by Ron on September 28, 2011
Cover of the October, 2011 Alaska Magazine!
I have had so many other photos to share this summer that I have avoided posting some of my recent covers – most of them travel guide related publications. But… as an Alaskan, there is no ignoring having a photo on the cover of Alaska Magazine! It is always a wonderful honor to say the least! I think this is my third cover for the magazine.
This is a photo of the Tongass National Forest near Ketchikan, Alaska. Here is the original photo without the text: Tongass National Forest photo.
by Ron on September 27, 2011
Sunset at Teklanika, Denali National Park, Alaska.
I had hoped to be sharing a really cool northern lights photo this morning – I was up a good portion of the night looking for them to no avail. 
So here is another one from Denali this fall – sunsets there can be hard to come by, but I was fortunate enough to have at least 3 this year!
by Ron on September 26, 2011
Bear Berry with Denali in the background, Denali National Park, Alaska.
Here is another new one – I love the bright patches of bear berry that forms on the high alpine tundra in places around Denali. We also get the same dramatic plant in the high country around Seward – in fact I’m seeing a lot of it now.
I used a 24mm Canon tilt shift lens to get such an extreme range of depth of field – the foreground plants were just inches away from my lens, while the mountain is some 30 miles away I believe.
by Ron on September 22, 2011
Bull Caribou, Denali National Park, Alaska.
Another one from my fall trip – this guy was a monster!
by Ron on September 20, 2011
Wild lynx, Denali National Park, Alaska.
This is the same lynx from my post a few days ago – we were able to watch him work this field for a good 15 minutes. He never did catch anything, but still a treat!
by Ron on September 19, 2011
Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska.
This was my second evening on my recent trip to Denali. “The mountain” wasn’t out, but there was sure a wonderful light show looking North including lightening!
by Ron on September 16, 2011
Dall Sheep in Polychrome Pass, Denali National Park, Alaska.
This is the same ram in nearly the same place as my last Dall Sheep post, but the following morning – fortunately he hadn’t moved out of that wonderful patch of foliage!
by Ron on September 15, 2011
Bull moose in front of Mt. McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska.
It is always a treat to see Denali. It is also a treat to see a bull moose up close! But, to see both at together at the same time – awesome!
by Ron on September 14, 2011
Mt McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska.
This was my first full morning from my recent trip to Denali National Park – one of my most productive trips in awhile!
by Ron on September 13, 2011
Wild lynx, Denali National Park, Alaska.
This was the same day as the sunset I posted yesterday, and of the sheep image I posted a couple of days ago – funny how some days everything just comes together!
This guy really scared us – as we were hiking around through the forest, he burst out of some trees just a few feet from us! Fortunately, he only went about 20 feet and stopped which is when I captured this photo. After that, he went to hunting and we were able to watch him for a good twenty minutes. What a treat!
From what I have read, the lynx population lags the snowshoe hare population by about a year. The last few years, there have been hares everywhere. This year, there were very few. So, I have a feeling that the days of spotting lynx in Denali are about over. Seems like on my trips to Denali over the last couple of years that I have seen at least one lynx on each trip – but in the years before that, I rarely saw a lynx there. If the lynx population does crash as expected, I’m going to miss these wonderful encounters.
by Ron on September 12, 2011
Sable Pass, Denali National Park, Alaska.
It is rare that a photo captured with a dull color space like AdobeRGB doesn’t need saturation – but this one didn’t! Between the rich colors and the incredible glow coming off the beautiful sunset sky, it was warm colors illuminating warm colors. In a way, not unlike what you see in a slot canyon.
by Ron on September 9, 2011
Caribou, Denali National Park, Alaska.
I Spent the better part of two days following and watching this guy move about the park as I waited for the light, weather, and for him to stop in a patch of fall foliage like this!
by Ron on September 8, 2011
Dall Sheep, Denali National Park, Alaska.
I tried to get these guys over numerous days but was never able to get the right combination of light and fall foliage until almost my last day. On my second to last evening I found this ram in one of the most colorful parts of Denali right at sunset – I was thrilled!
by Ron on September 7, 2011
Mt. Mc Kinley, Denali National Park, Alaska.
I’m back from a wonderful week and a half in Denali National Park. At first, I thought I had missed the peak fall colors, and I might have in a couple of areas of the park, but for the most part, the colors were amazing. I can’t believe how that countryside is transformed in the autumn!
This was from my first night – one of many in which I had amazing light to go with the wonderful scenery.
Besides the color, I spent a lot of time pursuing the wildlife. The wildlife wasn’t as plentiful as it has been in the past, but I still was able to photograph wolves, lynx, fox, a huge caribou and numerous moose. I’m definitely worn out – but that is a good thing!
by Ron on August 26, 2011
Brown bear with a red salmon, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.
I hadn’t planned on photographing more bears this week, but a video assignment found me in the middle of bear country not too far from my home in Seward on Wednesday. This is an image from that day. The fishing was good and the salmon everywhere. If this bear caught a male, it might peel some of the skin off, but as often as not, it would just toss it back. It definitely was after the row in the females. When it did catch a female, the salmon eggs were about all she would eat. Times are good when you are living on just caviar!
In the morning I head north for almost two weeks. Much of that time will be in Denali – I’m really excited to have drawn permit dates during the peak of the fall colors – I have been trying to get these dates for over 10 years!
I probably won’t worry too much about bears on this trip, but I would really like to improve on my coverage of caribou and moose – not to mention landscapes and fall colors. Northern lights would be a real bonus. If I have time, when I come out of the park for gas and showers, I will post an update here – but, it is possible that I won’t have the time in which case I’ll see you when I get back!
by Ron on August 25, 2011
Close-up of an iceberg, Aialik Glacier and Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, near Seward, Alaska.
Here is one from my Kenai Fjords National Park trip from earlier this month. It has been such a busy month that this trip seems like a life time ago!
I photographed it both ways, this version with the rocks along the bottom, and a version without the rocks. The rocks give it a visual anchor, and some context, the version without rocks is more of an abstract. So which do you like better?
I wasn’t going to post the version without the rocks – you can either scroll up until the rocks are out of sight, or use a piece of paper or your hand to block the rocks, and that will basically give you the same image.
by Ron on August 24, 2011
Brown / Grizzly Bear, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
A Brown Bear watches for salmon during a beautiful sunrise earlier this month during my Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour. Figured I better post another bear image – they seem much more popular then birds. 
To get this much depth of field I combined two nearly identical images – one where I focused on the bear, the other focused on the mountain across the Cook Inlet.
Here is a quick adjustment to the image where I focused on just the bear and used f/11. Not sure the top one is really any better.
[click to continue…]
by Ron on August 23, 2011
Horned Puffin, near Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
I wanted to keep sharing brown bear photos, but figured I better mix it up a bit – plus, we did photograph other things beside bears last week, including a black bear, bald eagles and horned and tufted puffin.
These birds are so cute and colorful – they are like living cartoon characters!
by Ron on August 22, 2011
A young cub watched intently as its mother digs for clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
I find it fascinating to watch wildlife perform a learned behavior, and watching coastal brown bears dig for clams is no exception. Really, it is amazing! Although they may have different techniques for opening the clams, they really can become efficient clam diggers.
This was one of two cubs I had watched as spring cubs last year. It was great to see them still doing well. One of the cubs had actually learned to dig for its own clams. It had to dig twice as hard as its mother, and it struggled to open them, but you could tell he was becoming self-sufficient.
This was the other cub who had not mastered the skill yet, and would watch intently as the mother dug clam after clam. This is what you see here. I would think it is just a matter of time until this cub begins digging for clams as well.
by Ron on August 19, 2011
A sow and cub heading out in search of clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
This sow and cub where heading out to dig for clams – a fascinating activity to watch and photograph – I’ll have more on this in my next post.
by Ron on August 18, 2011
A brown bear looking for clams along the coast, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
If I was to expose this enough to show detail in the bear, I would have blown out the warm beautiful sunrise light. So, I purposely underexposed this so that I would just have the silhouette and the wonderful light.
This was captured with a 600mm at f/4.5, 320 iso and 1/2500 of a second on a Canon 7D.
by Ron on August 17, 2011
A brown bear and bald eagle both watch for salmon during this years bear photo tour - Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
Well I have some bad news, and good news regarding next years Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.
The bad news was – we have a tentative person interested in our final spot leaving me without any openings going into the prime booking season!
Now the good news – I was able to obtain another week during 2012! I am really fortunate to obtain such a great week, as David, the lodge owner is now having to turn away groups thanks to the popularity of this location! I am very grateful to be able to offer two trips a summer!
My second week being added is at the end of June – the 23rd to the 29th. I will be interested to see what it is like that time of year. I do remember comments made by Jenny, my former bear guide – she said the end of June was her favorite time of year. Kevin, the park ranger in the area for the past 10 years (the first 4 in a tent! ) has also said late June is one of her favorite times as well. Even Rick, my bear guide this year expressed a preference for late June. So I’m excited to see what it is like then!
What are the advantages of going in June? Possibly more bears, especially spring cubs. This year they were seeing 6 spring cubs by the end of June – that was down to 1 by August. Short, rich green grass along with fields wildflower like lupine should be in nice bloom. Mating activity also takes place during June offering some unique interaction and bringing more bores (males) into the area.
What are the advantages of going in August? There are two big ones. Fishing bears – bears catching and eating salmon is always high on the list of advantages of August. The other advantage is perching puffin – they may not perch as much in June, but they will be flying.
If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to email or call. I anticipate these trips will fill fairly quick – certainly by Christmas. For more information, visit our page for the Alaska bear and puffin photography tour.
by Ron on August 16, 2011
Grizzly bear at sunrise, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
We had some wonderful light on my trip last week, and the warm glow on this brown / grizzly bear was no exception!
by Ron on August 15, 2011
Brown bear sow looks intently for salmon, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
We had great weather during last weeks bear photo tour! It was such a treat, I really had fun. The nice weather did make for some long days, but for light like this, it was well worth it!
by Ron on August 11, 2011
Brown bears, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
I have a brief minute so I thought I would share a quick photo from this morning. We are having a great trip!
