Alaska Photos, Pictures, Prints

Popular Photography May 2010 Alaska Article

Chilkat Bald Eagle 114

Posted on February 12, 2010 December 8, 2012

I stayed home the last 4 weeks, so I was able to accomplish some serious photo editing. It has been hard work, but also fun reliving all of last years’ amazing adventures and discovering some real gems that I missed during my initial edits, like this bald eagle portrait. I photographed this majestic bird during my Haines Bald Eagle Photo Tour last November. My 3 clients all had a great time, learned a ton, & came home with some real keepers. I already have requests from several people to go back this November. Since I will not take more than 4 clients on my trips, space will be very limited.

Lituya Bay Tufted Puffin

Posted on February 10, 2010 December 8, 2012

This is a cute tufted puffin that I photographed last June in Lituya Bay on the remote outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. During my visit, I used my inflatable boat to explore the sea bird cliffs on the south side of Cenotaph Island. There were thousands of kittiwakes but only a few breeding pairs of tufted puffins. The puffins constantly flew back and forth from the tops of the cliffs down to the water to fish. Through my persistence, I was eventually able to drift close enough to this puffin to take its picture with my 500mm lens. I like the dark green water and pink reflection of the cliffs on the water behind it.

Torch Bay Sea Otters 6

Posted on February 4, 2010 December 8, 2012

Most photographers do not appreciate how difficult it is to photograph sea otters in Southeast Alaska. Plenty of people, myself included, have photographed the approachable sea otters in California, but the “wild” ones in Alaska see you coming from a mile away and want nothing to do with you. This is probably a good thing, since sea otters were previously hunted for their fur almost to the point of extinction. I have watched rafts of hundreds of sea otters in Glacier Bay National Park, near Cape Spencer, and in Frederick Sound, but none of them have allowed me to get close enough for a decent picture, even with a long lens. After being frustrated so often by their elusive nature, I was surprised to find this cooperative mother & baby during my brief visit to Torch Bay last June while returning from my amazing Lituya Bay visit. It was pouring rain, but fortunately I was able to set up my 500mm lens & tripod underneath the rain canopy on the back deck of my 22′ C-Dory while my friend Dominik Modlinksi manned the helm. The mother repeatedly dove to the bottom to catch some food. When she returned to the surface, it was all she could do to grab a bite of her catch before her little one voraciously snatched it away from her. (It was kinda like me trying to eat ice cream around my daughters.) After stealing mom’s food, the baby would climb on top of her for comfort & bonding. It was a beautiful wildlife experience in a unique setting and I am happy that I came away with a few images.

Chilkat River Winter Sunrise

Posted on November 25, 2009 December 8, 2012

During my recent photography tour to Haines, Alaska, this was the only morning worth photographing landscape images, but the shooting conditions were extreme. I had to lay on my stomach to get low enough to the ground to shoot this composition and the wind chill was at least -10°F. I was also instructing my clients at the same time that I was setting up my camera. For a few seconds, the low angle sunrise light briefly illuminated the foreground wind-blown snow patterns that I chose to frame the mountains. I managed a couple of exposures before the light went back behind the clouds. I continued my instruction until we all agreed that we could no longer feel our fingers or toes. Brrrr!

Chilkat Bald Eagle 101

Posted on November 19, 2009 December 8, 2012

Seriously, how did this image get on my memory card? Full frame, no cropping, clean bokeh, & a perfect composition! I am only averaging 6 opportunities each day to track a flying eagle. This just goes to show you that you have to keep trying until you get it right.

Chilkat Bald Eagle 100

Posted on November 19, 2009 December 8, 2012

I am having a great time with my 3 clients in Alaska on my bald eagle photography tour. They are learning how to be real wildlife photographers. The weather conditions are making it challenging to shoot. There is a foot of snow on the ground and the skies are very dark. There also aren’t as many eagles around this year. However, between my 2 cameras, I still captured over 1000 frames today. I have yet to capture a great eagle in flight shot, but I am trying. So far, this is my favorite image. This eagle posed for me for almost 20 minutes, which was enough time for me to get into a position for a clean bokeh background. To complete the shot, all I had to do was wait for him to disapprovingly glare at me.

Crystalline Hills Tundra Pond 2

Posted on October 14, 2009 December 8, 2012

While I was visiting Wrangell-St Elias National Park last month, a rainbow briefly appeared above this beautiful tundra pond. It is one of my favorite images from the trip. I am always on the lookout for dramatic weather, clouds, & sun-breaks. I also scout a location in advance so that I can anticipate an image like this. Most of the time I get skunked, but occasionally all the right conditions come together and I capture an amazing image.

When photographing rainbows, the biggest challenge I have found is keeping my lens & filters water drop free. I keep my camera put away or covered until it is worth risking the exposure to the rain. I usually get 1-3 images before the water drops become noticeable and ruin the picture. At this point if it is still raining it is impossible to dry everything off to continue. My other trick for photographing wide-angle rainbow landscapes is to anti-polarize the light and use a 3-stop soft graduated neutral density filter. A rainbow is polarized light, so I can either make it totally disappear or make it really pop by rotating the polarizer. The grad filter helps balance the overall exposure. I have used this set up many time and it always works.

Fireweed Mt Reflection 1

Posted on October 5, 2009 December 8, 2012

This is another beautiful reflection pond that I photographed in Wrangell-St Elias National Park last month. It’s right next to the road, so if you ever drive the McCarthy Road you can’t miss it. As you can see, the fall colors were are their peak during my visit. McCarthy had already closed down for the season, so there were no other people around, let alone photographers. About 99.99% of the time when I am taking pictures, there is no one else around (other than my travel companions). That is just the way I like it.

I am going backpacking the next few days into the Enchantments in the Central Cascades. The larch trees should be at their peak for fall color. It probably snowed up there the last few days, but this week it is suppose to be sunny & warm. Wish me luck!

Wrangell-St Elias Water Lilies 1

Posted on September 28, 2009 December 8, 2012

During my recent trip to Wrangell-St Elias National Park, I spent several days in a row photographing my favorite tundra pond. Eventually I will post several spectacular sunrise images from this location, but for now I want to share these beautiful lilies. I am best know for my dramatic wild-angle landscape images, but I also enjoy photographing nature’s details when the opportunity presents itself. While I was waiting for dramatic light on the mountains, these lilies and blue sky reflection caught my attention. I normally look for groups that contain odd numbers, but these 4 lilies in a broken circle inspired me to bend the rules.