No image can convey the experience of witnessing the aurora borealis firsthand, but I hope this helps put into perspective just how intense the display was this past Saturday morning. This was taken with a wide-angle lens; the view is roughly equivalent to the human eye. Imagine looking directly overhead and seeing this across the entire sky, the lights converging into a corona directly over Polaris, the North Star, and shooting literally hundreds of miles into the atmosphere.
Perspective
I truly believe that seeing the world from the perspective of your subject is paramount to creating intimate portraits of wildlife.
More April Aurora
No matter how many times I witness the aurora borealis, it's always awe-inspiring. When the intensity reaches this level, I swear you can feel the electricity. This was taken around 2 am yesterday morning, during the peak of the display, before I hiked further up the valley and shot until daybreak.
Meeting the New Neighbors
Between the trumpeter swans, late season auroras and bull moose sprouting new antlers, the opportunities have been plentiful so far this spring in Eagle River Valley. I saw this guy feeding in the creek just a little while ago, one of three I've seen regularly over the past week.
April Auroras
With approximately one month of decent aurora viewing left, the season is winding down until next fall, which is why I had to capitalize on the opportunity last night.
After hiking approximately seven miles between 11 pm and 7 am, shooting from a couple new locations and accidentally walking up on a sleeping moose, I just got in the door from chasing the lights all night long. Around 2 am the sky exploded with red, green and purple, forming what was the best coronal display I’ve seen in quite a while. I know I’ll be dragging today, but it’s a small price to pay for being able witness and capture this phenomenon. Besides, everybody should pull an all-nighter once in a while; it keeps a person feeling young.
Swan Photo of the Day
I had a brief visit with the swans this morning as I had to be to work in the visitor center at 10 am. The sunlight hadn’t come around the mountain yet and I was running short on time when I saw this image line up. The mountains across the valley were glowing in the sunshine, casting a golden reflection on the water. I got myself into position just before this swan spread its wings, giving me a parting shot before I had to be on my way.
Today's Smiling Swan Photo
With the number of hours I've spent with these swans over these past couple weeks, not only are they getting used to my presence, I believe they're actually starting to like me. This one looked pretty happy to see me when I showed up today during feeding time.
Reminiscing on New Zealand
One year ago at Ohau Falls, roughly 25 km outside of Kaikoura, New Zealand. I'd heard about this place where the fur seals take their pups into a freshwater stream and decided to try hitching a ride out there to check it out. I happened to bump into my surf instructor David from my previous visit to Kaikoura, who was kind enough to give me a lift to the seal colony. It took some time and patience crouching on the wet rocks, but eventually this little pup crawled out of hiding to check me out.
Another Morning Swan Session
This pair of trumpeter swans has been here for over two weeks now, allowing me to spend quite a bit of quality time with them. After taking hundreds of photos, the challenge is to consistently come up with something new and innovative. By studying their behavior and combining elements in the surrounding environment, I was able to create a unique composition this morning.
Happy Easter from Eagle River Valley
Once again, I began the day with solitude and swans and cannot, for the life of me, think of a more positive way to spend a morning. For three hours I watched this pair feeding and preening themselves; waiting for the light, the scene, the perfect opportunity to present itself to capture the image I had in my mind’s eye. With the amount of time I’ve spent observing and photographing these two recently, I am beginning to recognize behavioral patterns and anticipate situations, thus placing myself in the right position for moments like these.
Total Lunacy
After a sunny afternoon of spring skiing in Girdwood, I decided to hang around Turnagain Arm yesterday to photograph the moonrise over the Chugach Mountains. Good thing I did, because I would later come up empty-handed from chasing the lunar eclipse. After driving home, unloading my gear and dragging my aching body into bed, I barely caught two hours of much needed sleep before my alarm woke me. I pulled myself together, grabbed my camera bag and hit the trail with a hot cup of tea in hand. I hiked out about a mile to shoot the eclipse, only to watch clouds roll in and hide the moon after I set up. C'est la vie, it was a nice night for a sleepwalk through the forest.
This is how I prefer to spend my mornings...
I like to start my day with swans - no news stories, no list of tasks to accomplish, no pressure - just swans. This pair of trumpeters arrived more than a week ago; whether they will continue northward or nest here remains to be seen. I’ve been watching them nearly every day and rather than pursuing, I’ve waited for the right light, the right situation, the right feeling for another photo session.
Shortly after arriving this morning, with nobody else in sight, the swans floated down the creek in my direction and preened themselves in the shallow pool right in front of me. They didn’t seem the least bit startled as I made my way to the water’s edge, knelt down and began to photograph. After spending some quality time with me they swam away, going about their routine uninterrupted and I continued on my way, feeling a sense of calm.
My little friend, the northern saw whet owl, poked his head out to greet me again today...
Another day, another owl encounter - this time with better lighting!
Sunrise over Lake Dunstan, Cromwell, New Zealand
Feeling a bit nostalgic this morning, reflecting on my time New Zealand and remembering where I was at one year ago today. After scrolling through my journal I discovered that on March 30, 2014, I was nearing the end of my time living and working (WWOOFing) at Aurum Wines in Cromwell, Central Otago. Most mornings when I woke I would grab my camera & tripod and run down to this spot right here, my little sanctuary on the shore of Lake Dunstan, where I would find solitude to photograph the sunrise and return in the evening to play my guitar.
Northern Saw Whet Owl
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can have all the skill in the world and top-of-the-line photo gear but if you don’t have luck on your side, you will only produce mediocrity. If you’ve been following my posts over this past week, you might agree that I’ve had quite a bit of good fortune recently. It all began last Sunday while out on a late evening hike. I was listening to the calls of two different species of owls– a great horned that was further up the mountainside and a little saw whet owl that was so close to the trail it stopped me in my tracks. I stood completely still for a few minutes in the dark forest when suddenly, it flew out of an owl box and right past me, barely five feet away.
The following three mornings I was treated to beautiful, vibrant sunrise skies and, among other things, a pair of trumpeter swans that allowed me to create a series of timeless images. I’d also been keeping an ear out in the evenings, listening for the saw whet owl calls after sundown. Last night I returned to the box where I saw the owl in the chance that it might come out and show itself before the light was gone. To my surprise, it popped its little head out of the box and watched me as I scrambled to hastily set up my camera and tripod. I spent just a few minutes with the owl, doing my best to capture a few sharp images in the low light, then picked up my gear and walked away as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.
To put this into perspective in terms of how rare a sighting like this is, northern saw whet owls are primarily nocturnal and only 6-7 inches tall, making them very difficult to view. There are more than a dozen of these owl boxes in the vicinity of the Nature Center. In approximately eight years since they’ve been posted, this may be the first confirmed sighting of a saw whet, or any owl species for that matter, using one of the boxes.
800 likes on my Facebook Page and Website Facelift
A new milestone – my page has surpassed 800 likes!! Not bad for the first couple weeks after being published.
Additionally, I’ve made some big changes to the overall appearance and function of my website. I created a cover page that displays a slide show until you hit the ‘Enter Site’ button, from there you might notice I faded the background leopard image so the body text is easier to read and the image galleries no longer conflict with such a vibrant background. I will be adding a title to each image and finally, I hope to have the purchasing page up and running soon. This has been a monumental project (approaching 3 months since I began), especially for someone like myself who has no background in web design. I am learning as I go - two steps forward and one step back - but am certainly making great progress. I am pleased with the results thus far and will continue to make improvements and additions as I go.
Thank you all for your unwavering support, for sharing my site and Facebook page, and for appreciating what it is that I do best – exploring, creating and showing the magic of the natural world. Please continue to share with your friends and let’s see if we can hit 1,000 likes in the near future!!
Much love,
Colin
Another Magical Morning at the Eagle River Nature Center
When I am exploring, it is my priority to walk lightly on the earth, both literally and metaphorically speaking. I do my best not to leave a mark or impose on the subjects I photograph. Today, however, was a lesson in patience…
I was up with the sun again, this time to photograph the trumpeter swans that recently arrived at the Nature Center. After hiking out to the location where I encountered them yesterday morning, I found the pair immediately and set up my camera with telephoto lens (200-400mm). Initially, they were tolerant of my presence and I began making images while they preened themselves in the shallow water. Suddenly, they became uncomfortable and began to swim away. Rather than sit back and allow them grow accustomed to me, I took off in zealous pursuit, causing them to take flight.
This wasn’t sitting well with me, knowing I had disrupted their routine. After some careful thought, I began walking home and decided I should take a look near the viewing decks to see if I might spot them again. Fortunately, they hadn’t flow very far and were feeding in the water between the decks. This time, determined not to impose, I gradually made my way down to the creek, moving only when their heads were submerged and placing greater emphasis on not disturbing them as they searched for food. I stood still for several minutes, allowing them to accept my presence before carefully inching forward. Eventually I made it to the water’s edge and began taking photos as they browsed on aquatic vegetation and then swam past, just feet away from me.
Once again I am reminded that patience, more than persistence, is vital to successfully interacting with wildlife and creating beautiful images.
Signs of Spring
Another day, another magical morning in this valley I call home…
I truly believe that successful nature photography requires a little bit of skill and a whole lot of luck; and this morning the stars were aligned in my favor. That being said, you can help create your own luck by being out early in the day to utilize the low angle sun and combine the various elements of a scene to visualize a composition, thus being prepared when those elements merge to form a beautiful image.
I’d just set out to catch the sunrise, this time from a new location just over a mile away, when I had to circumvent a portion of the trail that was being blocked by a cow moose and her yearling calf. After arriving at my destination and taking a few exposures of the early sunlight illuminating the mountaintops, I was searching for a new composition when a pair of trumpeter swans seemingly appeared out of nowhere, swimming very close by. Since I was primarily after sunrise images I only had two lenses with me, and I quickly swapped the wide angle for my medium telephoto (80-200mm) and began to study the swans. My focal range was limited, thus allowing me to use form, texture and splashes of golden sunlight reflecting off the water as part of the composition rather than shooting close-ups.
When it comes to wildlife photography, gaining the best perspective usually requires being eye level with your subject. To achieve this, I crawled around on the rocks and frozen mud for nearly an hour with my lens just above the surface of the water. Suddenly I heard a loud noise and pushed myself up with one arm to witness a pair of young moose crashing onto the scene. I snapped a few photos before they continued on their way and then went back to photographing the swans, now startled by the moose and swimming very close to me. With my memory card nearly full and feeling I had used up the best angles and opportunities with the swans, I slowly got back onto my feet and began walking back to grab the rest of my gear when a pair of pine grosbeaks landed right in front of me, providing yet another unique encounter. After capturing a few frames of the bright red male, I finally packed up and headed home, reluctant as I was to leave and confident that a unicorn could show up at any moment.
Some days I’m in the flow and the magic is all around, I can feel it. This certainly was one of those days, and I am grateful to be able to share this magic with the world.
Sunrises are Good for the Soul, March 23, 2015
Of all the things I learned in college, perhaps the best bit of wisdom I heard was from my good friend Elie, who said: “Everyone should watch a sunrise once in a while, it’s good for the soul.”
This morning, after getting up every hour or two throughout the night to check the sky for auroras, I walked down to the salmon viewing deck here at the Nature Center to catch the first light of the day. In this moment of solitude I discovered a fresh perspective on a very familiar scene…
Echo Bend Auroras, March 18, 2015
Last night I packed up two cameras and tripods, grabbed a bit of food and a cup of hot tea and hiked three miles from the Nature Center out to Echo Bend, a location I’d wanted to use for shooting auroras for some time now. I was prepared to be out all night, should the aurora and the weather comply. I hung out for a couple of hours, listening to a great horned owl and waiting for the lights to intensify. I found some open water and got a few shots off before the clouds rolled in and eventually put an end to my sky gazing. I could have easily driven north to different location earlier in the evening and likely had a better display, but I’d rather focus on photographing Eagle River Valley intensively while I am residing here. In the end, it was a great night to be out hiking and I possibly came away with the first aurora borealis photos from this locale.
