Denali

It's official, North America's tallest mountain will now be referred to by its original Athabascan name, 'Denali.' I took this at sunrise from the aptly named Reflection Pond in 2006.

Trending on Nat Geo →

I posted this photo to my National Geographic profile yesterday and it quickly generated a lot of responses. This morning I received a message that it's currently one of the most popular images on Nat Geo's "Your Shot." As I've said before, every little step is a step in the right direction.

Colin

More weekend auroras...

If you’ve ever witnessed the aurora dance across a night sky, you might agree that words and photographs cannot adequately convey the transcendent experience or the feeling of insignificance elicited as the sky fills with electricity and the landscape is illuminated by a magnetic green glow.

Here is another image from Saturday night/Sunday morning during one of the more intense periods of the show, with the Big Dipper gleaming boldly above the Chugach Mountains.

Misty Morning Moose

Another misty morning moose. Temperatures are dropping overnight and light is fading quickly. While I don't want to see summer draw to a close, I enjoy autumn and the seasonal changes that come with it, like morning fog in the valley.

Shot in the Dark

For the past couple weeks, both morning and night, under varying light and backgrounds, I have been trying to capture an image of a great-horned owl taking flight. Focusing on a bird in flight is challenging enough in broad daylight but when the sunlight has retreated and your subject is nothing more than a silhouette against a cobalt sky, it is quite literally a shot in the dark.

This evening, as I watched one of the owls perched in a usual spot waiting for its mate to show, I heard the tell-tale screech directly behind and turned around to see the second owl in a tree barely 30 feet away, looking directly at me. Knowing this particular owl tended to move around frequently, I reasoned that it would take flight again momentarily. As I set up and waited, something told me this would be my moment. My face was glued to the viewfinder for several minutes until the owl fell forward and spread its wings for me. I had but one shot at nailing this as the flash takes a moment to recharge after firing at full power, and that one shot was all it took.

Shortly afterward, a sow black bear with three little cubs showed up, followed by a moose. I smiled with gratitude, knowing I'd come away with the image I wanted. 

Little Poser

This little bear wasn't the best at catching salmon but she sure was photogenic.

Another Day at the Office

Another day at the office...I had the opportunity to watch this young brown bear chasing salmon at the Nature Center this afternoon. Apparently he or she hasn't quite mastered the art of fishing yet as it was always coming up empty-handed (empty-pawed?). With winter approaching, hopefully it will sharpen its skills and be able to fatten up before denning.

Moose in the Mist

After enjoying the stretch of warm, sunny weather last week, staying up late with the owls and rising early each morning, I was happy to have a few days of rain to catch up on sleep as well as some long overdue editing. I went out last night after the skies cleared to catch the last bit of light in the misty evening and as I was setting up to shoot the sunset, this bull moose walked onto the scene. As a result, I didn’t get any sunset photos but I was happy to come away with this. I love shooting in fog; it always adds an ethereal quality. 

Evenings with the Owls

Owl I can say is, I've truly enjoyed observing and photographing this magnificent pair of birds recently and I hope they continue to present opportunities like these...

Golden Opportunity

If you put your time in, consciously studying light patterns and getting to know your subject, eventually you will find opportunity - golden opportunity. Such is the case with this pair of great-horned owls I have been photographing and getting to know over the past several days. After numerous hours of patiently waiting and employing different techniques in varying conditions, this evening they presented themselves onto a stoic, moss-covered tree during the final minutes before sundown. Moments like these are rare; this pose was merely a matter of seconds. In the world of photography, time is light and light is fleeting. When you waste time you waste light, and you miss golden opportunities. 

After the Hunt

"The Circle of Life." After watching the owls hunting and swooping after a family of ducks last night, I spent another hour with them early this morning before they went to roost for the day. When I spotted them, the male was perched in a tree and the female was on the ground hastily eating. As I approached I clearly saw a webbed duck foot hanging from her beak. She appears to have taken a defensive posture here, possibly thinking I may have wanted to eat her last leg of duck, which is clearly being held tightly in the grips of her left talon.

Owl Hunt

Last night I witnessed this pair of great-horned owls hunting. I watched them call back and forth while periodically dive-bombing a family of ducks that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is never a dull moment in this valley!

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Night Owl

 I’ve been spending a fair amount of time with this pair of great-horned owls recently. They’ve allowed me to get quite close, although they are primarily nocturnal and seem to appear just after sundown, making them difficult to photograph. Last night I decided to add a bit of light by mounting a flash and bounce card/diffuser on my camera. Since their eyesight is keen in the dark, I was concerned that the bright light may harm their vision or cause temporary blindness. I did some research and from what I gathered, owls do not seem to be affected by bright light sources and often use outdoor floodlights to their advantage when hunting. Since the sun had just set, there was still a bit of ambient light and I was at least 50 feet away. They would look directly at me while the flash fired multiple times and then fly to another tree seemingly unaffected.

Exposing was a bit tricky but my technique paid off. Those of you fellow photogs will appreciate the settings I employed: I was shooting with a 400mm lens, aperture F/4, shutter speed 1/60 of a second, ISO 4000, and my flash was cranked all the way up, connected to an external battery pack. I had to cross an old beaver dam and wade into a creek that was well over the tops of my hiking boots; c’est la vie, it was worth it as I was able to create unique images. This is photo of the female as she was looking at me inquisitively, framed by the mountains and twilight sky.

Great Horned Owls

I didn't get too far on my morning walk when I was distracted by a pair of great-horned owls, not a bad start to the day!

Golden Hour

As far as golden hours go, it doesn't get much more golden than this. Taken last night on the Albert Loop Trail, which with the salmon starting to arrive, will soon be closed by the state park until early winter to avoid bear/human encounters. This trail is part of my daily walk; I am taking advantage of the light and the scenes while I can.

My Sanctuary

A river is a powerful place to meditate. This is where I like to begin my days, roughly a mile and half from where I live, in Eagle River Valley. Each morning when I walk out here, I dip my hands into the cold glacial water, rinse my face, breathe in the surroundings and let go of thoughts that hinder my being present in the moment. The moving energy and the voices in the rushing water wash away all that is inconsequential, revealing the light and creative possibilities.

Star Trails over Tahoe

South Tahoe star trails…this is the last photo I took in Lake Tahoe. After an intense two-hour hike into the mountains, I didn't want to turn around and leave right after sunset so I stuck around a couple more hours to take some night shots. There was an endurance race that weekend which began at the trailhead by Spooner Lake with 10K, 50 mile and 100 mile divisions. You can see the headlamps from the racers along the trail to Marlette Lake and the stream of light below them is from the support vehicles.

 

It's been a busy week - after my flight was cancelled and spending the night in Reno, I returned to Alaska last Monday evening and promptly hit the road for Kenai the next day to get my annual supply of salmon. I'm just now getting a chance to breathe and catch up on some editing. 

So Many Roads

"So many roads, to ease my soul...so many roads"

The first time I heard those words was the last time the Grateful Dead played together with Jerry Garcia on July 9, 1995, and they've resonated with me ever since. To cap off my trip to Lake Tahoe, I decided to go for a big hike last night - 10 miles round trip and well over 3,000 feet in elevation gain. Seeing as I reside just a few hundred feet above sea level, the lack of oxygen at 9,000 feet was noticeable. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable and strenuous finish to my journey. I was literally chasing the light up the mountain, trying to get to a vantage point to photograph the sunset before it was gone. I stopped at this spot, where the setting sun and the scene seemed to translate Jerry's lyrics perfectly.