Kenai Fjords

Bear Glacier Lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Can you see the kayaker?  I paddled around this massive iceberg to include Janine on the far side of the old tunnel to put the scale in perspective. She was well back from the arch and the iceberg, so that exaggerates the appearance of scale a bit, but it wasn’t safe getting any closer – but still, this thing was huge!

This amazing place is less then 15 miles from Seward – I have been trying to get in there for years and was finally able to this week, and all I could keep thinking was wow!  The icebergs are mammoth.  Hundreds of feet long, and maybe 50 feet tall – maybe more.  Truthfully, those are just wild guesses because I have no sense of scale out there.  The place is amazing!  The place is also crazy dangerous.  Icebergs would roll or break without warning – we watched 6 seals get thrown unexpectedly into the lagoon when a berg they were resting on rolled.  The 34 degree water coupled with the fact we were the only two people in the whole area just adds to the risk.

Gosh, I had more bear and puffin photos from Lake Clark National Park I was going to post, then we went to Denali, I still have a number of wolf photos from there I wanted to share, but now I have had a couple of great days in Kenai Fjords to share!  It has been nice to have a really productive couple of weeks since I really didn’t get too much photography done in the first half of the summer – I did get a ton of office work done, but being in the field is way funner!

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Kenai Fjords Tour boat, Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

We had our first break in the rain in about a month late last week, and I was able to take advantage of our brief bit of nice weather to do an aerial photo assignment for Kenai Fjords Tours.  I love photographing from a helicopter with the doors removed, it is such a rush.  I have been able to do it many times in Alaska for clients like the Alaska Railroad, National Park Service and the Forest Service, and have even chartered helicopters in Los Angeles and San Diego.

I think one of the things that makes it so much fun is the challenge – and that started with the comment the pilot made before we took off.  He said if I lean out the door and have my head phones blow off that they would get sucked into the tail rotor and we would crash and die.  OK, I think I can remember that now.

So between the thrill of looking straight down to the ground, and having to think that your life depends on not dropping head phones or a camera lens, you have so much more to think about.  The composition is constantly changing, as is the light, background, exposure and focus.  You need to coordinate with the captain and pilot, anticipate when I’ll have a open shooting window, watch to keep prop out of the scene, because it will show in photos even though you don’t see it in person, keep track of the background.  I think you get the idea  – lots of action and excitement, an hour can really “fly” by!

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Northwestern Fjord, Kenai Fjords National Park, near Seward, Alaska.

Some interesting patterns in the water from a bit earlier this summer.

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An Aialik lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Our recent weather pattern has been bringing us our fair share of rain – that can happen during the summer, hopefully we will see a little more sunshine soon!

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Humpback Whale

I never get tired of watching whales – especially when they are as active as this one was!

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Cataract Cove, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Although it is hard to photograph, I love this cove!  The cove is surrounded by 500 to 1,000 foot high granite walls covered waterfalls that drop straight into the ocean – it is an amazing sight and sound.  Not only are there lots of waterfalls, but we also spotted a number of mountain goats.

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Dall's Porpoise

It is so fun to watch these playful animals playing in the bow wave of the boat!  We saw lots of Dall’s Porpoise – we had encounters all three days, usually multiple time each day.

Canon 1Ds III and 24-105 at 24.  Exposure of f/6.3 at 1/500 of a second and ISO 640.

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Iceberg, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

One nice thing about cloudy weather -glaciers and icebergs appear much bluer, and this iceberg was especially blue.  On a sunny day, this thing would have looked much whiter.

We had a nice variety of weather on my recent three day trip into Kenai Fjords National Park, everything from rain to sun – it provided a lot of different options for photography.

This image was hand held from a boat at f /8 and 1,000th of a second at ISO 400.

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Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

I’m back from a wonderful 3 day photo tour into Kenai Fjords National Park!  We saw a wide range of wildlife including a number of whales, and visited a variety of amazing landscapes, it was a lot of fun thanks in large part to a great group of passionate nature lovers.

This is the research vessel that served as our “mother ship” anchored in front of Aialik Glacier the first night of our trip.  What a place to spend the night!  We watched a huge section of this mile wide glacier calve late in the evening – by far the biggest calving event I have ever seen.  The resulting wave roared along the nearby shoreline.  Surprisingly, unlike smaller calving events, the wave that past under the vessel was barely noticeable – it was more like a big wide swell then a wave.  I should note, telephoto compression does make the boat appear closer to the glacier then we really were.

Our awesome Captain Mike bringing us back from a shore excursion for bear and landscape photography.

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Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

First thing in the morning I’m heading out into Kenai Fjords National Park for 3 days as part of my Kenai Fjords photo tour.  I’m posting a photo of Aialik Glacier because I’m thinking we will spend the first night in front of the beautiful glacier!  Going to sleep to the sounds of a glacier is just amazing.  Of couse, depending on the light and wildlife sightings, we could be just about anywhere – that is the beauty of a custom multi-night photo tour!

The vessel I have chartered for this trip just returned from a 7 week trip to the Aleutian Islands with a film crew from the Discovery Channel, so I’m sure we will hear some great stories – but more importantly, I’m sure we will be experiencing our own amazing stories!  I will report back next week.

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The front and back covers of the Kenai Fjords Tours Screensaver.

My good friends at Kenai Fjords Tours contacted me last winter to see if I could produce them a screen-saver product that they could sell on board their many tour boats.  After a  fun and interesting process – the final product is now complete and delivered – I think it turned out really nice.  What is extra cool – Kenai Fjords Tours will be displaying the slide show of images on their flat panel monitors located through out each boat.

From what I understand, they are going to package this product with the Stirring the Senses book for a really low price.

So – be ready for a sales pitch – if you have a business and want a really nice promotional item or retail product, give us a shout and we can create a custom screen-saver exactly to your specifications!  OK, end of sales pitch for today. 

Inside of the Kenai Fjords screen-saver.

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Orcas work their way along the outer coast, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

I captured this photo just before our fall trip – we are now converting and processing images from the end of summer, and from our Fall trip.  I hope to share more here over the next few weeks as we do.

I thought the orcas were cool – but I really liked that rock wall behind them.

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Pedersen Glacier, Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

OK, at last I can announce the first of three different photo tours!  I decided that if I was going to do photo tours, they had to be something that I really enjoyed and got excited about, and I can honestly say I think this trip is going to be a blast!

Since I live at the entrance to Kenai Fjords, and spend much of my summer in the Park, a tour here is a natural.  The problem is, I didn’t want to be limited to day tours, hotels and restaurants.  I have spent many nights on boats in Kenai Fjords, and it didn’t matter if I was on a large fishing vessel, the Park Service boat, a research vessel, or in friends pleasure crafts, every trip was a memorable experience with amazing photo opportunities.  By spending the night, we can be in the fjords when the light is best, the animals most active, and with the other tour boats back in Seward- perfect!

So this is a 3 day, 2 night all inclusive boat tour limited to just 3 guests which will maximize our interaction and learning.  No point in going on and on, you can read about all the juicy details here:  Kenai Fjords National Park Photo Tour.

Stay tuned for a similar, but larger tour (4 guest / 4 days)  into Prince William Sound, along with another 4 day, 4 guest tour concentrating on coastal brown bears and puffin!

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View from the to of the Harding Icefield Trail, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

This is Janine enjoying the sunset view from our backpacking trip last month into Kenai Fjords National Park.

I had to go to great lengths to get into a high enough position so that her head didn’t merge into the distant mountains, I wanted to make sure she was positioned so that her background would against the fog.

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An unnamed glacier in Northwestern Fjord, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Another photo from last week.  I think this area is beautiful even in ugly weather!

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A portion of a pod of ten orcas spotted during our tour last week in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Nice timing – after going three years with regular updates to this blog, I missed this entire past week!  Now I can explain.

I just finished a very interesting week accompanying one of the wealthiest Americans (according to Forbes) around Alaska on a private photo tour.  Well I say private, but he did have two non photographer friends with him, along with a highly capable staff member who took care of any logistical issues that arose during the trip, and 3 full time body guards!  Needless to say I received a lot of funny looks and comments.  Try walking around a town of 350 like Hope, Alaska – while surrounded by 3 very fit looking young men each sporting one of those curly corded  ear pieces – you know, the ones you see the Secret Service wearing in movies.

I gotta say I was a bit spoiled.  It was nice being able to  pull up to the nights hotel and have someone hand you a key to your room as you step from the car, while explaining you were checked in and your bags were already in the room!  And the meals – wow!

So now I’m back to my tent and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but that is ok – those trips are really fun too!

I should add, I signed a confidentiality agreement, so don’t look for me to be naming names – and sorry, I can’t even give hints.

This was the first time I have ever participated in a photo tour, and I gotta say I had a lot of fun.  I have received many requests for tours in the past years but have always explained I didn’t offer tours.  Well this one came together at the very last minute while I had a gap in my schedule, so I decided it might give me a good preview and gave it a try.  Since I did have such a good time, I’m thinking I might offer an occassional tour next year so stay tuned if interested.

P.S. We have now begun offering photo tours, go here to read more about our Alaska Photo Tours.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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