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!

Fog rising off the ocean, Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

There isn’t a need to step outside, or to even look at the thermometer – when fog like this is rising off the ocean, I know its cold!

Alpenglow on Mt. Alice, Chugach National Forest, Seward, Alaska.

I took this photo out the front door just an hour or so after getting home on Sunday – what a great welcome home!  I have hundreds, if not thousands of somewhat similar images of this mountain, I will probably take thousands more – how can I resist?

During long trips and our summer in Alaska I’m getting enough new material to post to the blog 5 days a week.  This time of year I’m concentrating on office work, so I might not post as often over the next few months, maybe 3 times a week.  I know I have said that in the past and continued posting 5 days a week, but it takes the pressure off if I lower the expectations. 

Cover of Alaska Magazine, November, 2009.

Having the cover of Alaska Magazine is pretty cool.  Check that, it is really cool!  We knew we had made this sale almost two months ago, and I was really looking forward to seeing the final result once we got back home – I think it turned out great!

This is a rock ptarmigan in Denali National Park.  Willow ptarmigan get all the love in Alaska – they are even our State Bird, so it is nice to see the rock ptarmigan get a little press. 

After a few longs days of travel we are now safely back home – it is great to be back in Seward!  The below zero wind chill factor this morning reminded me we were no longer in Palm Springs.  But then again, so did the lack of stop lights, traffic, the fresh air, amazing scenery…

Full Moon over Joshua Tree National Park, California.

How is that for an all inclusive post title?  We are wrapping up our travels and looking forward to getting back to Alaska.  This will be the last post until Monday, at which time I will be back in the home office.  This has been a great trip, gee, Colorado seems like an eternity ago!  I prefer multiple, short trips, but it has become so expensive and difficult to fly to and from Alaska these days, that I think two long trips a year will continue to be our strategy.  We will travel again in February / March.

Our first order of business will be to process the back-log of print orders – we appreciate everyone’s patience.  We hope to have them done and shipped by Thursday.  This trip, we tried to keep up with print orders while on the road, but it just didn’t work out.  If the orders for the week all came in on one day, it would be easy.  But, we usually get one order a day, so trying to coordinate with our printer, and anticipate where we would be so they could send them to us, ended up being too much.  We will have to work on a different solution.

After we get caught up on prints, we are going to begin advertising our photo tours for next summer.  I’m am really excited to share the details for these tours because I think they are  fairly unique, and are going to be a lot of fun.  In short, they will be multi-day, boat based tours limited to 3 or 4 guests.  I have a couple of options, both aboard great boats with incredibly knowledgeable captains – one will be in Kenai Fjords National Park, the other is based in Prince William Sound – two of my favorite places.  I could go on and on, but I’ll wait.  I will say this, if you haven’t spent the night in front of a dramatic tidewater glacier, then you are in for a treat!  Engines off, the only sounds are that of the calving glacier, along with the soothing sounds of water lapping against the hull, or maybe the blow of a passing whale – Hoping to have the details here late next week.

In addition, I will also be offering a small group (limited to 4) coastal bear viewing tour – brown bears up close are definitely a peak experience that every photographer (and person) should experience at least once.  More soon!

Thomas Vetsch stops near the top of a route in Joshua Tree.

I had to do one more climbing post because I hadn’t included a photo of Thomas, and didn’t want to leave him out.  Thomas was the least experienced of the three guys I hung out with, but every bit as motivated and passionate.  Actually, this was the first time Thomas had lead up a route or placed protection, it was cool to have photographed this milestone in his progression as a climber.  The pride he took in his accomplishment was evident when I saw him looking back at the wall after the climb was done – it was cool to see the satisfaction in his expression.

Matt Van Biene getting ready to climb, Joshua Tree National Park, California.

It was  treat to be able to photograph this quite, contemplative moment as Matt prepared his gear and his mind.  Matt was a great guy and excellent climber – I really enjoyed watching and photographing all three of these guys.

Matt Van Biene climbing in Joshua Tree.

Matt has an interesting blog where he shares his climbing experiences – be sure to check it out:  Matt Van Biene’s blog – This Journey.

Matt tossing a rope off the top.

Matt suggested this shot – great suggestion, kind of a classic climbing image of the rope being tossed over the edge.

Ernest Sierras at sunset climbing in Joshua Tree National Park, California.

It was amazing watching Ernest work his way up an almost vertical wall with the help from just a tiny little crack in the rock.  I had a great time working with Ernest and two other great climbers in Joshua Tree on Friday – more to come.

Joshua Tree at sunset, Joshua Tree National Park, California.

I think the unique, graphical shapes of these trees just cries out to be used as a silhouette.  Having a colorful sky was a bonus!

Coyote, Joshua Tree National Park, California.

It was a treat watching this coyote as he passed by my location on a nice evening earlier this week.  Being outdoors in a place like Joshua Tree is always a treat, but having the opportunity to observe wildlife in it’s natural environment, substantially enhances the experience.

Right after the coyote pasted by this spot, a chipmunk ran out from under the rock you see above the coyote’s head – I suppose the chipmunk didn’t enjoying the coyote’s presence as much as I did.

The Palm Springs area in the Coachella Valley, California.

I was excited to share some more sunset images from Joshua Tree National Park, that was until last night’s sunset – without a doubt, one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen in the desert!  I photographed like mad in every direction, the light was absolutely fantastic.  This is pretty much straight out of the camera with a 3 stop graduated neutral density filter.

Now I must confess, I tend to be an easy going person who doesn’t handle confrontation well.  Truthfully, I usually do what I can to avoid confrontation, probably to a fault.

I say that to help set the stage for what happened next.  As I photographed from this amazing location, a women with a small child pulled up in her large, black SUV and began changing her child’s  diaper.  Somehow I knew what was going to happen next.  I watched her walk across the parking lot with her child and diaper – by the way, the LCD screen on the back of the camera makes a great rear view mirror, I use it all the time.  Anyway, she appears to look for a trash can, and then tosses the diaper over the decorative wall that surrounded the parking area!

I think she may have known I saw her because she stalled for a long time before returning to her vehicle, at which time I asked if she intended to leave that diaper behind.  She said, “what diaper?”, I said “the one you dropped over the wall”.  She claimed to not know what I was talking about.  I then as nicely as possible told her that I couldn’t believe anyone could do such a thing in such a beautiful place, that I found it very disappointing.  She looked at me but didn’t respond, so I turned back to the sunset, all the while watching her in my “rear view mirror”.

Well, she put her child in the vehicle, walked across the parking lot, climbed over the wall and picked up the trash and put it in her vehicle.  I thanked her, and told her I really appreciated it – and sure felt a lot better about speaking up.

Joshua trees at sunset at the appropriately named Joshua Tree National Park, California.

Since we have been up since 3:30, I’m going to keep this short because I need a nap.  We had a great time there – saw my first bobcat this morning!

Panoramic photo of the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada.

I’m on an endless search for new and different vantage points for photographing the Las Vegas Strip, in the hope of improving on our Las Vegas photos.

I’m sorry to say that a few days of high winds and some business activity keep me from visiting Valley of the Fire, so to make up for it, tonight we are grabbing the tent and heading into Joshua Tree National Park – should be nice timing with the nearly full moon, warm weather and all.  Should be a big change from Las Vegas!

Janet Airlines Terminal, Las Vegas, Nevada.

This may not be the greatest photo, but judging from a search on the internet, it seems to be a relatively rare photo.  This is an aerial view of the secret government airlines (run by EG & G) that shuttles workers in unmarked planes to places like the Nevada Test Site better known as Area 51.  The planes are white with a red strip down each side, with very small, almost unreadable N numbers.

Now that we have moved from Las Vegas to the Palm Springs area today, I feel safe in sharing this here.  What?  I think I already hear black helicopters moving in – better go! 

Laser show, Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.

We found this vantage point last year after making our way through a 3 story mall on the south end of Fremont Street.  This year we returned, and found the mall dark and vacant, still physically open.  Now I gotta admit, there are a lot of people walking around downtown Las Vegas who I would rather not run into in a dark alley, or a dark mall for that matter, especially while carrying two expensive cameras and tripods (one was for shooting time-lapses).

We got set up and photographed the light show while nervously watching over our shoulders the whole time.  Once the show wrapped up, I quickly folded up the tripods and we bolted for the exit with a feeling of relief, when suddenly 3 young guys came around the corner walking right towards us,  saying something about cameras.  These guys looked like trouble and there was no one else around.  I gotta admit my heart began to race a bit as a put my hand in my jacket and readied the bear spray.  I smiled and nodded hi, acting as relaxed as possible, and they did the same.  Janine and I slipped into the elevator and watched the doors slowly close, breathing a huge sigh of relief as it began to lower us to the relative safety of the crowded street – one with plenty of police presence!

This a a combination of two images exposed 3 stops apart.

Vdara Hotel, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The grand opening for the Vdara Hotel and Spa and its 1,495 suites is December 1, 2009.  This is one of a number of properties scheduled to open in City Center this upcoming December.  I have about worn out my running shoes trying to find vantage points to photograph these properties while they are still under construction – I have tried just about every freeway overpass, parking garage and road within a mile or two in each direction!

I may have spoke (wrote) to soon on the assignment work yesterday.  The scope of the work doubled, while the budget shrunk, and so we are now going to pass.  Besides a lot of walking and scouting, I am getting a lot of key-wording and captioning done!

City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Last winter when we were here in Las Vegas, a newspaper article reported that a good portion of the multi-billion dollar City Center project would be open by this October.  Well, it is far from open.  It is tough to photograph such a project and keep cranes, dump trucks and all the other commotion out of the scene – a telephoto lens comes in handy.

I actually picked up a few days of photography assignment work while we are here in Las Vegas (not for City Center).  As a travel photographer, it is always nice to pick up some assignment work while on the road!

Last nights sunset over Caesars Palace. The fountains of the Bellagio dance in the foreground, Las Vegas, Nevada.

We have now moved to Las Vegas.  I need to update some of my coverage, and hope to spend some time in Valley of Fire State Park!

Tower Arch, Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.

This is a quick and dirty blend of two jpeg images, one for the sunset sky, and one for the rest.  Once I’m home, I’ll re-work this, probably using most, if not all five raw files, but this gets me at least 90% of the way to the final image.

I gotta say, this was one of the tougher hikes home in the dark.  A half an inch of rain had obliterated most the footprints on this lightly traveled trail, and it seemed like the cairns were just out of headlight range – the lack of a moon didn’t help.  But, being able to spend a wonderful evening at this beautiful arch, with out another person within miles made it completely worth it for us!

Partition Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.

A self portrait of me in Partition Arch.  This is the smaller of two openings at the location of Partition Arch, so maybe this one has a different name.  It is a great location – from the opening you can look down on the trail and viewing area for Landscape Arch.