Christmas Gift Ideas for Photographers

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 14 Comments

Another photo from Thursday evening of the Chugach National Forest, Seward, Alaska.

Another photo from Thursday evening of the Chugach National Forest, Seward, Alaska.

Update:  I just posted an updated, more extensive list here:  Gift Ideas for Photographers.

I get asked this question a fair amount as friends try to shop for their avid photographer loved one.  It is a tough question to answer because camera gear can be very expensive, and most photographers have fairly strong opinions on photo gear.  So, I thought I would throw out some less expensive, safer options to consider.

Digital frames Most photographers love to share the photos with family and co-workers, and having a  nice  digital frame for the office or home makes a great gift for most any photographer.  I can’t recommend a particular one as I don’t own one, but I have found the buyer feedback on Amazon to be pretty accurate.

Books.   I can’t own enough books, I’m running out of room to store them all.  I have books on particular animal species, books on locations, and books on photography.  Here are some of my favorites:

Outdoor photography

Galen Rowell’s classic book The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography is scheduled for re-release next May.  Until then, this great book by the master is a great read even if some of the information is dated:  Galen Rowell’s Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography

I haven’t seen this book, but know most of the contributors so feel fairly safe in recommending:  The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography

Location Guides

These can be very helpful and provide a nice running head start for any location.  I like to try to find my own “hot spots”, but there is nothing wrong with getting some help finding the existing ones.  Except for the Oregon book, I have used, enjoyed and relied on these location guides:

Photographing the Southwest: Volume 1–Southern Utah (2nd Ed.)
Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2–Arizona (2nd Ed.)
Photographing the Southwest: Volume 3–Colorado/New Mexico (Photographing the Soutwest)
Photographer’s Guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons
The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite
Photographing Oregon (Phototripsusa)

Animal Reference

Birds – every nature lover should have this valuable resource:  The Sibley Guide to Birds

Bird behavior.  If your photographer already has the Sibley Guide to Birds, this makes a great compliment:  The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior It covers nesting / feeding, all kinds of stuff.

Wolves.  If you like wolves as much as I do, and Denali, then this is a must read:   Wolves Of Denali

Moose.  I wish there was a book like this on every species.  It is very comprehensive, over 700 pages, and parts are technical, but if you have ever wondered something about moose, you can find it here.  I should warn you, books like this don’t come cheap, but Amazon has it for $75:   Ecology and Management of the North American Moose

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Or when all else fails, you can never go wrong with a  B & H gift card.

Resurrection Peaks

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 18 Comments

Resurrection Peaks, Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.

Resurrection Peaks, Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.

This was from last night at sunset.  It is probably more accurate to say, yesterday afternoon at sunset – this was a little after 3:00.

Prince William Sound Photo Tour

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 4 Comments

Harriman Glacier, Prince William Sound, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Harriman Glacier, Prince William Sound, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Well now that my first two Alaska photo tours are filling, (we have one spot remaining for the Kenai Fjords photo tour, and two spots for the Bear and Puffin photo tour), I thought I would promote my final offering, a photo tour into the amazing Prince William Sound.

Like the Kenai Fjords tour, this is an all inclusive boat based tour into a region of amazing scenery and wonderful wildlife.  This three night, four day tour will be limited to four guests, myself, an incredibly knowledgeable captain, and a cook – and we will have a 58 foot research vessel to spread out on!  We will have access to a Zodiak skiff for shore excursions and hikes, and will overnight in a different remote location each night.  Instead of repeating the amazing details here, you can read much more here:  Prince William Sound photo tour.

Stormy Seward!

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 9 Comments

Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

Big waves, high tides and hard winds hit Resurrection Bay yesterday, Seward, Alaska.

These benches sit along a bike trail on the Seward Waterfront.  The bike trail should be visible in the photo, but it is buried under a foot of water, mud and rocks.  This wave actually broke over the tops of the benches, I had to run back to keep dry.  Large rocks were washed up on to the Sealife Center’s parking lot.  The forces of nature are amazing.

I guess we didn’t have it that bad.  According the the Anchorage Daily News, a Coast Guard Station much further West from here measured wind speeds of up to 178 mph!

Great Outdoor Gear Deals!

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 18 Comments

Troy Henkels kayaking in front of Cascade Falls, Prince William Sound, Alaska.

Troy Henkels kayaking in front of Cascade Falls, Prince William Sound, Alaska.

I have intended to tell you about www.outdoor-gear-deals.com and after seeing Necky sea kayaks for 45% off yesterday, it reminded me I needed to share this site.  But let me back up for a minute to explain.

By necessity, my occupation as an outdoor photographer requires a fair amount of good outdoor gear, so I’m always on the lookout for good deals on good outdoor equipment.  You may have remembered a post last spring where I talked about becoming addicted to these new websites like steep and cheap where they offer huge discounts on just a single item at a time.  Well, these one time “deals of the day” or even deal by hour are becoming more popular, with companies like Patagonia and REI getting in on the act.

Well it took too much time to try and visit a bunch of websites each day just in case there was something I “needed” so I created a little website that consolidated all these deals onto a single page.  For the last 6 months it has only been used by Janine and I, and a few friends, but I thought I should share it here as others might find it valuable.  So check it out and bookmark Outdoor Gear Deals – deal of the day website, the page automatically updates every 10 minutes.  It still needs some fine tuning, but I think you might find it helpful.

Winter Photography

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Travel 7 Comments

The mountains of the Chugach National Forest barely emereging from the clouds last weekend, near Seward, Alaska.

The mountains of the Chugach National Forest barely emerging from the clouds last weekend, near Seward, Alaska.

Again today it is blowing and snowing hard outside.  I thought it might be a good time of year to share some older posts on winter photography.

First, I think anyone who may be doing any photography in cold, winter weather should find this post helpful:  8 Winter Photography Tips.

For those in the Northern portion of the Northern Hemisphere, this can also be a great time to photograph northern lights.  Scientist have reached a consensus that last December was the low point of our current solar cycle, so the northern light activity will probably continue to be slow, but hopefully improving.  The next solar maximum is estimated to hit in 2013.

Even during bad years you can see the occasional northern lights (aurora borealis).  With that in mind, here are two more older posts that may be beneficial:  Finding northern lights / aurora borealis and another post on photographing northern lights / aurora borealis.

Free Shipping Special!

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 6 Comments

Ice flows on Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

Ice flows on Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

In past years this has been a very popular special, so again we are offering free priority mail shipping on print orders over $99 to anywhere within the United States.  For International orders, we reduce the shipping costs by and equal amount.  You can find our automated on-line shopping carts at our main photography website – click on a thumbnail and you will find a larger version of the thumbnail image – from here, click on “buy a print”

Resurrection Bay is the Northern most ice free port in North America, so it is unusual to see ice pans forming – especially in November.  This is due to the combination of heavy snow and virtually no wind.  This was yesterday.  Today the wind has picked up, and the snow / ice pans are already gone.  I thought they did make for a neat foreground.

White Friday

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Snow covered alders and trees, Seward, Alaska.

Snow covered alders and trees, Seward, Alaska.

We have received a lot of snow over the last couple of days, and it keeps coming down!  As a photographer, and avid cross country skier, I love it!

Believe it or not, this is a color photo.