This is one of the most relaxed images of a mother harbor seal that I photographed. She could tell that something was unusual about the iceberg that I was appearing to be as I floated by her, but again, she was relaxed the whole time and went back to resting with her newborn. Please visit more of my Harbor Seal Photography.
I find Southeast Alaska to be incredibly frustrating for landscape photography. I like sunrise/sunset images, and you basically do not get any up there. I find it very hard to photographically convey the heavy overcast rainy days that are so common. However, I feel like I have done a good job with this image. I visited Fords Terror 3 different days and finally got the right conditions of a lot of clouds and rain. I used my inflatable to cover the 25 miles from where my boat was anchored to Fords Terror. I wore every layer of clothes that I own, and used my new secret weapon for Southeast, plastic rain gear. Forget wearing Gore-tex up there. Fords Terror is one of my favorite places that I have visited in Southeast. The cliffs surrounding it and waterfalls everywhere you look is just spectacular scenery. Please visit more of my Southeast Alaska Photography.
Eagles are surprisingly difficult to get close to in the wild. Sure, I have been only a few feet away from them on a boat dock while someone was cutting up a salmon, but to get close to them in a more natural setting is very difficult. They spook very easy, and when I am on the water, they can see me coming from a long way away. These 2 posed long enough for me to get a few shots with the nice blurred mountain background before they too took flight. Please visit more of my Bald Eagle Photography.
I’m still editing my images from this winter and thought that this was a pretty unusual image. When I encountered this group of whales, I noticed after a while that the calf was taking a break and was nursing! It was pretty amazing to witness and photograph. Please visit more of my Humpback Whale Photography.
Back in February, I noticed this little pelagic turtle floating in the deep blue many miles off shore of the Big Island. The seas were calm and there weren’t any bigger critters around, so I decided to jump in and take this little guys picture. It was not very big and had probably not seen land for a long time, so it immediately took an interest in the boat and anyone who jumped in the water. This turtle even climbed on top of my camera housing while I was swimming next to it! All the fun ended when an enormous Galapagos shark that was bigger than myself came rocketing out of the deep to check me out. I did not see it until it was upon me. Fortunately, it just came at me and turned very abruptly at the last second. My boat captain heard me screaming and quickly came over to pick me up. I did not get back in the water that afternoon, but I did the next day and the rest of the trip. Sorry, I did not get any images of the shark! Please visit more of my Sea Turtle Photography.
My buddy Paul and I went up to Nanaimo last week for a few days. I have been wanting to do some cold water diving for awhile. I also just bought a new 8″ dome port for my Ikelite housing that I wanted to try out. Paul has the same boat that I do, a 22′ C-Dory, so we took it on the ferry with his big truck and wasted a lot of gas. After all of the expense and effort to get up there, the underwater visibility was less than 5′. It sucked. I managed to get this one image (which is not that great in my opinion) of a harbor seal staring at its reflection in my dome. Even when the images are not that great, it is always amazing to swim with marine animals. I will have to try again when the visibility is better next winter. Please visit more of my Harbor Seal Photography.
I just got back from my first trip to SE Alaska for the year. I was hoping to be in Glacier Bay before anyone else this year and while it still looked like winter. The weather and photo opportunities were disappointing, but that is SE Alaska for you. This image was created on Leland Island during the only nice sunset I got in 11 days of effort. I really enjoyed the shells on this beach looking up towards the snow capped peaks enveloped in the clouds. I could hear the Steallar sea lions barking on a nearby island as I took this photo. There was very little wind, so my boat was anchored in the lagoon behind me. It was a perfect Alaska wilderness experience. Please visit more of my Glacier Bay National Park Photography.
A few weeks ago, I lead a private photography workshop for Mark & Ross from Minnesota. We had a very busy 3 day trip photographing the rainforest in the afternoon and beaches at sunrise and sunset. I had not been out to Second Beach for several years, but it was as spectacular as ever. I think that we all agreed that this sunset image was the nicest of the whole trip. Please visit my Olympic National Park Photography page to see more of my images from the Washington coast.
I have been spending the last few weeks updating and organizing the website. I hope that you like the new layout. I am now starting to get back to editing my recent images from my trip to Hawaii. My friend and well-known underwater photographer Doug Perrine was kind enough to take me out on his boat for a shark encounter. We went out to one of the FAD buoys and waited for a few minutes, and sure enough 2 oceanic whitetip sharks made their appearance! We spent about 2 hours in the water trying to photograph them. It was my first time with oceanics and it was very beautiful. I’ve always heard that they will come right up to you and bump you, which sure enough they did. This was the best shot that I got while the sun was still out. Please visit more of my Shark Photography.
