More Snowshoe hares

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snowshoe hare (Lepus Americanus) on snow, winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a look at a Snowshoe hare (lepus americanus) just as it starts to pelage and change to its summer coat, and below, a look at another hare further along in the process. I like to try to photograph animals in the various stages of their phenology, and also to try some different kinds of compositions – the one below showing a little more of the forest this snowshoe hare lives in, and what they might do this time of year; sit in the morning sun and catch some rays after a long, cold winter. Continue reading →

Breakup – Cross Country Skiing

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Backcountry cross country skiing, along the Kennecott River, near McCarthy, springtime, breakup, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Cross Country skiing this spring along the Kennecott River. This is why they call this time of year (April)  “breakup”. This spring was probably some of the funnest times I’ve had in a long time. What a great time and place!

You might notice my hip new Karhu 10th Mountain XCD backcountry skis. All I can say about ’em is these skis ROCK!!! Continue reading →

Mt Drum and Mt Wrangell Panoramic

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Panoramic photo of Mt Drum and Mt Wrangell, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Larger Image.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another shot of the Wrangell Mountains from my recent trip to the north side of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The 2 main peaks are Mt. Drum towards the right, and the broad based mound of Mt Wrangell on the left. The small cone shaped dome on the left, touching Mt Wrangell, is Mt. Zanetti. This is a panoramic composition, produced by stitching several tighter frames together using Photoshop – a pretty neat little tool that allows a variety of compositional options not as readily available to a standard 35mm SLR. Cool stuff.

On a clear day, there are few grander sites in North America than the Wrangell Mountains. This was taken right at sunset.

Cheers

Carl

Wendell Berry and Guy Tal

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Winter in the Mentasta Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

A winter sunset over the Mentasta Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

“The effort to clarify our sight cannot begin in the society, but only in the eye and in the mind. It is a spiritual quest, not a political function. We each must confront the world alone and learn to see it for ourselves”. So says Wendell Berry, one of my favorite writers, in his book “The Unforeseen Wilderness”. The book, a dearly needed plea to save Kentucky’s Red River Gorge from a nefarious plan to dam it, was written nearly 40 years ago. I haven’t read the book completely yet, as I just bought it this afternoon. But I glanced at it, and this passage caught my attention. Berry continues on:

“the figure of the photographic artist – not the tourist-photographer who goes to a place, bound by his intentions and preconceptions, to record what has already been recorded and what he therefore expects to find, but the photographer who goes into a place in search of the real news of it”.* Continue reading →

Mt. Sanford photo, Wrangell St. Elias

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Mt. Sanford catches dawn light, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo of Mt. Sanford from a recent trip to the north side of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. The park is basically accessible via 2 roads, one from the west that runs into McCarthy, and the other from the north, that runs south to Nabesna. Generally, I’ve always enjoyed the south side area of the park more, but I think the views along the road are often more impressive on the north side.  On a clear day, the Wrangell Mountains lie to the west and dominate the landscape. Mt. Sanford, pictured here, 16 237′ tall, is a great view. Mt. Wrangell, over 14 000′ tall, is also visible, and even a distant Mt. Blackburn can be seen from the entrance of the park. Continue reading →

Kuskulana Bridge View, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

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Sunset over the Wrangell Mountains from the Kuskulana Bridge over the Kuskulana Gorge.

hey folks,

I’ll be out for a while now, and won’t be able to post for a bit – maybe a week or 2, I think. In the meantime, here’s a photo from the Kuskulana Bridge over the Kuskulana River, taken back in the winter one evening. This is the bridge on which my van broke down the previous winter, the beginning of a time that lives in infamy.

Til I see ya again, be well.
Cheers
Carl

Cross country skiing

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Cross country skiing on the Kennicott river, springtime, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I had to show this image from my most recent skiing outing. Here I take the last in a run of drops that started with the mountain in the background behind me (Bonanza Ridge) – with all that descent, I’d gathered a lot of speed, probably several hundred miles per hour. I was lucky enough to pick my line well in advance, and come right by my tripod. I’ve included the last in this series here below, without me in the image, to show you what an immaculate line I took, right between the boulders, and what a carve. I mean, does it get any sweeter?

Cross country ski tracks, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

Cross Country Skiing, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Skier, cross country skiing, springtime, in the forest, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey folks,

Truth be told, I haven’t been shooting too much these last few weeks. I’m back in McCarthy, at the Shaq, and though the weather has been pretty nice, I just haven’t found much to photograph. It’s the end of winter, in that season known locally as ‘breakup’, a kind of pre-spring interim. The snow is melting, quickly, which means limited mobility – after about midday, its just slushy goo. however, when we get a nice clear sky, at night, the temperature drops dramatically (it’s been comfortably warm in the daytime), and the snow cover re-freezes .. so skiing in the morning is awesome. Continue reading →

Yin Yang Photo #2

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An absract photo, shadow and light, winterm representing yin yang, on snow bank, Wrangell St. Elias National park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

A follow-up to my ‘snowbank’ scene. I’d been reading a bit of eastern philosophy, some of which I really admire, and the yin yang idea resonated strongly with me. It just seems, so clearly, to represent the world; light and shadow, sound and silence, space and solid, energy and matter, left and right, short and tall, love and fear, being and non-being. The philosophy delves much more deeply than those mere examples of its (yin yang) manifestation, but I won’t go into all that at the moment. It’s pretty cool stuff though, check it out. Continue reading →

Snowbank in Black and White

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A snowbank in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, winter, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image I made in January. I’d not had a good morning, hoping for some alpenglow on Mount Blackburn, but was thwarted by an unscrupulous cloudbank. But, I figure I may as well enjoy the mountain morning, right? So I wandered around a bit, soaking up the quiet. There’s nothing quite so silent as a winter dawn in Alaska. I found this little snowbank and thought it might by a good photo study, particularly once the sun a crested nearby ridge. Maybe two hours later the sun peaked it’s nose over the ridge south of me, Continue reading →