A young moose feeds in a pond, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.
I captured this a couple of nights ago, 15 minutes past 11 p.m.!
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From the monthly archives:
June 2009
Balboa Pier, Newport Beach, California.
Thanks to the month or so that we spent in the area, we now have an entirely updated section of Orange County photos on our website!
Since we had extra coverage of two of the communities, Janine also added completly new sections of Newport Beach photos, along with Huntington Beach photos.
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Paradise Peak, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.
I returned to this pretty patch of lupine for sunset Wednesday night. I’m pretty much standing in the same spot as I was in the image I posted earlier this week, but facing a different direction, just as the stormy weather cleared. It is interesting how the same location can produce such different results in such a short period of time.
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An above and below water photo of Red Salmon, Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.
I got out my remote setup for above / below water photos yesterday, it is pretty fun to play with! I have never used this setup in swift moving water like this – it offers some new challenges.
For one, the water level moves up and down in the frame from photo to photo – in still water it is easy to have the surface bisect the middle of the frame. In addition, the water surface itself also seem much thicker then on flat water. What happen is sometimes the fish or the trees get hidden by the water surface if that makes any sense. Finally, the fish and light rain kept getting the glass wet as you can see by the blurred areas in the top half of this image – I think I have a solution for this. But, when it does work, I think the results are pretty cool!
I hope to spend a few more days working this location – now if I could only have a bear here like there was last year!
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Snow River Valley, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.
I captured this yesterday as a rain squall moved up the valley. Check out the fresh snow in the mountains – it usually begins looking like that in September, not June!
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Catalina Island, California.
We have an entirely new section on our website of Catalina Island photos.
We really enjoyed our trip to Catalina Island and the town of Avalon last winter. It has Southern California weather without the crowds or traffic – in fact most people who have vehicles use electric golf carts.
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A Humpback Whale waves its flipper, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This is another photo from a week ago – it is alway a treat to find these whales close to this wonderful coastline!
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Long Beach, California.
Here is another brand new section to our website: Long Beach California photos.
I gotta admit, Long Beach was a pleasant surprise. It had been many many years since I had last visited Long Beach. I remembered it as a somewhat dirty industrial port. Either my memory was off, or they have made some wonderful changes to the area – probably a bit of both. We only spent one evening there, I had hoped to return for more, but that will have to wait for a future trip.
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Entrance to Slab City, an abandoned military base that is now home to a large number of squatters, Imperial Valley, California.
We have a new section on our website of photos of the Imperial Valley, California. This section includes photos of the Salton Sea, Salvation Mountain, Slab City and the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area – all places that I think many people might find a little unique to put it kindly.
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Steller Sea Lions, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Another photo from last week. I really liked the colors and patterns created by the moss and lichen on the rocks.
This haul-out faces out into the Gulf of Alaska – I don’t think I have ever seen the water this calm, not even the slightest wave!
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Indian Wells Golf Resort, Indian Wells, California.
Janine has now updated our website with our new photos of the Palm Springs area.
Palm Springs was one of the first communities developed in this portion of desert. In addition, Palm Springs is also where the airport is located, so the whole area is often referred to as Palm Springs, although today it is made up of a series of smaller towns like Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, La Quinta and Palm Desert to name a few. When I’m driving around down there, I never seem to know exactly what town I’m in.
On the local news they refer to the area as the Coachella Valley although locals don’t seem to like that name, and people outside the area probably haven’t heard of it, so for now, we will still call the area Palm Springs. Our page has photos of most the smaller communities in the area.
In the photo above, of the public golf course, I needed to blend a couple different exposures to maintain detail in the building. Despite being a “public” course, I was asked to leave right after taking this photo – evidently they don’t like the “public” taking picture there.
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Cataract Cove, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This in another photo from my time in Kenai Fjords National Park last week. Can you spot the mountain goat? It is amazing where these guys live! Below is a little closer photo which will give away the Mountain Goat’s location.
Mountain Goat, Cataract Cove, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
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Ken Burns with producer Dayton Duncan filming in Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
The famous filmmaker Ken Burns will be in Anchorage, Alaska this Thursday evening talking about and previewing clips from his newest film: The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. For more details, visit Alaska Geographic.
I was fortunate enough to spend 3 days with Ken and his crew in Kenai Fjords a few years ago while he was working on this film. I gotta say Ken was a fascinating individual. His creativity goes without saying, but he is a wonderful story teller with a hilarious sense of humor – we had lots of laughs on that trip. If you find yourself anywhere near Anchorage on Thursday, hearing Ken speak, and seeing some of his film clips should be highly worthwhile!
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Northwestern Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Yesterday I took a boat tour into Kenai Fjords National Park and visited the amazing Northwestern Fjord. It had been a few years since I had visited this part of the Park, and I was glad to see the ice hadn’t receded too much, nothing like what we have seen at Exit Glacier. For comparison, the above photo is the right hand portion of the glacier that you see in this 6 year old photo of Northwestern Glacier (by the way, Alaska Magazine did a really nice double page spreed with this photo in this months issue!).
I am so lucky to live next to such amazing country! The Travel Channel calls the coast of Kenai Fjords National Park one of the top 10 natural wonders of the world – for good reason!
Special thanks to Cathy Gonzalez with Log Dreamin’ Bed and Breakfast for helping with my arrangements!
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Exit Glacier Road, Seward, Alaska.
This was taken at about 11:00 at night earlier this week. I think it is easy to see why I make the 10 plus mile drive from Seward to Exit Glacier frequently this time of year, it is a beautiful drive!
This is Mount Benson. This area is roughly spit in half by the Chugach National Forest and Kenai Fjords National Park, so I will put this in both categories.
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Slot Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
Janine has updated our website with new photos of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California from our travels last winter. Anza-Borrego definitely isn’t the most popular of destinations, but we sure enjoy spending time there, especially in the winter!
It is interesting, the three places that I have the most in depth coverage of include Anza-Borrego, Kenai Fjords National Park, and the Chugach National Forest are all fairly unknown, with relatively few visitors. I bet the combined annual visitation numbers of all three parks doesn’t total the number of people who visit a moderately popular Lower 48 Park like Bryce in just an average summer month.
The businessman in me says I should be concentrating on more popular destinations, but we decided long ago that maximizing personal satisfaction was far more important then maximizing profits. I suppose if maximizing profits was the goal, I wouldn’t choose to be an outdoor photographer.
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Silt embedded into the wall of a glacier cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This probably isn’t for everyone, but I liked the abstract patterns created by the layers of silt in this icy wall. I used a 400 mm telephoto to zero in on the detail while safely standing outside the cave.
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Ice Cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
It is hard to get a sense of scale, but this was a huge cave – the ceiling was a good 8 feet in height. It followed the small creek over to the right out of this frame. I found this last Friday – the bright sunny skies helped illuminate the ice inside the cave with a beautiful blue glow.
I photographed this from outside the cave looking in. These caves can be fun to explore, but this one was way to sketchy, there is no way I would enter a cave like this – it looked like huge hunks of ice could fall at any momment!
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- A red tulip in our front yard, Seward, Alaska.
I glanced outside just a few minutes ago and noticed the overnight fog and rain had coated Janine’s tulips with some wonderful water drops. Just about the time I set my camera up, a little bit of sunlight started to break through the fog perfectly illuminating the flowers – it looked like they were glowing red!
This is hot off the press, just a few minutes old, unless of course you are reading this hours or days later.
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A surfer checking out the early morning waves, Huntington Beach, California.
It feels good to be done with the processing, captioning and key-wording our photos from last winter’s travels. Now we can send them off to agencies and update our website – finished just in time for summer, so we can make room for a new batch of photos!
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Paradise Creek, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Thanks to some challenging water crossings, this area gets few, if any visitors in the summer. I have skied up here in the winter, and thought the area was beautiful, but have never been able to get up here in the summer. Thanks to some low water levels, Janine and I along with some friends of ours were finally able to get up here yesterday for some scouting.
I think the area has some real potential. I love the clear water, something you don’t see much of around here thanks to the numerous glaciers. Glacier rivers tend to be very muddy looking thanks to the silt. This is looking up an unnamed valley where an unnamed creek flows in from the right. Paradise Creek is coming in from the left. We were able to make it another mile or two before steep cliffs and swift water blocked our progress. It was a great day! And now I know it is a place worth returning to for good light!
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Las Vegas Strip, Nevada.
Well if I’m going to write about my successful photos, it is only fair that I write about my unsuccessful ones as well.
I have plenty of photos that have never, or rarely sell, so why single out this one? For a few reasons: not only was it somewhat expensive to produce, but at the time, I really thought I had a winner. To add insult to injury, I think I may have missed out on even a far bigger marketing opportunity, but more on that later. [click to continue…]
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