Day 6, June 19, 2014 45 miles packrafting through the Arctic Refuge on the Ivishak River. A 7 day, 170 mile wilderness backpack and packraft trip along the Ribdon, Ivishak and Sagavanirktok rivers in Alaska’s Brooks Range from June 14-20. While we would have welcomed the sunshine on this fine morning, it was not to be seen today. A short…
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Day 5, June 18, 2014, 34 miles packrafting the Ivishak River. A 7-day, 170-mile wilderness backpack, and packraft trip along the Ribdon, Ivishak, and Sagavanirktok rivers in Alaska’s Brooks Range from June 14-20. The spring-blooming flowers beautifully colored our campsite on the tundra bench by the river. Namely Lapland rosebay, bright pink, and mountain aven, the ubiquitous blooming white…
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Day 4, June 17, 2014, The Ribdon to Ivishak River. 14 miles hiking Crossed two mountain summits No packraft crossings Arrived at the Ivishak River A 7 day, 170 mile wilderness trip from the Ribdon to Ivishak River in Alaska’s Brooks Range from June 14-20. Today we would move out of the Ribdon to the Ivishak river. The morning…
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Day 3, June 16, 2014, 18 miles hiking along the Ribdon River No packraft crossings today. 18 miles backpacking. A 7 day, 170 mile wilderness hiking trip along the Ribdon River valley and packraft down the Ivishak and Sagavanirktok rivers, Alaska’s Brooks Range, June 14-20. Hiking on day 3 was mainly along the broad, braided river bed of the Ribdon River.…
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Day 2, June 15, 2014, 18 miles backpacking the Ribdon River One river crossing in a packraft (Ribdon) Describing my 7 day, 170 mile wilderness backpack and packraft trip along the Ribdon, Ivishak and Sagavanirktok rivers in Alaska’s Brooks Range from June 14-20. Route Map – hike up the Ribdon river valley, Packraft down the Ivishak river. 3.5 days…
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Day 1, June 14, 2014, 7 miles backpacking the Ribdon River One river crossing in a packraft (Sagavanirktok) Describing my 7 day, 170 mile wilderness backpack and packraft trip along the Ribdon, Ivishak and Sagavanirktok rivers in Alaska’s Brooks Range from June 14-20. As a preamble, let me reiterate that I’m a beginner in the “light and…
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To embark on an extensive human-powered journey in Alaska’s Arctic is always a mix of high adventure, survival, and a few tenuous moments. It just seems to shake out that way every time I do it. But every trip has been fantastic, and my most recent journey was no different. For those who may want to…
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I’m back from another wonderful journey to Alaska’s Arctic. After a few days on the Arctic North Slope, photographing birds, I began a long trek through the Brooks Range (I’ll share pics from that trip soon). Clear skies in June in Alaska means that one’s photo schedule shifts to the night time (although there is…
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Traveling light has been a proclivity of mine for years. But reaching that “light” point is not an easy task. As the maxim goes “it takes longer to write a shorter letter”. Unfortunately, camera gear is not light in any measure, although it is lighter than it used to be, and new lenses and cameras…
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The children’s book I collaborated on with Debbie Miller, Grizzly Bears of Alaska, was released in late March and has sold out of the hard copy (although I have a few left). With the good reception of that book, we are working on another idea that I’m not free to share at the moment, but…
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Last year author Glen Klinkhart contacted me to license a photo for the cover of a book. I license a number of photos for book covers, but in the end, I don’t up reading many. This particular book struck my interest however, and I’m one quarter into it now. It caught my interest for a few reasons: it…
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I have not posted many photos recently simply because I have not been behind the camera much. Instead, I’ve been planning for the summer and focusing on getting in shape for some robust summer activities. One of the things I really enjoy about where I live is the access to many trails, right from my…
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With the temperatures warming in Alaska, and the landscape turning green, I’ve been trying to get in shape for a bunch of trips planned this summer. Many of them will be on foot, so being in good enough shape to carry a bunch of camping gear, along with photo gear is critical. In accord with…
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A few years ago in May I received a phone call when I was in another country. There was a fire very near my neighborhood in Fairbanks, Alaska. Thankfully, due to wind direction and firefighter efforts, that fire never reached the houses in the subdivision where my home is. This year, Alaska’s Interior has enjoyed…
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Last night I attended the pre-opening event at the new REI store that opens today in Fairbanks. They purchased one of my photos of Denali to be used as the background wall mural at the checkout counter. Since the image size was 42 x 12 feet, the file had to sustain a large reproduction and retain…
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During my early summer photo ventures into Alaska’s Arctic, I’ve collected qiviut from the willow bushes along the tundra. What is qiviut? It is the super soft undercoating of the muskox. In June, as the summer warmth comes to the Arctic, the muskox shed their winter coat. I’ll be traveling to the Arctic a handful…
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The time of year is approaching when moose will have their calves, which usually occurs in the latter part of May. Moose usually have twin calves, and sometimes triplets. This is a picture from the archives of a cow with a single calf, and it is most likely that the other one was lost to…
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Denali is what Alaskan’s call Mt. McKinley, North America’s tallest mountain. For those of you out there who are planning a trip to see this massif in Denali National Park, I wish you clear skies, at least for a little glimpse. I’m planning a few trips there myself this summer for some photography so I…
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A big thank you to those who commented on my previous post about the choice between two polar bear photos for my 2016 calendar. And a special thank you to those who explained why. I thought you would be interested in the collective numbers, and which one got the most votes. It was nearly a…
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I’m finalizing the design and image selection for my 2016 Alaska calendar and I’m vacillating between these two polar bear pictures for the month of December. Which one would you choose?
Close encounters with wild wolves in the arctic are rare. I’ve had a few serendipitous ones during my travels and photography ventures but the most recent one offered some very close up views. This wolf happened to be walking along the snow covered tundra north of the Brooks Range, very close to the road. What…
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Here is a selection of images taken during the March Northern Lights photo tours that I guide with Hugh Rose. We had quite a show of color and activity in the sky this year. I took most of the images with either the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 or the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8. The combo of those…
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I’ve been looking at this lens on my desk for a couple years now. I’ve long wondered what the mechanics inside looked like and how they operated. Curiosity got the best of me so I grabbed a little screwdriver kit and started dismantling the lens. I don’t really have engineer inclinations, just curiosity, especially since this…
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On my recent aurora photo tours, I captured a few panoramas of the northern lights. They are relatively easy to make but a few considerations should be employed in preparation and in post production. I’m going to add a section on this in version #3 of my eBook on How to Photograph the Northern Lights,…
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The aurora danced in the night sky repeatedly over the past two weeks during the photo tours I co guided with Hugh Rose in Alaska’s Arctic. We guided two groups of happy aurora photographers who left much more experienced in this technical endeavor than when they arrived. The photos captured by all on both trips…
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