Butchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada.
Well, saying how much I loved a flower garden isn’t going to do anything to improve the macho, tough guy image I have worked so hard to create (joking), but this place was gorgeous! I think you could be blind folded, and still could come away with beautiful images, because literally every inch of extensive grounds at Butchart Gardens is perfectly manicured with wonderful, colorful flowers. Here are more Victoria photos.
The Sunken Garden, Butchart Gardens, Victoria.
The Harbor and Legislative Building, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
We spent the last two nights of our trip in the beautiful seaside community of Victoria. I can’t think of too many towns more photogenic then Victoria! See more Victoria photos.
Sunset over Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.
These beautiful clouds and thunderstorm pretty much appeared out of nowhere at the end of a hot day in Whistler. This is at the base of Whistler Mountain – you can see some of the Bike Park. The top of the mountain you see here is the 1/3 point on the ride to the top! Blackcomb is equally as tall, and rises to the left of this view.
Usually the blog is pretty close to real time – but I have fallen behind a bit. We actually returned to Alaska yesterday, but I will keep sharing more photos from this trip.
Having only one full day (two nights) in both Whistler and Victoria was not near enough time. Unfortunately, it would have cost us a bunch more of our valuable free miles to return after Tuesday – so we did our best to cram it all in.
I’m hoping these summer images will be a good compliment to our winter Whistler photos.
The Peak to Peak (actually called Peak 2 Peak) trams runs between the tops of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.
This was an amazing ride! We had to do it, although Janine had to take a big step given her fear of heights!
So check out these stats – all world records by the way:
- Largest unsupported free span in the world – 1.88 miles.
- Highest lift in the world of its kind - 1,361 feet.
- It is also the longest continuous lift in the world – total distance traveled is 2.73 miles.
And in case that wasn’t enough excitement, they even put a glass floor in a few of the cars!
Here are some more interesting facts. The total ride lasts 11 minutes. There are 28 cars, each can carry up to 28 passengers, that means the thing can move 4,100 passengers per hour.
Here are more Whistler, Canada pictures.
Mountain biker launches of a ledge on one of the intermediate trails in the Bike Park, Whistler, Canada.
We were surprised to see that Whistler is just as busy in the summer as it is in the winter. You can still ski and snowboard high up on the glacier. In addition, you can raft, kayak, golf, zip-line, bungee jump, ride alpine slides…
But the big activity is downhill mountain biking. They have an elaborate set of trails on the mountain complete with ramps, jumps and a whole bunch of other challenges. Riders wear “body armor” and full face helmets and ride mountain bikes that appear to have suspensions similar to motorcycles!
We only had one day and two nights – it was tough not having the time to “play”!
Here are more biking photos
A baby raccoon, Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada.
Found this young guy along with its sibling and parents – they were sure fun to watch!
Took the bus to Whistler yesterday, and have a full day in the cool ski resort town today.
Vancouver skyline at sunset, Canada.
We had a beautiful sunset over Vancouver last night!
Check out more Vancover photos.
Fireworks over Vancouver, Canada.
We were excited to learn we were going to be in Vancouver for one of the nights of Celebration of Light – an international fireworks competition, and something we did not know about when we booked this trip. We were disappointed to learn that more then 300,000 people crowd the waterfront in a mass sea of people, and to gain a decent vantage point, you have to arrive many hours early and stand your ground and wait.
So we decided our time was better served doing other things, so we rented a boat and followed and photographed a couple cruiseships as they left Vancouver. Well as luck would have it, at the end of the night when we were all done, the owner of the boat rental company invited us up to the roof of his high-rise apartment building! This was from the roof top pool area – it was a great show!
See more Vancouver photos.
Vancouver from Stanley Park, British Columbia, Canada.
This was last night – our flights went smooth and wow, the weather is beautiful! Back to scouting, more later. See more of our Vancouver photos.
Humpback Whale Tail, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This was one of two whales who put on an amazing show for us last week. When they weren’t breaching, they were swinging their tails back and forth throwing lots of water around! It was awesome!
We have been watching for an opportunity to head back down to the Vancouver area to add summer coverage to the Vancouver photos we captured last winter. Well the forecast shows most of Alaska receiving rain for the next week, while the Vancouver area looks like a week of sun. We started looking for bargains and thanks to Priceline, buses and frequent flier miles, we were able to put together an inexpensive, very last minute trip. We threw this together on Sunday!
I scheduled this post in advance so that it would be posting while we are on the plane flying south. It is going to be a busy, whirlwind week in which we will spend time in Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria! Probably won’t get much sleep, but hoping for lots of photography! I usually post updates from the road, and will do my best on this trip as well.
Steller Sea Lion, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Another photo from my recent trip. It was nice to watch these guys in the evening when they are far more active. I was using a bit of fill flash with my telephoto – this helped illuminate the teeth and mouth.
Breaching Humpback Whale photo, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
I know it is late to be posting to the blog tonight, but I just got in from a wonderful overnight trip to Northwestern Fjord in Kenai Fjords National Park, and was excited to share this photo.
What a sight to see! A photo just doesn’t do this experience justice, as it is unable to communicate the powerful sounds and energy created when an animal the size of a school bus, rises out of the ocean and then splashes back down in a huge wave of water. This is really cool to see up close!
This is full frame with my 100-400 at 400. I was shooting with an ISO of 640 because I needed all the shutter speed I could get on this cloudy day. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/2000 at f/5.6. The hard part is locating the whale, framing and focusing while it is still out of the water.
Here are more whale photos.
Janine stopping to admire the scenery at the half-way point of the Harding Icefield Trail, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Replace the name Janine with hiker, and that is the caption that may accompany this photo one day if it is ever published. A more accurate caption would be; Janine stopping, then moving a bit to the left, then coming a little towards me so that I can see her shoes, then turning slightly towards the mountain…well you get the idea. She is always a great sport when it comes to posing.
Here is a better description of the Harding Icefield Trail
Janine crossing a snow field near the end of the trail. It is hard to see in this photo, but there is actually a big drop off 30 feet past Janine. Notice the dirty snow - that is thanks to this winter's volcanic activity.
Looking down Exit Glacier from the Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This is sunset from my recent overnight trip to the Harding Icefield.
Over the last few months I have been photographing and posting images from the Seward area, most of which were captured within the 10 mile or so section you see in this image. The largest mountain on the right is Mt. Alice, probably my single most photographed subject. Below Mt Alice, covered in fog, is the seaside town of Seward, the town we are proud to call home. The valley between Exit Glacier and Mt. Alice is the Resurrection River Valley – a beautiful valley I love to drive or ski through, and the source of endless photographic inspiration. And finally there is Exit Glacier and the Kenai Fjords National Park.
Janine overlooking the Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
We just got in from an overnight trip to the Harding Icefield via the Harding Icefield trail – I sure love that place on a beautiful day!
Much like a river flowing from a lake, here the ice is flowing from out of the icefield down to the left in what becomes Exit Glacier.
Coyote, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.
I spotted and photographed this coyote last night – I think it was the same one I often spotted while skiing last winter.
Shortly after finding him, the coyote found a spruce grouse family with very small chicks. The mother spruce grouse did an amazing broken wing acting job the the coyote compelty was fooled by. The coyote took off chasing the mother bird some distance down the road, and she managed to stay enticingly close, but just out of reach. Unfortunatly one the the chicks froze motionless right in the middle of the road! I went and stood by the chick so that it wouldn’t get hit by any passing vehicles. Eventually, it moved back into the forest. Nature sure can be fascinating to watch!
Janine in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
This is a larger version of a photo I posted here last winter – I think this has got to be one of the most amazing geological features I have ever stumbled across.
I posting this again as a lead in to say Janine is done updating our main website with photos from our winter travels, and we now have updated sections for Valley of Fire State Park, and Las Vegas.
Sunset over the Seward Boat Harbor, Alaska.
Colorful sunset skies like this are fairly rare in Seward. Thanks to the beautiful surrounding mountains, it takes just the right combination of clouds, and they need to be relatively high to light up like this. Usually they are too low and the sun isn’t able to illuminate the bottom of the clouds.
I captured this photo about a week ago at the beginning of this amazing stretch of weather. Unfortunately, with the hot dry weather has come forest fires – there are now over 70 burning in the state. Today, you can barely make out the shape of that distant mountain you see in this photo, even though it is just a couple of miles away.
We looked at flying down to Glacier Bay as it was one of the few places not effected by the fires, but now I see new fires in the Yukon have inundated that area with smoke as well. So instead of broad landscapes with fields of flowers, I will probably be sticking to closeups and maybe more underwater salmon photos. 
I believe this is Mountain Harebell, a member of the Bluebell Family, Seward, Alaska.
I captured this last night up on Mt. Marathon. I thought the rock was a strong enough subject without the wildflowers, but the flowers were a nice colorful bonus!
Between office work, photographing porcupines and Mt. Marathon, it was a busy day yesterday, but with this amazing stretch of weather we are having – it is hard to stop!
Great news on the baby porcupine in yesterday’s post. Last night it was spotted reunited with it’s mother! I understand the mother was about 5 times the size of this little guy.
A baby porcupine, near Seward, Alaska.
I’m just in from photographing this cute little guy! I want to thank the wonderful owners of Log Dreamin Bed and Breakfast for tipping me off on this youngster.
I have never seen a baby porcupine, I think it is a fairly rare sight. As exciting as it was to watch such an animal feed and wander about, a part of me couldn’t help but be sad. Typically, the single off-spring of a porcupine female stays very close the it’s mother, and isn’t fully weaned and able to leave the den site until October. The adult porcupine typcially seen in this area hasn’t been spotted in weeks – I’m not so sure this one isn’t now on his own. seeing such a young, typcially nocturnal, forest dwelling animal out in the open during the day is probably not a good sign – it probably isn’t learning these things from its mother. I hope it makes it!
Update: Later this evening, this little guy was reunited with it’s mother! I was told the adult was about 5 times the size of the baby.
Mount Alice, from Seward, Alaska.
I captured this last night at sunset from within the city limits of Seward, looking towards Mt. Alice and the Chugach National Forest. I was hoping for a bit more color in the sky, but that’s OK, I think it is still a pretty scene. I think I have more photos of Mt Alice then of any other subject!
Anyone visiting Seward this past weekend (and there were many) must think this is an amazing place. We had perfect temperatures in the mid-70’s, beautiful scenery in every direction, and if that wasn’t enough, two very active humpback whales, keeping visitors and locals alike, entertained as they worked their way back and fourth along the towns coastline.
I have always felt that on a nice day Seward is the most beautiful place I have visited. Unfortuantely, thanks to 65 inches of average annual rainfall and 80 inches of average annual snowfall (according to The Milepost), weekends like this don’t happend often enough. But when they do, it sure is easy to forget about those rainy summers, and dark winters!
A recent photo of Mt. Benson and the Resurrection River Vally, near Seward, Alaska.
This is a big holiday weekend in the United States – I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and fun weekend!
A Jumping Red Salmon, Alaska.
Thanks for the great feedback on yesterday’s post!
It was cloudy this morning, so I decided to try again – this time with less wide-angle (58 mm), and using the waterfall as a background. It is interesting, photographing the waterfall from this angle with a fairly high shutter speed really changed the appearance of the falls – they make for a background that is a bit busy for my taste.
The photos in today’s and yesterday’s post will probably never make it our to our main website, or into our portfolio, but I thought I would still share them here so that you can see my experimentation process.
A Red Salmon trying to leap up a waterfall, Alaska.
OK, here is another setup I have been attempting to fine tune this past week. This is also captured by a remotely fired camera via a Pocket Wizard, along with a very wide angle lens set at 20mm, and some fill flash.
Since the salmon were often landing where I had my camera setup, I decided to use an old camera (5d), and an old barely functioning tripod, along with an equally old, seldom used lens – glad I held on to that stuff! Even though I had the whole setup tied to the bank with rope, I really didn’t want to take a chance of losing my main gear into the pool of water!
So what do you think, does this “work”, is it worth pursuing?
Here are my thoughts. The uneven lighting doesn’t help – I hope to try again on a cloudy or overcast day. I think 20 mm might be too wide – the salmon looks a little small in the frame even through it is just a couple feet from the camera – maybe 24 would be better. I might try a different composition, one looking back towards the waterfall – this might help keep the camera dry – I had to constantly dry the front of the lens thanks to splashing salmon!
I need to work on my reaction time – about 100 of my 120 photos contained only a waterfall because by the time I clicked, the salmon had already landed!
