To stand under a sky filled with twisting and turning bands of green and purple aurora, amidst pure white snow covered mountains and chilly minus degree temperatures is a most invigorating and spellbinding experience. Those who encounter it, won’t easily forget it. I’ve been there many times, and the latest always seems the best, perhaps…
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I head out tomorrow to guide a few weeks of aurora photography tours in Alaska’s Arctic. The skies have been colorful over the past month, and I hope that continues. I’ll share some photos when opportunity rises. There are 16 excited guests all geared up and ready to make some great pictures. Let’s hope the…
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I first experienced Prince William Sound, in Southcentral Alaska, when working for the State of Alaska Department of Conservation Oil Spill Response Division, following the Exxon Oil spill in 1989. Since then, I’ve been back almost ever year, and usually, a number of times a year. It is a magnificent place of both scenic beauty…
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Muskox shed their amazing qiviut (hair) in the spring and it can be found in small clusters in the branches of tundra vegetation. I’ve got a big bag full that I’ve gathered over the years and someone graciously offered to spin a few balls of yarn from which I plan to have a warm hat…
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As daylight hours begin to increase in Alaska, the month of March is often rich with winter photography opportunities. One can now feel the warmth of the sun on the face, which throws thoughts forward to summer. But before that big melt comes, I’m looking forward to some great photo trips coming soon. I took…
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I’ve been doing a lot of database work over the past few weeks, executing a huge review and clean up of the 100,000 files in my Lightroom Database. This has included doing a spell check on all metadata, properly tagging images, doing a complete cloud-based backup of my RAW files, and overall file organization. It…
Details11 seconds of aurora action On Wednesday night (2/19/2014) the northern lights were pouring over the night skies in Fairbanks, Alaska. I was not as active as they were, at least not in a serious photographic sense. I had sleep on my mind as following day schedule had its demands. And that is what I…
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As a mammal, the polar bear is the lord of the Arctic. Powerful, solitary, beautiful. This is one of my favorite photos from the 2013 photo tour last October. The bear pauses while walking across ice recently frozen in a bay, as the Romanzof mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Brooks Range…
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Since the month of March is in sight now, this is a shout out to all of you aurora photographers. The period around the equinoxes tend to have slightly heightened aurora activity, and I’ll be out in the field for a few weeks myself next month. A special thanks to all of you who have…
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With the release of the Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS with a built in 1.4x there was a lot of enthusiasm in the photography community. But with a retail price of $12K, it really forces some serious evaluation before making a purchase. I felt that I would need the lens in my hand for a period…
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I receive many questions on How to Photograph the Northern Lights–which is why I wrote an eBook on the topic. While I don’t have the time to answer all of the questions, I decided to post my response to a few questions here for the broader community. Exposure Q: For proper exposure of the aurora should…
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The wildlife density found on South Georgia Island is mind-bending and not easily or adequately portrayed in a picture. On a ridge overlooking this long beach, the king penguin rookery was filled with birds and raucous noises. The different colors, notably the brown stripes in the crowd of birds are the young chicks sporting a…
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I took this picture during a zodiac ride through a graveyard of icebergs in Port Charcot, off Booth Island along the Antarctica Peninsula. It was the third excursion of the day, returning to the ship about 10:00pm. One thing that the Cheeseman Ecology Safari trips are known for, is their maximized time in the field…
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The penguins of cartoons are often a combination of a number of the penguin species. The gentoo penguin is the one that contributes the orange feet that have come to define what a penguin’s feet should look like. Ask a child to color a penguin and you can bet the feet will be orange. The…
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Perhaps the most sought after photograph of a seal in Antarctica is the leopard seal. It is a top predator in the Antarctic waters, save that of the killer whale. It’s physical size and oddly shaped body, with a giant head and jaws, is formidable. It has been well photographed, and in some visually striking…
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The voyages to Antarctica are lengthy and adventurous. The direct route there from the southern tip of Argentina in a large ship is about a two days, and longer if you visit South Georgia Island along the way. Once at the Antarctic Peninsula, daily visits are made to shore at a number of different locations.…
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Of all of the species of penguins found in Antarctica, the Adelie is my favorite by far. I think this in part attributed to their cartoon like appearance, with definitive and simple lines of color demarcation. The white circles bordering their eyes make them seem eternally happy and engaged. But they are favored even more…
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Twenty three years ago, I read a book that would mark my mind forever. In the genre that my friend dubbed “explornography” Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, is an epic, gripping tale of survival and leadership. The Antarctic expedition ship “Endurance” gets crushed in the ice, the crew salvages parts and sails the southern ocean in…
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I’m back from a wonderful wilderness experience in the Southern Ocean, where I worked as staff for Cheeseman’s Ecology Safaris on a 30 day expedition voyage to the Falkland and South Georgia Islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula. While I was there, aboard a very ship-worthy Russian Icebreaker named the MV Ortelius, another ship, the Akademik…
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I’ve had a few inquiries about the new 2014 AT&T wall calendar, wondering if it was my photo and where it was taken. It is indeed a picture I took in the southern foothills of the Central Brooks Range of Alaska, during an aurora photography trip. It is actually a stitch of two photos that…
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I spent a great deal of time outside of Alaska in 2013, and in general, my photographic work was limited compared to previous years. Thus the number of non-Alaska pictures in this collection. Here are 100 favorites from some very fantastic travels.
(Currently on my way to Antarctica: I scheduled this blog post ahead of time) The business of stock photography is, and has been, changing so rapidly that survival in the industry requires both hands on the wheel and some seriously strategic driving, especially in nature stock photography. It’s future seems tenuous at best, and the…
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I realize this is a slightly early Holiday Greeting but I’m off on a 30 day voyage to Antarctica, and will not be posting again until the middle of January, 2014. I hope to have some vibrant images to share from that southern wilderness of ice and penguins. Like the writer Paul Theroux said in The…
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Stepping outside of my house to views like this is one of the many reasons I enjoy living in Fairbanks, Alaska, and yes, even through the dark and cold winters. Natural beauty is a tonic to the soul, and I find that embracing the seasons and getting outside regardless of the conditions, cultivates an awareness…
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In less than a week, I’ll be flying far, far way from Fairbanks, Alaska, headed to a near equal latitude in the southern hemisphere. This year, my solstice will be reversed and rather than it being the darkest and shortest day of the year, it will be the opposite. Besides collecting the necessary gear (as…
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