A waterfall glows in the light of a colorful sunset. Near Chitistone Pass, looking toward Skolai Pass, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks

Roane Waterfall in the Skolai Pass/Chitistone Pass area, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park; an awesome foreground subject for a sunset photo (it also makes a great foreground at sunrise).

We just had 2 fantastic trips to the Skolai – Wolverine area, and got some great photos, etc. Highlight for me was seeing my first wolf in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park; something I’ve been hoping for now for years. Seeing it in a place such as this only made the experience that much greater for me. We watched him for 5 minutes or more.

A great summer so far; here’s to good weather for the rest of it.

Cheers

Carl

A female brown bear (grizzly bear, Ursus arctos) chases Sockeye Salmon up Brooks River. Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Wow, another month has passed by already! So here’s the Image of the Month for November, 2010. No surprises for what kind of photo would be posted this month; after 2 weeks of virtually nonstop grizzly bear photography at the end of September, I could do a whole year of Images of the Month with nothing but bear photos.

So, speaking of bear photos, I might just add that I’ve updated the 2 bear galleries on the website, as I undertake a major overhaul of all the photo galleries here. Tedious work, but they’re such a schemozzle I know I need to do it. (and, I really wanted to use the word “schemozzle” in a blog post). So, take a look at the new galleries .. virtually all new images posted, with larger photos, too. Here’s the Bears #1 gallery, and here is the Bears #2 gallery. I hope you enjoy some of the images. Oh, and I also added the dates for the 2011 bear photo tour.

So, back to this image; just a nice low angle on a sow racing through the water, splashing her way after some luckless Sockeye salmon. I’m glad I’m not a 5lb fish meeting a 800lb bear!

Hope you like it folks.

Cheers

Carl

Hiker viewing Mt. Sanford, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger virsion of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Mount Sanford in early morning light. What a gorgeous morning!

Fall is such a great time for photography. The light has a quality that is tangibly different to any other time of year, and a cool clear morning is a real treat for a photographer.

This view of Mt Sanford, 6th highest peak in the US and 2nd highest in the Wrangell Mountains, is a great place to spend a morning. Here’s hoping for many more like this.

Cheers

Carl

Backcountry skiing on the Root Glacier, with Stairway icefall in the background. Springtime brings melt, opening a small pool of water on the glacier's surface. Cross country skiing, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks

Here’s our Image of the Month for March 2010. Backcountry skiing on the Root Glacier one gorgeous spring day. This little blue pool of crystal clear water was simply too nice to pass up for a photo op.

Carrying a tripod allows me to set up for photos when I’m out and about by myself. I set up the shot, and visualize where I’d like to stand to make the composition. Sometimes standing a bit further away allows the photo to be more of a scenic shot, without the person being too dominant in the frame.

This is where a digital camera really helps, being able to review the shot in the LCD, as I’m not able to guess exactly where to stand. For example, I didn’t want my head here to merge with the horizontal line at the end of the glacier – base of the mountain in the distance, so it took a couple of tries to get it right.

Normally I wouldn’t leave quite as much room for the sky, but I wanted to give the image a bit more of an expansive feeling here, with more space. I also wanted to leave plenty of room for text, if the photo were ever to be chosen for a cover shot for a magazine or story. (more…)