Photo Blog - Niebrugge Images

Folks, this is why I don’t take pictures and you should use a tripod!  Even with Ron taking care of all the camera settings I still managed to take a soft picture.  Anyway, the real reason for this post is because I found this very funny.  I stepped out of the house for literally no more than 2 or 3 minutes and I walked back into the living room to find what you see in the picture.  Ron had completely torn the living room apart and set up shop.  He had just received his latest “toy” and was like a kid at Christmas.  I could not believe he had managed to totally rearrange the room and set up that fast.  It made me laugh. 

When you are photographing wildlife, or pursuing fleeting light, it often seems that speed and efficiency are paramount.  For this reason, I prefer to use a ball head for a tripod head. (more…)

American Road cover. 

This image has been on a bit of a roll lately by also appearing on the cover of this year’s The Milepost.

I figure there is no better place to start my nature photography lessons then with what I believe is the single most important piece of equipment; a tripod.  I have written about this before, and at the risk of sounding repetitive and redundant, :) I would like to repeat the numerous advantages: (more…)

Lincoln’s Sparrow on Lupine from a past summer, near Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

I want to take my photo blog in a new direction.  Well maybe a better description is an additional direction.  I still plan to post a photo nearly every day and share experiences from the field and our travels, but I want to do more. (more…)

A Red-necked Grebe from last week in Wasilla, Alaska.

 It is easy to see how this bird earned it’s name.  It was a gloomy evening, but using flash saved the day with this photo by bring out the rich color in this birds plumage.

Here are more Alaska photos.

Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas leaving Seward, Alaska.

Along with the arrival of swallows, robins and endless daylight, nothing signals the return of the summer season like the first cruise ship.  To be accurate, this one is actually the second ship of the season, but the first one didn’t leave in good light like this this one, so this will do.

A small house on the coast in Cordova, Alaska.  Forgetting the 167 inches of annual average rainfall for a second - could you imagine waking up this the 180 degree ocean and Chugach Nattional Forest view! 

I’m amazed at the high number of beautiful waterfront properties you see as you drive around the Cordova area.  You see, Cordova has a number of miles of road accessible coastline, along with a large road accessible lake and river (Eayak Lake and Eyak River).  Couple this with a population of only a couple thousand people and less then 1,000 households, and I would venture to say this town may have more waterfront property per capita then any town in America. 

Portage Lake, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

I liked the patterns formed by the ice on Portage Lake as it broke up.  It was kind of like a huge jig-saw puzzle.

This photo was from our trip to San Diego a little over a year ago.

Magazines and books often select more then one photo to mock up for cover consideration.  We had been on a bit of a losing streak lately missing out on what could have been exciting covers for National Geographic Adventure and Via Magazine.  Maybe now our luck is changing!

Cordova Boat Harbor, Alaska.

Unfortunately the service that handles our email subscriptions has been having trouble lately - hopefully this one will go out. 

Weather permitting, the commercial salmon season will open tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:00 am near the entrance to the Copper River.  When we were in Cordova, the harbor was bustling with activity as fishermen prepared their boats.  You see, not only is this the first fresh salmon to hit the market every year, it is also the best tasting due to its high oil content.

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Shorebirds fly over the Copper River Delta, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

I have avoided putting any advertising on our main photo website despite some lucrative offers because I think they are a distraction that would take away from the photos.

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Muskrat.

We visited my artist mom for Mother’s day and got an added bonus - a muskrat! I have never been able to get close to these guys before, much less have one climb out of the water onto a stick in nice light!

We took a drive out the Copper River Highway - it seemed like we were going back about two months in time! 

It appeared a large snow blower had cleared a path through the drifts just wide enough for my truck.  The drifts in some places were 15 feet tall!  It would have been fun to see Child’s Glacier with all this snow, but at this time the road was only cleared to mile 40 something, and you pretty much needed 4 wheel drive to even get that far.  Child’s Glacier was still another 20 miles away.

Yesterday we returned to Seward after a short, but wonderful trip.  It seemed only fitting to post a photo of a group of shorebirds departing the Copper River Delta.  Here are more Cordova, Alaska photos.

Sea Otter

As wonderful as the birds have been here in Prince William Sound, it is hard to beat an animal as cute as a Sea otter!

Resting shorebirds for as far as the camera can see!  And after flying thousands of miles, who can blame them.  I stopped down the f/18, but it is hard to get much depth of field when using telephotos.  I kind of like the out of focus effect.

Today (Tuesday) there weren’t as many birds as on Monday when I captured this image.  High tide is when the best photography takes place, but today a predator (I believe it was a Merlin) passed over at high tide and cleared the birds out in a hurry.  We did get a nice break from the rain.

Flocks of shorebirds in Cordova,  Alaska.

What a fantastic day!  Wow!  Not just the sheer quantity of birds, but the way they fly together.  It isn’t in perfect unison, but more like a synchronized dance where the entire group can continually vary the size, shape and color of the flock with endless combinations.  I was mesmerized.  Hugh Rose has lead tours here for many years, he says there had to be over a 100,000 birds today - they basically just arrived today.  I was shooting non-stop thinking it couldn’t possible get any better, and that was when I heard the words “O my God! (more…)

Cordova Alaska boat harbor during a stormy, rainy night last night. 

Yesterday we took the Alaska State Ferry from Whittier to Cordova, one of may favorite Alaska towns, to see the amazing shorebird migration.  I have always wanted to see this amazing event, and it currently is a big hole in our Chugach National Forest coverage.  Unfortunately, we have seen lots of rain, and very few birds, but that should change during the next few days… hopefully!

Look at how deep the snow is along Exit Glacier Road!  Hard to believe it is May 3rd.  This is near the Resurrection River bridge and is as far as you can drive right now.  Judging from the snow depth, it may be awhile before you can drive the rest of the way to the glacier.  Now this really isn’t the photo I was going after this morning - I better explain. (more…)