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.
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.
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.
by Ron on December 17, 2009
Pedersen Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
It has been awhile since I have answered any Ask Ron questions. As a reminder, I will answer any photography question as best I can.
A couple of weeks ago I received this question:
I love how you capture a foreground, middle ground background with such great depth.
Do you typically try to accomplish this with a 24 T/S or the 24 1.4L?
Thanks, Ray
To answer your question, yes I do use Canon’s tilt shift lenses a fair amount. By tilting the plane of focus I am better able to position the depth of field from near to far without sacrificing a lot of shutter speed. I go into more detail in this post on tilt with Canon’s tilt shift lenses. These lenses are especially valuable when you have something really close, say within a couple of feet, and still want to keep distant objects in focus.
But, I don’t use those lenses as much as I should. It is so much easier, faster and lighter to carry one 24-105 then three tilt shift lenses. In these circumstances, I use a small aperture to maximize depth of field – usually around f/16. I then focus about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into the scene. I also almost always will use a tripod, mirror lock up and the 2 second self timer to minimize any movement as much as possible. This is about as good as it gets without tilt. If something still has to be a bit out of focus I would rather it be distant objects – I believe prominent foreground elements have to be sharp – distant objects like mountains can be more forgiving.
Tomorrow I will answer another recent question on depth of field – this one regarding bokeh.
by Ron on December 10, 2009
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.
by Ron on November 20, 2009
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!
by Ron on September 26, 2009
Cameraman Buddy Squires, producer Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns in Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
I thought I would do a quick reminder that the Ken Burns series on our National Parks will begin airing Sunday evening on PBS.
As you may know, I helped out a bit when Florentine Films was filming in Kenai Fjords back in 2003 – they have been working on this film for sometime. Ken, Dayton and Buddy were some of the most interesting people I have ever met, and could tell fascinating stories about the people they have met and places they had seen thanks to their past projects. What doesn’t come across in the television interviews I have seen is Ken’s wonderful sense of humor – the group of us sure had a lot of fun, I don’t think I have ever laughed so much while out in the field!
I had the chance to see much of the Alaska portion of the coverage of this series and it was really well done. I can’t imagine the research that must go into a project like this. The series talked at length about people like Adolph Murie, Bradford and Barbara Washburn, Charles Sheldon and Joe Quigley – all people that are well known to Alaskans, but may be unfamiliar to most Americans. I look forward to learning about similar people from other parts of the United States who may be unfamiliar to me.
I don’t think I’ll have a chance to watch it right now – we don’t get much in the way of TV right now, and we are kinda busy, but I do look forward to watching it once we are back in Alaska. Here is the PBS site with much more information including times for The National Parks, Americas Best Idea.
Ken Burns pretending to be deeply engrossed by a beach stone as he hams it up for my camera. He was hilarious. At the time I was sorry my flash didn't fire, but in hindsight, I like the silhouette.
by Ron on September 2, 2009
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.
by Ron on August 27, 2009
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!
by Ron on August 24, 2009
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.
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.
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 Humpback Whale waves its flipper, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This is another photo from a week ago – it is alway a treat to find these whales close to this wonderful coastline!
Steller Sea Lions, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Another photo from last week. I really liked the colors and patterns created by the moss and lichen on the rocks.
This haul-out faces out into the Gulf of Alaska – I don’t think I have ever seen the water this calm, not even the slightest wave!
Cataract Cove, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This in another photo from my time in Kenai Fjords National Park last week. Can you spot the mountain goat? It is amazing where these guys live! Below is a little closer photo which will give away the Mountain Goat’s location.
Mountain Goat, Cataract Cove, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Ken Burns with producer Dayton Duncan filming in Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
The famous filmmaker Ken Burns will be in Anchorage, Alaska this Thursday evening talking about and previewing clips from his newest film: The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. For more details, visit Alaska Geographic.
I was fortunate enough to spend 3 days with Ken and his crew in Kenai Fjords a few years ago while he was working on this film. I gotta say Ken was a fascinating individual. His creativity goes without saying, but he is a wonderful story teller with a hilarious sense of humor – we had lots of laughs on that trip. If you find yourself anywhere near Anchorage on Thursday, hearing Ken speak, and seeing some of his film clips should be highly worthwhile!
Northwestern Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Yesterday I took a boat tour into Kenai Fjords National Park and visited the amazing Northwestern Fjord. It had been a few years since I had visited this part of the Park, and I was glad to see the ice hadn’t receded too much, nothing like what we have seen at Exit Glacier. For comparison, the above photo is the right hand portion of the glacier that you see in this 6 year old photo of Northwestern Glacier (by the way, Alaska Magazine did a really nice double page spreed with this photo in this months issue!).
I am so lucky to live next to such amazing country! The Travel Channel calls the coast of Kenai Fjords National Park one of the top 10 natural wonders of the world – for good reason!
Special thanks to Cathy Gonzalez with Log Dreamin’ Bed and Breakfast for helping with my arrangements!
Exit Glacier Road, Seward, Alaska.
This was taken at about 11:00 at night earlier this week. I think it is easy to see why I make the 10 plus mile drive from Seward to Exit Glacier frequently this time of year, it is a beautiful drive!
This is Mount Benson. This area is roughly spit in half by the Chugach National Forest and Kenai Fjords National Park, so I will put this in both categories.
Silt embedded into the wall of a glacier cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This probably isn’t for everyone, but I liked the abstract patterns created by the layers of silt in this icy wall. I used a 400 mm telephoto to zero in on the detail while safely standing outside the cave.
Ice Cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
It is hard to get a sense of scale, but this was a huge cave – the ceiling was a good 8 feet in height. It followed the small creek over to the right out of this frame. I found this last Friday – the bright sunny skies helped illuminate the ice inside the cave with a beautiful blue glow.
I photographed this from outside the cave looking in. These caves can be fun to explore, but this one was way to sketchy, there is no way I would enter a cave like this – it looked like huge hunks of ice could fall at any momment!
