Photo Blog - Niebrugge Images

I have this vision of a wide angle close up of a bear in the middle of a rain forest stream.  To capture this image, I have been setting my camera up in a pretty spot that has been frequented by bears, and then hooking up a Pocket Wizard, so that I can fire the camera remotely and safely hundreds of feet away.  It has almost worked a few times.

Yesterday I thought I had the perfect spot, great setting, and recent bears.  I set everything up, went back to my car to get the transmitter, and wouldn’t you know it, here come the bears!  Unfortunately, I hadn’t turned on the receiver on yet!  I stood back and waited, it was about 10 minutes before I could return to my camera, and this is how I found it!  Just think of the close up shot I could have had just before the bear knocked my camera over!

The camera landed on a rock, and seemed fairly dry and was in perfect working order.  The Pocket Wizard (the blue thing you see under water) wasn’t so lucky - it stopped working.  I really didn’t want to spend $180 dollars for a new one, so I completely disassembled it and dried it thoroughly, and today it started working again!

I have been using an older backup camera, but I would still hate to lose the thing.  I think I need some kind of metal box to protect the camera in the future.  These stories are probably cutting my camera gear resale values in half. 

I went back to my secret little bear spot today with hopes of showing the bears in more of their beautiful rain forest environment.  I tried using a remote wide angle for some up close images - tomorrow I will show you what happened to that effort.

Brown Bear, Chugach National Forest, Alaska. 

I was very fortunate to find this brown bear sow with a cub today.  It is surprising, and a bit concerning when you see how quickly such a large animal can nearly disappear in the thick vegetation.

Dwarf Dogwood and ferns, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

I love the look of plants when they first emerge in spring.  Not only do they have wonderful, rich greens, but their leaves are still in perfect condition.  Soon, the effects of wind, rain and insects will take their toll.

I shouldn’t be talking about new plant life in the second week of July, but after a snowy winter, and a very cool spring and summer - well everything is running late this year.  We have only had a couple of days this year where the daytime high exceeded 60, and some days in June that didn’t break 50.  I’m sure the plants don’t realize its summer! 

Chocolate Lily near Seward, Alaska.

I photographed this chocolate lily in the same field as the sparrows in the last two posts. 

I framed this wildflower through a tiny opening in the surrounding vegetation, while using my 600 and a 2x converter.  I like to use this 1200mm super telephoto setup for wildflowers because it allows me to put everything in front of and behind the wildflower completely out of focus, creating what I think is kind of a neat effect.

Like everything else around here, these guys are blooming really late this year.  It was nice to find some that were just opening and still pointing upwards - usually they hang down.

Savannah Sparrow on a lupine near Seward, Alaska.

This sparrow had a mouth full of some sort of insect.  After posing nicely in one of the most colorful patches of lupine, it flew back to the woods - to a nest I assume.

Savannah Sparrow on a lupine near Seward, Alaska.

Even though I have photographed this spot a lot over the years, I can’t help returning to this wonderful little field of wildflowers near my home, especially on a perfect morning like it was today! 

Last winter I shared the original version of this photo in my Seward comes to Los Angeles post, and talked about how it was going to appear on billboards in the Los Angeles area over a 12 week period - this is how the actual billboard looked.

What I didn’t know; this was a test market, and fortunately the test went well.  So now Nature Valley and their ad agency liscended the image for unlimited billboard use nationwide for one year!  It will appear primarily in hispanic markets in major cities across the U.S.  Pretty cool.

A cow moose in first morning light near Seward, Alaska.

Newborn moose should be dropping any time right now, if they haven’t already.  I made the rounds early in the morning, but did not find any new calves.  This female still had last years calf with her.  It was good to see a yearling; young moose have a difficult time surviving a deep snowy winter like this past one.   

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.

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.

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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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…)

Resurrection River in the Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.

Wading across this knee deep river in my ski boots was a chilling reminder that I was no longer in the desert!  But it was so worth it. (more…)