Polar Bear photo, Arctic Alaska
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Brown bear, Katmai National Park, Alaska
A brown bear (Ursus arctos) sits in long green sedge grass. The low tide provides great habitat for coastal brown bears in spring and summer, in places like Kukak Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Getting ready to leave soon for another trip to Katmai National Park, after a busy summer hiking and backpacking. I’m excited, as always to head to Katmai and photograph the great coastal brown bears down there.
This photo was taken in June on the Coastal Brown Bear Photo Tour. A beautiful young brown bear, maybe 4 or 5 years old, in nice, soft light.
This fall we have 2 weeks of trips, with a few returning guests, as well as a number of people coming out for their first Alaska trip. After that, I have a week scheduled to photograph in the Arctic, then the summer/fall season will be over for me, and it’ll be time to catch up on website updates, etc, and planning for 2013. The aurora borealis photo tours have generated/are generating a great deal of interest, so that should be a fun time in the spring.
Oh, that and some fun skiing/snowboarding of course.
Cheers
Carl
Alaska brown bear photo
Brown bear (Ursus arctos), at Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the photo above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Just returned from a week on the Katmai coast photographing brown bears. This was a new trip for me this year; I’d not been over to this specific location, or at this time of year, previously.
It was a grand trip; flying out of Kodiak, and spending a week on a boat along the coast, shooting bears in gorgeous soft summer light. My personal photography priority for the trip was bears in the landscape. I also wanted some cool “behavioral” photos, which included bears clamming at low tide, sparring with one another, and even mating. Cool stuff to shoot.
Shooting mid-summer in Alaska requires a great deal of flexibility; if the weather is clear and sunny, the best light (in this area) is at 9:30pm – 11pm, and 5:00am – 6:00am. So by the time we’d get back from a shoot, it might well be after midnight. Getting back up at 4:30am to shoot again is a rough gig. On the other hand, if the skies are overcast, we’d shift to a more routine schedule, and head out around 8am. Continue reading
Mount Sanford sunrise photo
John Cleese on creativity.
Hey Folks,
A great talk on creativity by John Cleese; definitely put some time aside and check this out.
Art and life
A brown bear male, ursus arctos, stands in the first light of the day, backlit by the morning sun, as he looks around for breakfast. Brown bear, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
” What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life. That art is something which is specialized or which is done by experts who artists. But couldn’t everyone’s life become a work of art? Why should the lamp or the house be an art object, but not your life?” – Michael Foucault
What a great sentiment! Foucault wrote some great stuff.
An examination of what ‘art’ is could well be an artful endeavor itself. What are your thoughts? Is life art?
Cheers
Carl
Northern lights in the White Mountains, Alaska
Aurora borealis, or northern lights, over spruce trees, White Mountains near Fairbanks, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Apologies for the long delays in getting back to the blog. I’ve been busy working on a new website (details coming soon enough, I hope), and then the last couple of weeks over in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park for a snowshoe trip, and then a week in central Alaska looking for the aurora borealis.
Now I’m back for a couple of brief days before heading out again to the park for another trip, snowshoeing and photographing. So I won’t be around much at least for another week or so.
This shot was from last night in the White Mountains, just north of Fairbanks. The aurora rocked all night long. We got back in the cabin at a little after 5, then up at 9, breakfast, and on the road back to Anchorage. I was hoping to go back out tonight, but I don’t see that happening at this point. I’m tired.
People tend to underestimate how difficult it can be to shoot the aurora. It means long nights, and often little sleep. And very often, very little good photographic fortune. But sometimes we get lucky.
Hope you enjoy this image of the aurora.
Cheers
Carl
Bald Eagle Photo
The power of Command Q
A black and white version of Mt Sanford and reflection, from one of my favorite viewpoints in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
The secret to a productive day of creative work on the computer, for me, is Command Q. Tweet Deck, closed. Mac Mail, closed. Fetch, closed. Safari, Firefox and Chrome, closed. Dreamweaver, closed. Capture NX2, closed, Photoshop closed, Text Edit, closed. iTunes, open, and Photo Mechanic, open. 35 minutes of initial photo sorting/editing and keywording and I get an awful lot done.
Then, Command O and Capture NX2 opens up. Select the images from Photo Mechanic, and hit Command E. Those images open in Capture NX2. Command Q again, and Photo Mechanic shuts down. I do my basic RAW editing, conversions, etc, and open the images in Adobe Photoshop. Command Q and Capture NX2 shuts down as well.
A free trip in Wrangell-St. Elias Park
Snowshoeing and backcountry skiing in the Mentasta Mountains, winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
I thought it’s probably about time I mentioned it on this website. I’m running an offer on Expeditions Alaska for a free trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park this march. All the details are here. This is a pretty sweet offer, if I have to say so myself, so do check it out. It closes Jan 17, and the winners will be drawn the morning of the 18th. 10am Alaska time. Feel free to enter, but do read the stipulations first; it just makes the sorting and collating of emails into a list for the drawing much easier that way. And if you think you know of someone else who might want to enter, either let them know pronto, or enter for them. Only one entry per household though. Don’t enter if someone has already entered for you.
Sorry about the late notice here.
Cheers
Carl