Musher Mitch Seavey uses a ski pole to increase his speed along the Sweepstakes trail about 2o miles from the finish line in Nome. Seavey eventually overtook leader Jeff King, near the check point of Safety. The top three contenders in the Sweepstakes have leapfrogged positions throughout the race, but Mitch Seavey just passed Jeff…
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Musher passes through the Bendeleben mountains, Northbound to Candle, Alaska during the 2008 All Alaska Sweepstakes. Lance Mackey leaves the halfway checkpoint of Candle on the afternoon of day two of the 2008 All Alaska Sweepstakes. Musher Cari Miller passes through Death Valley on day two of the 2008 All Alaska Sweepstakes. I spent some…
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Mitch Seavey travels across the wind-blown tundra outside Nome during the 2008 All Alaska Sweepstakes sled dog race. The All Alaska Sweepstakes, a 408 mile dog sled race, began today in Nome, Alaska. This running of the Sweepstakes celebrates a 100 year anniversary and boasts a $100,000 winner takes-all purse. The race begins in Nome…
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Filters on a lens can cause concentric rings to appear in the center of an image (this is a crop) be sure to remove the filter when photographing the aurora. When photographing the aurora borealis, or northern lights, it is important to remove the filter from your lens. Why? Look at the photo and you…
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Black bear fishing for salmon in Prince William Sound, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 500mm f4.0L , 1/640 @f5.0, ISO 500 Harbor seal on ice berg in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 500mm f4.0L with 1.4x converter (700mm), 1/640 @f7.1, ISO 125 The harbor seal and black bear photo were taken…
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Ruffed grouse in Quaking aspen tree, Fairbanks, AlaskaCanon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4.0L IS with 2x extender (1000mm), 1/400 sec @ f8.0, ISO 640 While working in my office one day I glanced out the window and saw wings fluttering in the surrounding Aspen trees. It turned out to be a Ruffed grouse, feeding in…
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In switching from the 1Ds Mark II to the Mark III, one should really read the camera manual. Now how many people actually do this? I glanced at it, but must admit that I feigned an entire read. Until, I ran into a few odd discoveries, which prompted further exploration. Most notably, was the reduced…
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Musher Egil Ellis wins the ONAC Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f4.0L, 1/640 @ f16, ISO 400 Musher Buddy Streeper takes second place in the ONAC Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f4.0L, 1/640 @ f16, ISO 400 Musher Ken Chezik takes third place in the ONAC Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f4.0L, 1/640 @ f16,…
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Recreational dog mushing along the White Mountains trail system Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24-1-5mm f4.0L IS, 1/640 @f9.0, ISO 200 Part of the one-million-acre White Mountains National Recreation Area. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24-105mm f4.0L IS, 1/80 sec @ f10.0, ISO 125 The White Mountains National Recreation Area is located approximately one hour north of…
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Shoreline along the Norton Sound, Seward Peninsula, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark II, 16-35mm f2.8L (20mm), 1/4 sec @ f16, ISO 125 Today, and for the next few days, Iditarod mushers will be completing their 1100+ mile race, traveling along the coast of the Norton Sound to the finish line on Front street in Nome. This is…
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Musher on the final day of the 2007 ONAC, Fairbanks, AlaskaCanon 1ds Mark II, 16-35mm (16mm), 1/800 @ f8.0, ISO 320 The dog mushing season is in full swing as Iditarod 36 moves to a close in the next day or so. In the interior, the Open North American begins on Friday, March 14th. It…
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2009 Fairbanks and Interior Alaska Wall Calendar I’ve been designing the 2009 Fairbanks Calendar over the past few weeks, and it will go to press soon. This will make year number 6 for the calendar, which has been received with good favor. The cover photo is always a tough decision, and I’ve settled on a…
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Gray Whale spyhopping, Pacific Ocean, Baja California Canon 1ds Mark III, 24-105mm f4.0L, 1/640 @ f8.0, ISO 320 The gray whale population that spends its summers in Alaska’s Bering sea, heads south for the winter where they raise young in the protected regions of the Pacific Ocean along the Baja peninsula. These “nursing grounds” are…
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One challenge with indoor photography is shooting under mixed lighting conditions. The camera, whether digital or film, tends to pick up color variations in light sources with a much more dramatic effect than is noticeable with the human eye. If there is just one light source, the photo can be white balanced to correct for…
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Brown bears at play in the Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark II, 500mm f4.0L IS w/1.4x, 1/250 @ f8.0, ISO 200 The brown bears that inhabit the Brooks river in Katmai National Park share temporary population densities far beyond their preference. They abide together in relative peace due to the extremely abundant…
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A desire to maximize the quality of photos on the website prompted a marathon endeavor of re-processing and fine-tuning nearly all of our RAW format digital files. This was no simple task, and it occupied the office for weeks. Our tool of choice for this process is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. It offers the fine control…
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The Riverboat Discovery on the Chena River, from the deck of the Chena Pump House Restaurant, Fairbanks, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark II, 24-105mm f4.0L, (24mm) 1/320 sec @ f9.0, ISO 160 The March 2008 issue of Alaska magazine is running a feature titled: “Fairbanks – The Heart of the Interior” I’ve supplied them with photographs…
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Mount Augustine volcano, Cook Inlet, Alaska. Stitched panorama photo made with two images. It was selected for the ATT Alascom Calendar for 2007. March 14, 2006 brought clear skies to southcentral Alaska, and I ventured to Homer to attempt some photography of Mt. Augustine volcano for a book project. I was aware of the volcano…
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Pacific herring spawn in the waters around Sitka, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark II, 24-105mm f4.0L IS (28mm), 1/1000 sec @ f5.6, ISO400 Each year in March a brief Pacific herring sac roe commercial fishery happens in Sitka. The school of fish, which returns annually to the Sitka Sound, is monitored closely by the Alaska Department…
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Sled dog at the 2008 Yukon Quest sled dog race, Fairbanks, Alaska. Canon 1ds Mark III, 100-400 f.40-5.6L IS, (275mm) 1/80 sec @ f9.0 The Yukon Quest start unfolded on Saturday, Feb 9th in Fairbanks, under minus 40 degree temperatures, which slowly warmed up to minus 20 as the day progressed. For those not familiar…
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Over the years, I’ve photographed–or tried to photograph–many bears. The brown and grizzly bear are technically declared the same species, but they vary in appearance based on their dietary distinctives. You can learn more about the bears and access photos on my website from this page “Alaska bear photos“. Interior bears, or grizzlies, are generally…
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Southeast Alaska is a diverse, maritime environment, whose shores are dotted with small communities that live a life connected to the sea in some fashion. The Tongass Narrows divides Revillagigedo Island (the island where Ketchikan is located) from Prince of Wales Island. Evening sunsets along its calm waters are splendid (although they may be few)…
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Sleeping brown bear along the banks of the Brooks river, Katmai National Park, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark II, 500mm f4.0L IS, 1/13 sec @ f25, ISO 250 Wildlife photography includes lots of waiting. This is the non-glamorous attribute of the occupation. There are of course plenty of other attributes essential to the career, like persistence, logistics,…
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The formation of ice called “pancake ice” develops during freeze up when circular ice conglomerations bang into each other creating little raised edges around their perimeter. The windy conditions blew all the ice towards shore creating an interesting pattern for a landscape. Photographing in heavy wind requires a strong and stable tripod, a piece of…
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The dog mushing season is about to unfold in Alaska’s interior. The Yukon Quest, a 1000 mile race between Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse, Canada, begins on Saturday Feb 8th. Following that will be many sprint races at the Dog musher’s race grounds and the North American Limited and Open series in March. More daylight and…
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