I head out tomorrow to guide a few weeks of aurora photography tours in Alaska’s Arctic. The skies have been colorful over the past month, and I hope that continues. I’ll share some photos when opportunity rises. There are 16 excited guests all geared up and ready to make some great pictures. Let’s hope the…
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I first experienced Prince William Sound, in Southcentral Alaska, when working for the State of Alaska Department of Conservation Oil Spill Response Division, following the Exxon Oil spill in 1989. Since then, I’ve been back almost ever year, and usually, a number of times a year. It is a magnificent place of both scenic beauty…
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Muskox shed their amazing qiviut (hair) in the spring and it can be found in small clusters in the branches of tundra vegetation. I’ve got a big bag full that I’ve gathered over the years and someone graciously offered to spin a few balls of yarn from which I plan to have a warm hat…
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As daylight hours begin to increase in Alaska, the month of March is often rich with winter photography opportunities. One can now feel the warmth of the sun on the face, which throws thoughts forward to summer. But before that big melt comes, I’m looking forward to some great photo trips coming soon. I took…
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I’ve been doing a lot of database work over the past few weeks, executing a huge review and clean up of the 100,000 files in my Lightroom Database. This has included doing a spell check on all metadata, properly tagging images, doing a complete cloud-based backup of my RAW files, and overall file organization. It…
Details11 seconds of aurora action On Wednesday night (2/19/2014) the northern lights were pouring over the night skies in Fairbanks, Alaska. I was not as active as they were, at least not in a serious photographic sense. I had sleep on my mind as following day schedule had its demands. And that is what I…
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As a mammal, the polar bear is the lord of the Arctic. Powerful, solitary, beautiful. This is one of my favorite photos from the 2013 photo tour last October. The bear pauses while walking across ice recently frozen in a bay, as the Romanzof mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Brooks Range…
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Since the month of March is in sight now, this is a shout out to all of you aurora photographers. The period around the equinoxes tend to have slightly heightened aurora activity, and I’ll be out in the field for a few weeks myself next month. A special thanks to all of you who have…
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With the release of the Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS with a built in 1.4x there was a lot of enthusiasm in the photography community. But with a retail price of $12K, it really forces some serious evaluation before making a purchase. I felt that I would need the lens in my hand for a period…
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I receive many questions on How to Photograph the Northern Lights–which is why I wrote an eBook on the topic. While I don’t have the time to answer all of the questions, I decided to post my response to a few questions here for the broader community. Exposure Q: For proper exposure of the aurora should…
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