Today proved to be an amazing photographic venture. I woke at 5:00am to an amazing aurora display, and only had time to snap a few pictures before traveling north to the arctic coast for polar bear photography. Our group arrived just in time to catch some golden sunset light on a female polar bear with cubs of the year. All of this in 12 hours, and a lot in between!
Aurora over the Koyukuk river. Canon 5D Mark II, 24mm f/1.4L II, 13 sec. @ f1.4, ISO 1600 (5:23am)
Polar bear cub, Beaufort Sea, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS w/1.4x (700mm) ISO 400, 4:59PM
Gorgeous, warm light on the bear!
I love how you froze the aurora. You can almost see it rippling!
yes..how did you freeze the aurora anyway? 13 seconds is pretty short…but wouldn’t it streak the stars?
wow — sounds like an incredible day. and what awesome light on the cub — so beautiful!
Thanks all for the comments, it was some of the best light on polar bears that I’ve seen in a while!
Dan, 13 seconds will not cause much of a star trail on a 24mm lens. Of course, 7 secs would render a pinpoint star, but they are definitive at even 13 secs. Thanks to the f/1.4 lens
I would describe your work as genius – due to it’s art and complexity…the mechanics of it is photography the artistry is yours.
Hutzel, thanks for your overly generous comments.