Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Random ideas.

Facebook is now bigger than Yahoo

Ross Green Lake, fall, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Pr

Miles from Facebook; Ross Green Lake, fall, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Remember this post a few months ago, comparing Facebook with Walmart? In that post I pointed out that Facebook had  more than 300 million registered users. Well, now, just 4 months later, Facebook has over 400 million registered users, and in January apparently surpassed Yahoo in traffic numbers, making Facebook the 2nd most heavily visited website in the US. Google, of course, is #1 (Skolai Images is #5 or 6, depending on if update the blog or not). But yes, that’s right, Facebook is now bigger than Yahoo. Until 2008, Yahoo was the #1 website in the world. News article here.

Google apparently love their #1 ranking, and have just released Google Buzz – if you haven’t already, you might want to click on my Buzz profile, Continue reading

Blogs, Social Media, Tweets and Gibberish

Caribou herd on the coastal plain, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Caribou herd feeding on the coastal plain, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Click the thumbnail for a larger, more epic, version.

Hey Folks

Recently I read a photographer ask the following question:

Now I know that blogging gets your profile closer to the top of the heap and web traffic will probably go up. The question is have any of you actually seen a raise in the amount of sales as a result? Is it all worth the amount of time that it takes to do all this stuff?

Now, I hope the photographer doesn’t mind me mentioning his name, but I only do so because this guy is a total BAD-ASS. Readers, meet Mr Adam Gibbs. Adam is an amazing photographer, and I don’t mean ‘amazing’ like ‘oh yeah, cool’ – I mean like his images are simply gorgeous. If this photo doesn’t make you cry, you’re computer is broke. If this photo doesn’t move you, it’s time for you to retire from your position as CEO of Exxon-Mobil, Mr Tillerson.

Anyway, the discussion that ensued revolved, as suspected, around blogging, facebooking, tweeting, etc, etc. Is it “worth it”? Continue reading

Shopping for gear?

Hiking in winter along the rim of the Kuskulana Gorge, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hiking in winter snow along the rim of the Kuskulana Gorge, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click the image to see a larger version and just how styling I look in my fat eVent jacket.

Hey Folks,

I thought this might be a good photo to accompany a post plugging my friend Ron Niebrugge’s new site Outdoor Gear Deals. Why? Because I’m looking so p-h-y-n-e in my flash orange jacket that you can clearly see the need for staying on top of fashion, even in the wilderness – ESPECIALLY in the wilderness. A while back some of the outdoor online retailers started running a “Deal of the Day” on their websites to draw traffic – offering some pretty good prices and great deals from time to time. As that marketing strategy has burgeoned, Ron did the world a favor and compiled a webpage that shows a bunch of these “Deals of the Day”. I’m sure he’ll add more sites to the page as time permits.

Continue reading

Nikon Capture NX2 and Adobe CS4.

A grizzly bear walking towards the camera, Katmai national park, Alaska.

Photo above extracted via Nikon Capture NX2.2.2 Continue reading

Wolverine, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Wolverine Skull, NPS Visitors Center, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I think Ron Niebrugge owes me dinner – don’t you? I’ve been stalking this here Wolverine for a couple of years now, and every time I’ve spotted him, I had left my camera behind  this time I was ready, and after years of hard work, I finally photographed a wolverine.

National Park Visitor’s Center, Kennecott, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

Snowbank in Black and White

A snowbank in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, winter, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image I made in January. I’d not had a good morning, hoping for some alpenglow on Mount Blackburn, but was thwarted by an unscrupulous cloudbank. But, I figure I may as well enjoy the mountain morning, right? So I wandered around a bit, soaking up the quiet. There’s nothing quite so silent as a winter dawn in Alaska. I found this little snowbank and thought it might by a good photo study, particularly once the sun a crested nearby ridge. Maybe two hours later the sun peaked it’s nose over the ridge south of me, Continue reading

The Wolf Song

Wolf killed caribou carcass, winter, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I was really, really hoping to get some wolf photos on this last trip. Just one would’ve been fine. Wolves aren’t as common in the southern reaches of the park, though they’re certainly around, so I was hoping to get lucky enough to maybe see, perchance to photograph, one on the north side of the park. The habitat on the south side isn’t (generally) as wolf friendly – more heavily forested, and lots of alpine mountain country, snow and ice.

Dall sheep and moose are the main prey for wolves in that part of the park, and though there are a lot of sheep, the numbers are smaller than the herds of caribou that wander through the north part of the park in the fall and late winter/early spring. Continue reading

Cold Feet

Hiker, barefoot, in winter, frozen lake, Mt. Sanford, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Life has a way, all too often, of providing us with little (or large) lessons on what we need to work on. Communication is something that all of us frequently do poorly, and here’s a good example of that, and how it can mess up your day. I’m usually pretty good about seeking advice from those who know better than me (my father will disagree, I’m sure). So when I first came to AK, I asked my good and trusted friend Ron Niebrugge for some advice. Continue reading

Test

Lynx trap set, compact disc hanging from branch, winter, Wrangell St. Elias National park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

OK, here’s a test; What’s going on in this photo? This is a boreal spruce forest setting, winter, and there’s some flagging hanging from the branches, and a Compact Disc is hanging in between the flagging. In the middle of the woods, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Anyone?

Here’s a closer look.

Lynx trap set, compact disc hanging from branch, winter, Wrangell St. Elias National park, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl