. In early June, I had the chance to fly across the Brooks range through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge doing some aerial photography. This was before the smoke and fire season build up in the…
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At the time I’m writing this, there are 69 forest fires burning in Alaska. They dominate Alaska’s interior region, where a hot and dry climate creates the setting for ignition by lightning. So far, approximately 1.5 million acres of land has burned this year. Not as bad as the 7 million acres burned in 2004,…
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For the coastal brown bears of Katmai national park, salmon is a vital part of their diet. How they capture these fish varies: some catch them with their mouth as the fish jump the falls, as noted in the previous blog photo; some steal fish that other bears catch; some sit nearly submerged in the…
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I recently spent a few days at Katmai National Park photographing the famous congregation of brown bears that fish vigoruously during the summer months, storing up the nourishment to get them through a long winter hibernation. The National Park is large, and the region I visited is more specifically know as Brooks falls, or Brooks…
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Near the confluence of the Nigu and Etivluk river, is Puvakrat mountain, a notable ridge with a rocky spine, great for hiking and splendid views. We began a day hike in rainy and cloudy conditions, but mixed blue skies and dramatic clouds and light spilled across the grand vista as evening progressed. The sky in…
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On our 10 day river trip along the Nigu and Etivluk, we saw two grizzly bears, both of which upon noticing us, took off across the tundra. This is the kind of reaction one likes to see when encountering a bear in the wild. Well, sort of. Photographing bears in the arctic is quite unlike…
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This little Red-necked phalarope, with its elegant presence, is the only shorebird that swims on the water. There were many nesting pairs along the same lake that the pair of Pacific loons were on. I usually see this bird in south central Alaska during the spring migration, and often see them in large flocks. So…
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Is there ever really enough time? To get the right shot, to get the right light, heck, for life in general. So much to see and so much to do. In this particular instance, our two canoes were all packed up and it was time to hit the river for a day of paddling, with…
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Although some revel in the constant daylight of Alaska’s summers, it can be exhausting from a photographer’s point of view. Golden hour peaks at some pretty severe hours, and I’ve never been too successful at midday naps. The end result is just a loss of sleep. The light however, is magnificent. After a long day…
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I’ve posted a number of photos from a recent river trip on the Nigu, which flows north out of the Brooks range mountains in Alaska’s arctic. On the first few days, there was a cruddy haze looming in the area, and I later heard reports that it was residual forest fire pollution from Russia. The…
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If you are not familiar with a tussock, this is probably a good thing. Especially in the context of hiking. However, if you plan to travel across the tundra in Alaska’s arctic, you will indeed become quickly familiar with the term. A tussock is a large knob of soil with tufts of grass or sedges…
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This handsome little bird has a melodious song and in early June it sings it heart out on the tundra landscape. The little bird has an extensive range, spending its summers breeding in the arctic regions of Alaska and Canada. The “longspur” refers to an elongated claw on the hind toe, not quite visible in…
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While paddling down the Nigu river on a sunny day, a small herd of bull caribou stepped into the water a little bit down river. I had my camera in a dry bag with the 24-105mm lens on, so I quickly grabbed it for a few shots. Steering the boat did not go well with…
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If there is one splash of color that marks the advance of spring in the arctic, it is the lousewort, a dapple of plant color that appears across the tundra before the blast of green unfolds. As one moves farther north in Alaska’s arctic, things get flatter and flatter, which introduces some composition challenges. I…
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