Diamond Princess leaving Seward, Alaska.
A cruises ship leaving Seward a little earlier this month.
Can a tree cut a rock?
Dead tree branch cutting through a rock, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
I know this photo will never win me any awards or make any money, but it was such an interesting sight, I just had to share. This was from our recent winter / spring travels.
This dead branch was still connected to the tree it grew from, but part of it came to rest on this rock. As the tree swayed back and forth in the wind, this branch would rub against the sandstone boulder. Over what probably took many, many years the branch has slowing cut it’s way through the stone. Now granted, on the scale of hardness, sandstone is much softer then most – but it is still hard enough that trying to cut it by hand with tools would have taken a lot of effort. Pretty interesting.
At the time I found this, I was exploring a somewhat remote canyon hoping to find an interesting slot canyon. Judging by the difficult access to this canyon, I think it is safe to say very few people ever visit this area – just as well, one misplaced step and this branch would be broken. I may have to go back in a few years to see how much more has been cut.
Moose Calf
Mom keeping a close eye on a very young moose. Seward, Alaska.
This came about thanks to a tip from our friends at Log Dreamin’ B and B.
Moose babies are sure cute!
Miniature Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada.
This was one of the test frames for what will be a short time-lapse video of Las Vegas.
I have seen this technique used many times, but had never tried it myself. When some nice defused light moved in during the day while we were in Las Vegas this past April I thought I would give it a try. This is done by using a wide aperture for a narrow depth of field on a tilt / shift lens. By tilting the lens and moving the narrow band of focus part way into the frame, you can achieve this trippy look that makes everything look miniature. If you don’t have a tilt / shift lens, you can kind of do the same thing by adding blur in Photoshop – I think this has gotten even easier with the new version of Photoshop, CS6 but I haven’t upgraded yet. Probably a project for this weekend.
Grant Creek Wolf Pack, Denali
Wild wolf, Denali National Park, Alaska.
Today I was really disappointed to read about the possible demise of the Grant Creek wolf pack in Denali in the Anchorage Daily News.
I remember when the current version began to form. It started with a collared female wolf – a wolf I had photographed a number of times out by Highway Pass and a beautiful black wolf from the East Fork Pack that I had also spent time photographing. I was thrilled to see two wolves that I was familiar with unite the following summer and become the Grant Creek Pack. I was even more excited when a biologist told me they had an active den! (This is based mostly upon my observations, if someone knows otherwise I would love to hear it.)
Over the years I watched the wolf pack chase bears from the den, be ignored by bears, howl, hunt caribou and sheep – you name it. On one wonderful day we were able to watch the young pups right after they left the den. I have thousands of images of this pack of wolves – many by camera, but even more burned into my memory.
Although their den was out of sight from the road, it was very near the highway making these wolves highly visible, especially in the first half of the summer. Because this pack was so visible, it probably gave thousands of visitors to Denali their first and only sighting of a wolf in the wild.
By spending most of their life in a National Park, these wolves don’t develop a fear of humans that you typically see in wolves. So when they do wonder outside the Park boundaries they become easy targets. As large as Alaska is, it is too bad we can’t set aside enough land to protect just one pack.
Here are some more wild wolf photos.
10 Years!
Pyramid Mountain and Patricia Lake during a foggy Fall sunrise, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.
Crazy to think, but ten years ago yesterday was the day I walked away from a good paying job, with great benefits and wonderful co-workers, to become an outdoor photographer. Wow, what a journey it has been!
I still remember waking up those first few days relieved that I didn’t have to go to an office, but worried that we would have to rely solely on my photography to pay the bills. If you told me then that we would still be at it 10 years later, I would have assumed that worry would go away, but I would have been wrong. No matter how good a current month may be, the next month is always an unknown mystery. I supposed that is common when you are self employed especially in such a competitive field. I have concluded that this uncertainty is a good thing – I know it is a great motivator that keeps me pushing not only physically, but also creatively.
What no one knew at the time, is that my departure was part of a 5 year plan – a plan we had not told a single person about because we didn’t want to be reminded about how crazy and risky the idea was – we knew. We attacked all our debt and expenses, gathered the necessary photography gear, added what we could to savings, and began building relationships with publishers. Janine then left her job 2 years before I did, and worked full time at building the business. Even though I was spending all my weekends and vacation time in the field, in those early years our biggest short coming was a lack of coverage. So by the time I left my job, we felt like we could expand our coverage enough with me full time that we could make a go of it.
We had a small camper (still do) and after traveling around Alaska during the summer, I drove it across Canada into the Lower 48 passing through what would become one of my favorite destinations, Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. So I thought it was only fitting to share an older photo from Jasper – I really need to get back there!
So here is to the next 10 years!
Country Magazine
June / July 2012 Country magazine.
I haven’t done any shameless self promotions in awhile – but this is too big not to mention. You might remember my post about the Janine’s article in an issue of Country Extra magazine this winter. Well that went well enough that they asked Janine to write another article for an upcoming issue of their flagship magazine – Country. This issue was going to feature Alaska.
Fast forward to today – not only did they use Janine’s article in the current (June / July 2012) issue of the magazine, but they used something like 14 of my Alaska photos inside, and this photo from Denali on the cover. Very, very cool!
I have had a few people ask about where they can find a copy. I don’t think it is available in stores, but I think it can be purchased here: Country Magazine once it is available. I didn’t realize it wasn’t out yet.
Summer!
A cargo ship coated with thick ice, Seward, Alaska.
Although we received some snow this past weekend, today is sunny and warmer with more of the same on the way. Today also marks the arrival of the first cruise ship of the season. I say bring on summer!
So, it does seem a bit odd to be editing images from this past winter. This photo was taken at the end of January – the coldest January on record for much of this area. What you see here is the railing and a walkway for the ship crew. So much thick ice had accumulated while the ship was at sea that this passageway has been nearly completed encased with ice! Fortunately the first cruse ship of the season won’t have to worry about conditions like this.
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