Caribou traverse a mountain ridge in the Alaska range, Denali National park, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L IS, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400 Canon’s 500mm f4L IS lens vies for the position of my favorite lens. It is always loaded with a camera in wildlife country and its tremendous image stabilization capability enables…
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Autumn rain storm over the Plains of Murie, Denali National Park, Alaska Canon 1Ds Mark III, 70-200mm 2.8L, 1/200 sec @f/8, ISO 100 Professional photographers who meet certain qualifications by the National Park Service are allowed to travel the Denali park road in their own vehicle for 10 days out of the summer. The only…
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Erin Nicholsan with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game removes the earbone from a Sockeye salmon caught in the Copper River. The earbones are marked when the fish are fry at the Gulkana hatchery, and can be identified as adults. This post is part of the photo essay I’m working on about the hatchery…
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Dipnet fishing in the Copper River Canyon, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark III, 16-35mm 2.8L, 1/400 sec @ f9.0, ISO 400 This is the fifth part of series I’m documenting on the Copper River red salmon, read the others here. For many Alaskans, the personal use dipnet fishery of the Copper River is an important event. Each…
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Sockeye Salmon dipnet harvest on the Copper River. The “event” of dipnetting red salmon on the Copper river lies somewhere between a ritual, subsistence, and a testosterone surge. I’m among those that look forward to this annual event, both for the wonderful harvest of the silvery fish as well as the intrigue of adventuring along…
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I’ve been working on an assignment featuring the town of Delta Junction, Alaska. Known for its annual cereal grain barley project initiated years ago, it has had varying degrees of success, and lots of failures. The harvest should begin about September 1st this year, as the grain heads are beginning to golden and ripen.
Meares glacier advancing, Unakwik Inlet, Prince William Sound, Alaska. In today’s age of a climate sensitive landscape, there are few advancing glaciers. Most are receding quickly. There is at least one in Alaska–that I’m aware of–that is advancing. Meares glacier flows out of the Chugach mountain range in south central Alaska, meeting tidewater in Unakwik…
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Sandhill Cranes take flight on a thunderstorm weather front, Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, Fairbanks, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L IS, 1/640 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400 Saturday night in Fairbanks (8PM) a dark and ominous cloud formed in the skies behind Creamer’s field. I was watching the Sandhill cranes gathered in groups…
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Scott’s Peak, Alaska Range, Denali National ParkCanon 1Ds Mark III, 70-200 2.8L IS, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, 400 ISO Alaska’s interior, and Fairbanks specifically has seen a lot of rain in recent weeks. A welcomed stretch of clear skies has opened up the last week and I seized a spontaneous opportunity to go flying last…
DetailsLooking west at the summit of Mount McKinley reveals both the north and south peaks. One afternoon, it looked like the sky was clearing a bit so I waited and set up my camera for a time lapse sequence of the dissipating clouds. I used Canon’s intervolometer, which is a fancy electronic shutter release that…
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2009 Fairbanks and Interior Alaska Calendar Its a little later than expected due to a change in printing services, but the 2009 Fairbanks and Interior Alaska calendar is now available. Some of you have requested to be advised when its in. You can see a full preview of the calendar here
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Sea otters, Prince William Sound, AlaskaCanon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L IS w/1.4x (700mm), 1/400 sec @ f/5.6, hand held I just returned from a 5 day trip in Prince William Sound. Typical to that region, I saw lots of rain and clouds. The last day opened up to beautiful blue skies and grand vistas…
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Lightroom 2.0 was released three days ago on July 28. The upgrade is $99, and it has paid for itself already. There are a number of improvements, but the most important to me is the localized correction feature. These are non-destructive adjustments, meaning they do not modify the original RAW image data, and they add…
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Alpenglow on the North and South peaks of Mt. McKinley on summer solsticeCanon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L IS, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 400 I took this photo on summer solstice (June 20, 3:52am) as Mount McKinley’s summit was catching the morning alpenglow on the North and South peaks. I was just entering Denali…
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Aerial of the Chena river and downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24-105 f4L, 1/1000 sec @ f5.6, ISO 400(With adjustments to the raw file to balance exposing to the right) (shot with exposing to the right, the RAW file looks washed out but can easily be correct to look like the file above.)…
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Rainbow, Denali National Park, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L IS, 1/320 sec @ f8, ISO 400 The mountain landscape of Denali National Park is conducive to scattered rainstorms during the summer months. This results in many rainbows, but this particular one continued to grow in intensity. It was so bright that it seemed…
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Mens Blanket toss at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, Fairbanks, AlaskaCanon 1Ds Mark III, 24-70 2.8L, 1/200 @ 2.8, ISO 1600 The World Eskimo Indian Olympics concluded on Saturday night in Fairbanks. The men’s blanket toss finals were judged on height, style and dress. Volunteers from the audience held the blanket made from walrus hides,…
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Inland Eskimo Dancers, 2008 WEIO, Fairbanks, AlaskaCanon 1Ds Mark III, 300mm f2.8L IS, 1/200 sec @ f2.8, ISO 1000 The Inland Eskimo Dancers from Anuktuvik pass in Alaska’s Brooks range danced on Friday night at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. Females dressed in purple, males dressed in blue, drumming and dance in the form of…
DetailsAlaskan High KickElijah Cabinboy, from Nome, Alaska Elijah Cabinboy from Nome ties the world record for the Alaskan high kick Thursday evening at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in Fairbanks. After the competition, he tried one more time to break the record and hit the ball, but it was off the record since only his…
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Dall sheep ram on the mountain slopes of Denali National Park, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark III, 75-300mm 5.6 DO IS, (285mm), 1/320 @ f7.1, ISO 200 On a recent trip to Denali National Park, I hiked up a mountain to photograph a band of Dall sheep rams. About half way up, my brother and I were…
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Fishing on Summit lake, Alaska range mountains Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm 5.6L IS, 1/1600 @f8, ISO 100 Alaska’s summer nights are unique. The light hangs into the late hours and extends recreation and work opportunities into unreasonable hours. Then we all need the darkness of winter to balance out the over amped summer. I…
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Brown bear sow and cubs of the year, Katmai National Park, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark III, 400mm f5.6L, 1/500 sec @ 5.6, ISO 400 Katmai National Park in southwest Alaska is home to many Brown bears. These bears are larger than the interior grizzly bears mainly due to the protein rich diet of fish, although they…
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Horned Lark, Denali National Park, Alaska.Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L w/2x converter, 1/200 sec. @ f/8, ISO 400 Horned larks are ground nesting birds that move quickly about the tundra collecting insects for their young. While hopefully waiting for the clouds to clear over Denali, I entertained myself photographing a pair of Horned larks…
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Denali, North America’s highest peak, about to get swallowed up in clouds for the day.Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24-105mm f4.0L IS, 1/15 sec. @ f16, ISO 100 Mount McKinley (or, as the locals call it-Denali) is actually visible far more often than the average person thinks. The catch is, one needs to stay up very…
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Alpha female gray wolf, Denali National Park Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4.0L IS, 1/640 @ f6.3, ISO 400, hand held This alpha female wolf in Denali National Park is raising six hungry pups, and frequents the park road for easy travel when hunting for food. On a quite morning before 6am, I was driving…
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