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. You can read more about the expedition on their blog, here. They’ve already been out a few weeks, and I’m looking forward to meeting up, and hearing all about their adventures. From the tweets I’ve seen, they’re having a blast. I spoke with Hig today, and he’s excited about the trip as it’s going so far. So my plan is to join their trip, for a while, and photograph as much as I can of it. As well as explore the magnificent Wrangell – St. Elias National Park coastline, a place I’ve not spent as much time as I’d like to. So, for 4 weeks, I’ll be trudging around, hiking, pack rafting and experiencing the Malaspina Glacier and the “Lost Coast”. I also hope, of course, to get some big views of those mountains, the incredible Saint Elias Range, the world’s highest coastal range, and home of Mount Saint Elias, pictured above.

The trip should be a blast, anytime I can spend 4 solid weeks in the backcountry I’m a happy fella; to do so in such a unique area as this coastline will be truly memorable, I’m sure. Lots to photograph, and lots to learn about in such a relatively rarely visited area. It’ll be awesome to hang with Hig and Erin some more, and learn from their knowledge and experience. Hig has a PhD in geology and Erin a masters in molecular biology, so I’m sure I’ll learn an amazing amount from both of them.

I’ll schedule a few posts for while I’m away, so please do check in from time time. I should be back in on Nov 7, and have plenty to talk about when I arrive. That’s the plan, anyway. But we all know what they say about plans and mice and men.

Cheers

Carl

Ice and dirt patterns, Nizina Glacier, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

A view from above; looking down on to the Nizina Glacier, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

Bob and I hiked around on the Nizina Glacier all afternoon, exploring the expansive icy landscape. Good times indeed, and a myriad different (temporary) photo opportunities. I say “temporary” because many of them were gone the following week when acres of the glacier calved from the main glacier into the lake, fractured, up-ended and disappeared down river. I flew over the Glacier maybe a week after our hike and much of the area we had traversed was gone. Cool stuff.

Glaciers are incredibly dynamic landscapes, and always a blast to explore, travel and photograph. As such they can be a dangerous place to navigate, but so can the streets of Anchorage (especially if you’re on a bicycle); caution is required, certainly, but glaciers are a fascinating subject.

Cheers

Carl

Brown bear sow nursing4 cubs (Grizzly bear, Ursus arctos), Katmai National Park, Alaska. Quadruplets. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

There’s probably no reason to post this photo other than it seems like a good time to post another grizzly bear photo.

This event was quite possibly one of the highlights of the 2 weeks in Katmai National Park last year, on the grizzly bear photo tour. We actually saw 2 separate sows each with 4 cubs on several occasions, which was pretty neat. But the chance to watch all 4 bear cubs nurse at once was a special treat indeed.

It’s pretty amazing how much noise the cubs make nursing on the sow. They growl and spat and purr all at once.

The mother, the sow, was pretty mellow, just kinda laid back and watched us photographers, wondering what all the fuss was about. It was definitely her most restful time of the day; the rest of her waking moments were spent hellbent chasing salmon up and down the river. Feeding 4 hungry cubs is a big job for a single mom.

What a great moment to witness.

Cheers

Carl

Aurora borealis lights up the winter night sky over Mt McKinley, highest mountain in North America, also called Denali. Viewpoint from Denali State Park, Alaska. Click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

One topic I’ve often heard discussed relating to nature and outdoor photography pertains to the value of the experience itself. Does photography “get in the way”, and limit the photographers’ realization of the experience itself, or does it add to it?

I have friends, for example, that don’t like to bring a camera on a backpacking trip because they feel it hinders how they are able to soak up the actual experience. They’d rather sit and watch that glorious sunrise than fiddle with the camera and try to get a good composition. They’d rather sit back and stare in awe at the Aurora borealis do its thing over Denali than take their gloves off and tweak camera settings.

Fair enough. I can appreciate that viewpoint, but I also think it misses the mark, on a number of points. As often as not, while scrounging around trying to find a balanced composition, or a strong foreground, or another angle, I’ve stumbled on to some scene or feature that only added to the experience; a patch of wildflowers or a small waterfall, or some other interesting tidbit. Similarly, in wandering around simply looking for compositions, I’ve learned to look more closely, to see more, to see more deeply, and come closer to my surroundings.

I’ve also learned an awful lot more about the ecology of a place; I can identify more species, more relationships between species, more geologic features, etc, than I used to be able to, largely through my interest in photographing them. Even more so because the follow up for a photographer involves keywording those photos; identifying subjects, learning the scientific name for them, the taxonomy, the natural history of a a subject, etc is simply part of photo editing for me. I’m far from as well versed in this area as I would like to be, but I’m improving, and much of the reason for that relates directly to my photographic pursuits.

But the main way I think I can say photography adds to the experience, rather than hinders it, is simply in how many hours I it gets me “out there”. I love to hike, ski, snowshoe, camp, etc, and I do quite a bit of that whether I’m photographing or not. But I’ve spent simply countless hours watching grizzly bears ramble up salmon streams, bald eagles soar blue skies, bull elk posture and bugle in the rut, snow-capped mountains light up and glow as if their belly’s on fire that I never would’ve were I not a photographer. Last week I just spent the better part of 2 cold nights in central Alaska, standing around or driving deserted roads, watching the faintest of northern lights, hoping they’d brighten and offer me some photographic moment.

At one overlook, for example, at about 2:00am I was joined by 2 other folks who showed up to enjoy the Aurora borealis. Both were photographers. Non-photographers? Home in bed. On backpacking trips, I might arise early and head out from camp to catch some dawn light show. Often, the only folks to join me, if any, are those going out to photograph.

I might count on one hand the times my photography has perhaps restricted my enjoyment of “the moment”, and could do so if I lost 3 of my fingers. Conversely, I can’t even begin to add up the number of times photography has led me to witness and experience some of the most amazing phenomena; wolf packs howling at the aurora, a grizzly bear family feeding on a wolf-killed caribou carcass, been approached to within a foot by a full curl Dall Sheep ram, etc, etc.

Photography doesn’t detract from how I experience the natural world, it inestimably adds to it.

Cheers

Carl

Evening light on the Canadian Rockies. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Some great news; photographer extraordinaire, and a man I am proud to call my friend, Darwin Wiggett has put together his excellent series, “How To Photograph the Canadian Rockies” again, this time with even more detail and information than its predecessor. In 2005 Darwin released, through Altitude Publishing company, this great book, as a small, portable handbook,a a guide to photographing the Canadian Rockies. I was lucky enough to grab a copy before the company went bust and the book’s publishing ended, leaving countless nature photographers frustrated, as they weren’t able to snare a copy. The book is absolutely fantastic; I unhesitatingly call it a “must have” for anyone heading toward the Canadian Rockies. Which is a bummer; a ‘must have‘ is now a ‘can no longer get’.

Until now. The great news; Darwin’s just set up a new website, How To Photograph the Canadian Rockies, and released all the great info in his book as ebooks. This time the ebooks go into more detail, and cover the Canadian Rockies region by region. Starting with the Icefield Parkway area, the first 2 ebooks are currently available, and soon to come are ebooks on photographing Banff and Jasper National Parks, probably the crown jewels of the Canadian Rockies.

We’ll do a quick test here. I’ll invite Darwin to check this blog out and tell me where the scene in this photograph (above) is, and where I shot it from (Darwin – if you know it, don’t post the answer just yet). The first non-Darwin who can do so, I’ll buy you any one of Darwin’s ebooks (your choice which).

Darwin’s expertise in the area, for photography, is unparalleled; he’s lives in the area, and has been shooting those mountains since before they were mountains. Well, maybe not THAT long, but long enough. I can’t tell you how helpful his original guide has been for me. I’ve been to the Canadian Rockies a number of times, and spent more than a few weeks stalking wildlife there, waiting for sunrises, rain to stop, clouds to break, etc, and I still wouldn’t take a trip there without his photography guide with me.

Darwin offers great advice on not only places to shoot, but when and how he likes to shoot them. Filters, lenses, time of day, likely wildlife sightings, etc, etc; a comprehensive guide. With the new website, he adds a lot more. I’ve already added the site to my Google Reader (you DO use a Google reader, don’t you?); a wealth of info and awesome photography is headed my way.

For anyone thinking about a trip to the Canadian Rockies, get yourself these ebooks, and check out his site. You’ll be doing yourself and your photography a huge favor.

Cheers

Carl

PS – I was gunna call the offer above my very own “Darwin Award”, but thought better of doing so.

Backcountry Skiing trip, Kuskulana River, Mt. Blackburn, winter, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks

The next of the monthly series for 2011. The biggest news, of course, in photography this month was the Oscars. I, of course,  missed them. Again. Ahh well – there goes pop culture, I spose.

The next biggest piece of news is that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time out of town, tooling around in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, enjoying the mountains. A few days here, a  few days there; beats the heck out of navigating the treacherous icy roads of Anchorage. And much more interesting than reading the news.

Below is what caught my eye this month. I’ve been in the mtns a bit, so might have missed some good stuff. Feel free to add your own stuff of note.

In no particular order:

Photography Stuff

Flickr Loses 4000 Photos. Popular photo hosting website, Flickr, screwed up and deleted over 4000 photos belonging to longtime account holder Mirco Wilhelm. “Wilhelm had e-mailed Flickr customer service about another user’s account which seemed to be packed with stolen photos — a violation of the site’s policies. In trying to delete that errant account, the Flickr employee accidentally nuked Wilhelm’s.”

Canon 200-400mm lens. One lens all my friends who shoot Canon gear have been lusting over for a long time, finally announced. A 200-400mm F4 lens – “Designed for Canon’s leading range of EOS Digital SLR cameras, the new lens will be an ideal addition for sports and wildlife photographers, offering exceptional flexibility with a built-in 1.4x extender that creates an increased focal range of 280 – 560mm.”. Have at it, folks, I’m sure this will be a popular piece of gear.

Extinct Species Photos. New York Times does a short slide show; “A Gallery of Species Lost and on the Brink”

Amazing Mountain Lions. How many wildlife photographers would love an image of a mountain lion? how about a photo with 8 mountain lions in it. All wild. Check this out.

Quote #1: “In the tension between light and dark is the power of the universes”. Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard.

Most Surprising Photos of 2010. TIME Magazine displays a great Photo Essay, 21 photos from 2010. Some great stuff. #5 will blow your mind. Yikes! #13 is pretty amazing as well.

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem A Photo Essay. – “a generally intact ecosystem; all the wild critters that were here a couple of centuries ago when Lewis and Clark passed through the Northern Rockies – wolves, grizzly bears, bison – are still here.” Dave Showalter has some nice stuff here, on the NRDC’s website. Good work.

American Pastoral. This is a must read. Mark Meyer, Alaska photographer, has an excellent piece here on a recently proposed bill in Florida by Florida Senator Jim Norman (R-Tampa) – the bill “would make it a first degree felony in the Sunshine State to make visual depictions of any property without written permission where agriculture operations are being conducted. Other first degree felonies in Florida are murder, rape, kidnapping, sexual battery, and child molestation. Burglary of an unoccupied structure and third degree grand theft are only third degree felonies.”

Aurora webcam. A webcam showing auroras. Useful tool for folks wanting to go out and maybe see or shoot the lights.

Facebook Changes. Recent (again) changes to Facebook are reviewed here on the Photo Editor website. As with everything to do with “the Face”, seems like every rose has its thorn.

Gave Our Kodachrome Away. Nothing lasts forever, not even those “nice bright colors”. Seems Dec 30 was the end of the line for this photography classic. There’s not a single place left to process Kodachrome film. “On Dec 30, 2010, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kan. will stop processing Kodachrome”. I know, I know, it’s now March. So what?

Artists and Alchemists. Speaking of film, here’s a film about film. Seems a little over the top to me, from the trailer here, but I know some folks will be keen to see this film. “In this digital age, a growing number of artists are reviving 19th century techniques to create modern photographs. Artists & Alchemists is a feature length documentary that follows ten contemporary and renowned photographers employing antiquated photographic processes.”

Photo Tips. Bret Edge puts a nice post on his blog with some helpful reminders to improve our photos. Excellent advice. Nice discussion follows the blog. Sweep the edges of the frame!

Odds and Ends

Customizing Facebook Pages. This guy did it. Nice job, too. Photoshelter blog present Nathan Armes’ work on customizing his facebook page. Will be interesting to see if this catches on. Here’s Nathan’s Facebook page.

Gmail users Some helpful hacks and tips to make gmail even more user-friendly. Gmail is the bomb. With these tips and tricks, gmail rocks even harder. For example, a link to the official gmail keyboard shortcuts page. eg. Click ‘J’ to open or move your cursor to the next oldest conversation.

Quote #2: “In art as in life, form and subject, body and soul, are one.” – Ed Abbey.

Canabis and Psychosis. Scientific America publish an article about an upcoming paper; “This particular study found that marijuana use is associated with early development of psychosis.” Put the pipe down, kids.

Internet Explorer 9.0. Website updates all around, I suppose. What else can this mean? “Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 web browser goes live”? As someone doing my own website work, I shudder everytime I hear anything about Internet Explorer. I hope it dies a slow painful death.

Free Hugs. This is pretty cool; a moving video of people offering “Free hugs” around the world. Seriously folks –  Watch this clip.

A cow moose, Alces alces, stands outside a house, Anchorage, Alaska, winter. I shot this leaning out the window, with a 12-24mm lens. That's up close to a moose.

That’s the news from here til next month. If you have any items you’d like to add below, please do so. The only qualifiers are that you must have actually read the article/watched the video/browsed the photo/s, AND thought the link actually worthwhile sharing. Put everything else on Twitter.

Thanks folks.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Mount Blackburn - Winter in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Mountains, Mount Blackburn, Kuskulana River, Winter, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Mount Blackburn, the 5th highest peak in the US; a grand mountain!

Sometimes those moments in the mountains are just too grand to describe; This is one of those views that is beyond the sublime. The Great Horned Owls hooting behind me only added to the ambience. The more time I spend in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the more impressive the place appears.

As the light faded, I quietly breathed my “thank you”, turned the skis around, and eased toward the night.

Cheers

Carl

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Mountains and the Kuskulana River, Kuskulana Glacier, near Nugget Creek mine. Winter, Alaska. This photo is a closer look at the ice wall on the Kuskulana Glacier, from the photo I posted last week. I probably spent about an hour or 2 here, checking out this fascinating place. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

My friend Guy Tal posted (as usual) another great read on his blog; “Photography and the Environment”. I urge you to read his treatise; it’s a solid piece. Guy has a great knack for writing on particular topics without seeming to offend those who disagree with him, which makes his a powerful voice. At the same time, he’s not wishy-washy. that’s a hard line to toe.

One question Guy asks in the article is “Will another photograph on a web site in a stock library truly change public opinion? How about another thousand? Another million?”

I’d suggest, however, that this is the wrong question to consider.Turn it around; what if there were to be no more nature photographs? What if nobody photographed another sunset, another bald eagle, glacier, forest grove or great bear? What if no writer touched pen to paper to draft the next essay on climate change, the next article about mountain top blasting, or open pit mining, or overgrazing? What if poets stayed their ink, and said no more? What if musicians ceased their social commentary, singers fell silent? Cinematographers made no more nature films?

How might THAT change public opinion? I’ll submit here that art DOES foster culture. The voices of writers, photographers, musicians, painters, dancers, film makers, etc, are worthwhile. The art we create moves people. Expression, both collective and individual, reinforces and shapes who we are, what we value, how we feel, how we think, move, talk, how we treat ourselves, each other; in essence, how we live.

What if the voice for concern were left only to those who have none? What kind of culture would arise from a world where the only representatives of the natural world were those interested in nothing more than extraction and coin? This is precisely the kind of world that made the John Muirs, the Henry Jacksons, etc, so desperately critical. Rivers caught on fire and the greatest herds of wildlife the planet has ever seen are no more. Even given the great work of those luminaries, we still produce undrinkable water and unbreathable air; the skies rain acid, the ice melts and the  polar bear vanishes. It’s frightening to contemplate where we might be today if these giants of conservation, artists all, stepped away from the fray because they wondered if their work might make no difference.

No thanks; give me a world where “champions of the natural world” isn’t a phrase pertaining to competition and conquest, but a tribute to the voice of love and compassion.

Consider the work of great artists as part of a greater coterie; the voice of Bob Dylan, of Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, Ansel Adams, Henry Jackson, Art Wolf, Wendell Berry do not arise from a vacuum. Those voices are certainly some of the loudest and most poignant; fine soloists indeed. But even Aretha Franklin sings with a choir. These legendary artists arise from a bed of creativity, a giant web, that includes, many, many other artists. It is this bed that generates great art and great artists, and it is this bed that might precipitate social change. The universe didn’t give us one Jimi Hendrix. The universe gives us hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of kids growing up playing guitar, making music, making art; and Jimi’s incredible performances are part of that, an outgrowth of that web.

Furthermore, artists don’t create single works. Artists make art, and maybe, sometimes, if we’re lucky, just one of those creations might generate public comment. Photographers shoot literally hundreds, thousands of images, in the vain, oft-concealed hope of possibly making one really great image. Cartier Bresson said “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” So if your photo isn’t enough to truly nurture a change in public opinion, shoot another. And another. And yet another.

The last point I might make here is a more personal one. My photography might not, probably will not, ever, “truly change public opinion”. But my photographic pursuits have changed my opinion; the ways I see the world, the things I care about, the respect I feel for the world around me, have all grown in leaps and bounds through artistic engagement, and continue to do so. That alone makes the quest meaningful.

Cheers

Carl

Mount Blackburn Photo, Wrangell Mountains and the Copper River Basin, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a view of Mount Blackburn and the Wrangell Mountains, at sunset.

One of the hassles with shooting in Alaska in the dead of winter is, of course, the cold. We all understand how that’s a hassle, right? Cold fingers, batteries that die, and so forth. The list goes on.

Getting a vehicle started at 40 below zero deg F is itself an art. An engine block heater for your car helps – well, it’s pretty much a ‘must have’. But at minus40deg, even that won’t get you far. The engine block heater helps warm up the mechnical parts of the engine block, but at these frigid arctic temperatures, even the oil thickens up so much it doesn’t flow; problematic for a car engine. So , an Oil Heater works well. Another useful tool is something to warm up the battery.  The 3rd item that’s a good tool to have is a battery heating pad – cold temperatures can dramatically affect the cranking power of a battery, so heating it up will help get your car started.

So those 3 items are all good, if not critical, things to have handy during the Alaskan winter. I, of course, do not. I do have a block heater in my truck, but the other items, well, I don’t have. And so my recent trip to frigid Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve over the holiday season was somewhat fraught with frustration.

However – it’s not quite so simple as just buying a few heaters. You then have to plan ahead. Like, seriously, hours ahead. Sunset over the winter solstice can be as early as 3pm. Which means you want to step outside by about 1pm, to give you time to start the vehicle, let it warm up a bit before you drive off, then drive to your location, and shoot the great light of the Alaskan winter. So, what this means is you need to have all those items mentioned above plugged in and running as much as 3 or 4 hours ahead of time. If you don’t, and you wait til, say, 11am, forget about driving anywhere, and either sit by the fire and read your book, or take a nap.

Next up; realize that even with all this, your vehicle may still not start when the temperatures dip so low (OK, 40 below zero isn’t really a “dip”, agreed). Sometimes, you’ll need to go a step further. You might want to grab your friend Mr Heater. This little propane heater blows hot air out and can heat up the underside of the vehicle. Place the heater at the front of your vehicle, and blow the air under the front of your vehicle. Careful though, don’t overdo it. A block of wood placed across the middle of the vehicle, blocking the air from simply blowing out the backend, and forcing the hot air to stay under the engine makes a difference. And yes, if it wasn’t so da** cold, I’d have taken some photos to show you how this works.

Then, finally, you MIGHT get your car started. Or not. Propane has a low boiling point of about -45deg, so if it gets much colder than this, your propane heater won’t work. If not, go back to the fire, make more hot tea, and read your book some more.

OK .. so, now you’ve finally got your car started. Drive to a trailhead of your choice. If you have trouble starting up a snow machine, you might end up having to drive back to where you started from, and try the whole process again tomorrow. Because I guarantee you it’s dark by now.

Tomorrow: try again.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

A lil’ holiday spirit. As this is published, I’m probably somewhere right around here:

A black and white photo of the boreal photo in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, wintertime, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo. And Happy Holidays, everyone!

Cheers

Carl