Photo Blog - Niebrugge Images

Earlier this week I got a call from good friend and worldwide adventure extraordinaire Troy Henkels, telling me that he and a friend were going to attempt to kiteboard a bore tide in Turnagain Arm!  I couldn’t miss a rare photo opportunity like that!  I’m not sure if anyone has ever kiteboarded a bore tide before - ever.

For those who aren’t familiar with bore tides, I should explain.  You see, Turnagain Arm has the second largest tidal swing in the world.  The difference between low and high can be as much as 35 feet.  Because of this big swing, when the water begins returning into Turnagain Arm after a low tide, it usually begins flowing in a large wave, sometimes as high as 6 feet tall, and moving at speeds of 10 to 15 mph.  The wave in the photo had to be close to 6 feet.  Almost more impressive then the size and speed of this wave is the roar of sound it creates as it moves up the Arm. (more…)

Kachemak Bay, Alaska.

I photographed this spot a little earlier in the evening, but had to run back down there after a little bit of welcomed light emerged from the clouds, right at sunset, providing a nice little glow on this stretch of coast.

Kayaking in Kachemak Bay State Park, Alaska.

Janine getting ready to paddle through a really cool cave / arch along the coast across from Homer, Alaska.  We had to make numerous passes through this opening - first for photos, and then just because it was really fun!  Kayaks are such a great way to slowly explore the coast, quietly and up close.

We had a great trip - I will write more about it over the next couple of days.

Snow patterns from the air, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

We are heading to Halibut Cove for a few days so we won’t have web contact.  If it doesn’t rain too hard, maybe I will have some photos to share next week.

Hey, today this photo blog is now two years old!  And to think, I was afraid I would run out of material to post about after the first month!  Today I have a bigger back log of ideas then ever before.  Now if I could just create more time. 

Chinooks Waterfront Restaurant, Seward, Alaska.

I did a quick assignment this week during a rare (at least this summer) sunny evening.  Chinooks has wonderful owners, great food, and as you can see, a killer view!

More Horned Puffin from Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown Bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

These guys are really cute!  This is a different cub from the last post - they are really fun to watch.

Brown Bears, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This cute little cub seemed to really enjoy playing with a empty clam shell!

Horned Puffin, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I understand that puffin have the unique ability to catch and hold fish in their beaks, allowing them to continue to fish and capture more.  Every puffin I saw with fish seemed to have at least 5!

Horned Puffin, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

We just got home and are still beaming from an awesome trip! 

Although I loved spending time with the bears, puffin were actually at the top of my wish list.  You see I often get requests for this beautiful bird, and live next to a very large population, but have never been able to photograph them up close until this trip.  Now I can put an end to that frustration.

I have joked in the past that puffin really don’t exist - that they are just a cartoon character like Bugs Bunny.  Having seen them up close and personal, I can attest that they are real, and they are spectacular!

Brown bear sow and cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This sow was able to repeatedly dig up clams with incredible effectiveness.  On the other hand, the poor cub dug and dug, but was never able to find a single clam - at least while I watched.  I don’t think it had learned exactly where to dig just yet.  After awhile, the cub went over and began watching his mom very, very closely - it was really fascinating to watch.  I don’t know if he was a very attentive student, or just really hungry!

Since we have some brief internet access, I thought I would post a quick update.  As you can probably tell, we are having an awesome trip!

We made it to Lake Clark National Park, Alaska and it didn’t take long to find bears.  Lots of bears!  And as you can see, we are even picking up internet.

I didn’t see any bears yesterday, but I enjoyed watching this Common Merganser family.  The chicks are almost as big as the adults!  This is another photo captured using a my Pocket Wizards and a 24mm wide angle lens - the ducks were about two feet from my lens!

 Tomorrow we are heading to Lake Clark National Park for 4 days.  It is kind of funny, when I booked this earlier in the summer, I was thinking it would be fun to concentrate on bears because I really haven’t focused on them before.  Of course, that was long before finding such great bears near Seward!  I’m also really hoping to photograph puffins.  There is an outside chance I will have internet access, otherwise there won’t be in activity here for a few days.

On a much sadder note, I think the bear in the last blog post was killed yesterday morning, and possibly the sow and cub as well.  I hate to say too much because there seems to be more rumors then facts, but at least one bear was killed for sure - and it was about the same size, age and in the same area where I photographed it the night before.  Supposedly it chased a dog.  It may explain why I never did saw any bears yesterday.

When I saw this dead salmon in the creek, I was so sure I would be able to get my wide angle close-up that I decided I would wait as long as it took for a bear to show up.  Well, along with a break for dinner, I had to wait 7 hours before this young adults showed up! 

I placed my camera a couple feet from the fish with a 24mm lens, and focused on the salmon.  I had a vision of the bear pulling the fish out of the water and practically filling the frame with his face!  Unfortunately, the bear never saw the dead fish and managed to stay out of my focus range!  These near misses keep me coming back day after day. 

I checked back this a.m., and sure enough, the fish was gone.

This photo near Exit Glacier brings back fond memories, as it was about our only sunny day so far this summer.  I usually avoid photographing in this bright, somewhat harsh light, but it was looking great to me!

 As a buddy and I stood here it dawned on me that few people have ever stood on this spot.  It isn’t because it is some remote, hard to reach location - it is probably less then a two mile hike with maybe a couple of angle deep glacier stream crossings. 

So what makes me think few have ever stood here?  Well up until just a few years ago, this spot was completely covered by Exit Glacier.  It has probably been under thick ice for hundreds of years if not more. 

The foreground looks like a completely lifeless environment, but there were a couple of places where tiny bits of plant life was already beginning to grow.  It has been interesting to see the transition of this area over the years, although I would hate to lose the glacier!

 The bears didn’t show up Saturday morning, but a family of Mergansers swam within inches of my camera as I waited.  I wish the camera was pointed down more, but I was expecting a much larger subject!  I usually don’t crop my images, but decided I would crop this one for the blog.

I moved my remote setup from the stream to this trail leading to the stream.  It isn’t as scenic of a location, but it is safer for my camera gear , and had more predictable bear activity.  This one turned out pretty good, but I want to keep improving on the idea.

Brown bears sure have big heads!

Since I share my successes, it is only fair I share my failures - and for this setup, I have had more then my share it seems.

You see I finally found the bears again and decided to try for my remote, wide angle, close-up thing.  As I was setting up my camera, my Pocket Wizard transmitter fell out of my jacket pocket and into the water.  I grabbed it fast and shook it off, it seemed fined.  I finished setting up, then stepped out in front and tested everything, and as you can see it was working fine.

Fast forward a half hour - here come the bears!  I anticipated their movement perfectly, they walked up stream, around the corner and right up to my camera - both the sow and cub side by side!  I was way back firing away like mad!  As soon as they moved on, I couldn’t wait to see what I a captured, man I was so excited!  Well, I captured nothing, my darn Pocket Wizard had stopped working - I don’t think I called it a ”darn” Pocket Wizard at the time.  :) 

So now both my receiver and transmitter have gone for a swim.  I took the transmitter apart and dried it out like I did the receiver, and all seems to be working again.  I have now had the bears walk up to my camera twice - I don’t know if I can get lucky and have them do it a third time, but I gotta try! 

I photographed this cow and calf moose last week, but they ended up taking a back seat in the blog queue to the bears.  Moose are cool, but bears are more exciting.