Archive for the ‘Wrangell – St. Elias National Park’ Category
Photos and notes on Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Gilbert Point, the Hubbard Glacier and Mt Seattle, Disenchantment Bay, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Aerial photo. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Here’s an image from the first night of my most recent trip, a month long adventure down around the coastline of Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This photo was taken on the air taxi flight out to the coast; we departed a little from the scheduled route and I shot some images of the Hubbard Glacier and surrounding area. The points of interest here start with the Hubbard Glacier itself, generally regarded as the largest tidewater glacier in the world. At over 70 miles long, it’s quite a chunk of ice (given part of our trip was to look at the Malaspina Glacier and it caving into a tidal lagoon, the Hubbard’s claim to fame may be short-lived; the Malaspina is much bigger, and most definitely reaches the ocean).
You can also just see the edge of Valerie Glacier, (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Disenchantment Bay, Gilbert Point, Hubbard Glacier, Mt. Seattle, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Environmental Issues, Landscapes, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | No Comments »
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011
Brown bear, Ursus arctos, and a wildlife photographer, walking along a road in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Just a fun photo to show you that this grizzly bear photography isn’t as easy as it looks. Here’s an experienced Alaskan wildlife photographer setting off trying to find a bear to photograph.
You might THINK it’s easy to find a 800lb brown bear, but such isn’t the case. Take a guide who knows what he’s doing with you so this photo isn’t you on your next photo trip. 
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Brown bears, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Skolai Images
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Photo Tours, Photography, Wildlife, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Northern lights, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Here’s another image from a recent sojourn to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park to see and photograph the northern lights, or Aurora borealis. It was a treat to have a moonlit night to shoot by, providing plenty of ambient light to capture the fall colors as well as the northern lights.
This trip was a wild ride. A mad run from Anchorage to the Glennallen area (more…)
Tags: aurora borealis, Landscapes, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Landscapes, Northern Lights, Photo Tours, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Sunday, October 9th, 2011
Mount Saint Elias, 18 008' high, stands tall in the evening light over an unnamed glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska - aerial photo. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Well, just back from 2 weeks to photographing brown bears in Katmai National Park, and I’m off again already; I’ll be gone for some time on this trip, 4 weeks down along the coastline of Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, where I will meet up with Erin and Hig, of Ground Truth Trekking. They’re spending 2 months in the area, finding out
“what would it be like to live on ice? In the fall of 2011 we will set out to spend two months living on the shifting, melting surface of North America’s largest glacier, along with our two young children.
Trekking between a series of camps on the Malaspina Glacier, on Alaska’s remote and harsh Lost Coast, we will explore this dramatic and wild landscape, weather the fall storms, and document climate change in action.”
Pretty cool stuff. (more…)
Tags: Ground Truth Trekking, Malaspina Glacier, Mount St. Elias, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Adventures, Aerial Photos, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Landscapes, Musings, News, Travel, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Friday, October 7th, 2011
Wrangell mountains, fall colors, sedimentation rock layers ad striations, aerial photo, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
An abstract aerial shot of the Wrangell Mountains, with a little fall color thrown in. Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
I’d actually asked the pilot to fly us up in this area in the hope to find a particular glacial scene I wanted to reshoot, but the great patterns and colors along the ridges above the glacier were more interesting; in part because we didn’t find what I was looking for anyway.
Aerial photography is an exciting challenge; trying to see compositions that work in camera from such an unusual perspective is harder than one might imagine. The sensory overload of flying through such magnificent scenery, (more…)
Tags: Aerial Photos, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell Mountains
Posted in Abstract Photos, Adventures, Aerial Photos, Alaska, Art, Fall, Landscapes, Photo Tours, Photography, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Northern lights over the Mentasta Mountains, tundra, boreal forest and a small kettle pond on a moonlit night. Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
From the recent trip to shoot the northern lights in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park. I’ve never seen clouds move in quite so quickly as they did this particular evening. I’d se up to shoot over in the Glennallen area, and before long, high clouds rolled in from the southwest. In order to keep shooting, I had to figure which would be the best direction to head.
I chose north and east, toward the Nabesna Road, partly because I wanted to be in that area for sunrise. So I spent the evening trying to stay ahead of the lights and catch what images I could along the way. Finally, I made it to where I wanted to be, and then set off to find a composition I wanted.
For any Alaskans out there, or anyone else who’s hiked over muskeg before, you’ll appreciate this one.; try setting out at night time to hike over the muskeg for your photos. I guarantee that WILL kick your a$$.
Then I spent the rest of the evening waiting for the lights to turn on. They popped out a few times, but never really strongly, though they were pretty active. The full moon made for plenty of light for the foreground. I wish I could’ve gotten a little closer to the water’s edge here, but all that long grass in the foreground sits in about 10 inches of water. If the lights had offered something really dazzling, I might have ventured out, but for staying dry and warm seemed a better option given the circumstances.
Finally I fell asleep under a spruce tree, woke up to a clouded sky, and stumbled my way backward camp and my superwarm, absolutely amazing, Western Mountaineering Lynx sleeping bag. life was good. I didn’t get up for sunrise.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, aurora borealis, Northern Lights, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Landscapes, Musings, Northern Lights, Photo Tours, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Erie Mine Bunkhouse and the Wrangell Mountains, fall colors. Erie Mine is one of three mines that made up the famous Kennecott Copper Mines, Kennicott, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
From the aerial shoot we did in September; this one is of the old bunkhouse at Erie Mine, one of the 3 Kennecott Mines, in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park.
It’s interesting to me how much money, time and investment the National Park Service put into Kennecott, an old abandoned Copper Mine. The basic tenant of the Park Service is “don’t take stuff out of the place, and don’t leave your trash behind”.
It seems odd to effectively celebrate an organization that did quite the opposite of that. The mining company, like most mining companies, took what they wanted from the landscape, and left all their sh** behind when they were done. Now, what they did is revered.
But, such are the ways of the NPS; sometimes they’re hard to follow.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Aerial Photos, Fall, Kennecott, Landscapes, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell Mountains
Posted in Aerial Photos, Alaska, Environmental Issues, Fall, Landscapes, Musings, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Monday, September 19th, 2011
Mount Sanford, early morning, fall colors and a kettle pond, boreal forest, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
So while I’m off in Katmai photographing the bears, I’ll schedule a post or 2 from the summer. Here’s a shot of Mt. Sanford not long after sunrise one gorgeous sunny fall morning. What a view!
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, Fall, Landscapes, Mount Sanford, Mt Sanford, photo tours, scenics, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Landscapes, Photo Tours, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Fall colors in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Aerial photo. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Here’s a quick shot from a flight we took over the park last week; the weather wasn’t so awesome, but the flight sure was. I’d shot this valley before, and knew it would have some nice color.
Now, back to packing gear for the grizzly bear photo tour.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Aerial Photos, Alaska, fall colors, Landscapes, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Posted in Abstract Photos, Aerial Photos, Alaska, Fall, Landscapes, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Tags: aurora borealis, Copper River, Mount Drum, Mount Sanford, Mount Wrangell, Mount Zanetti, Northern Lights, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell Mountains
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Landscapes, Northern Lights, Photo Tours, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 11 Comments »
