Kenai Fjords National Park Photo Tour

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Kenai Fjords, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Our tour at our first night anchorage in front of Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

I have had a number of inquires, and can now finally say I have my dates for next summers overnight photo tour into Kenai Fjords National Park!

This was our boat at anchor the first night of last years tour.  The boat will look a little different next year thanks to the addition of a second sleeping cabin to the back half – although I’m not increasing the number of participants, so this should give everyone a bit more room and privacy.

Let me tell you a bit about last years tour to give you an idea as to how amazing this trip is.  On the first day, we spent some time with a group of sea otters and then we explored along the coast getting up-close to waterfalls and amazing pinnacle rock and arch formations before finally running into a group of humpbacks   We spent a fair amount of time with the humpbacks, then broke away for some harbor seals and finally a nice pod of dolphin – the dolphins played in our bow wave for a pretty long time.  Later that day we checked out the action at Holgate Glacier, an active tide water glacier, before deciding to anchor for the evening in front of Aialik Glacier – this evening we spotted a black bear on shore and saw some huge calving events on the face of the glacier including one of the biggest ones I have ever seen!  That is the beauty of spending time in such an amazing place!  No one wanted to go to bed in case they might miss something.

The next morning we went to shore and explored a number of lagoons and open fields where we not only saw a number of eagles, but were able to photograph a nice black bear.  After going back to the boat for a warm lunch, we motored over to the Northwestern Fjords where our captain placed the bow of the boat at the bottom of a waterfall – an amazing waterfall that tumbled in multiple places down a 1,000 shear granite wall!  We spent the night well in the Northwestern Fjord in direct site of a couple dramatic glaciers.

For the third day we went out to the Chiswell Islands and photographed puffin and other sea birds.  We took a detour thanks to a report of orcas, but weren’t able to find them.  But we did see a number of sea lion rookeries and haul outs, more eagles and sea otters, as we cut across and worked our way along the dramatic coastline of the East shore of Resurrection Bay.

Every trip will be a bit different thanks in part to our Captain and his many many years of boating /leading tours and working with wildlife researchers in the area.  He will be in touch with the other day tour boats so we will have a good feel for where the wildlife is at any given time – but, we can enjoy it in the nice evening and morning light when all the people are gone!

You can learn much more about this trip on our Kenai Fjords National Park Photo Tour page.  Last year this tour didn’t fill until spring, but given how much faster the bear photo tours filled this year (they filled in about a month despite more then doubling the number), I wouldn’t wait.  If you have more questions, feel free to send us an email or give us a call.

Featured in Outdoor Photographer!

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Denali, Kenai Fjords, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 32 Comments

Outdoor Photographer feature pages 1 and 2

Outdoor Photographer feature pages 1 and 2

Outdoor Photographer feature pages 3 and 4.

Outdoor Photographer feature pages 3 and 4.

Outdoor Photographer feature pages 5 and 6.

Outdoor Photographer feature pages 5 and 6.

This is some exciting news I have been really eager to share – I have been featured in the February 2011 issue of the  foremost magazine for outdoor photographers – Outdoor  Photographer!  I started subscribing to the magazine about 15 years ago when I decided to get back into photography and started shopping for a new auto-focus camera.  So to now be featured is really coming full circle!  It is a wonderful honor that I am very proud of.

The article isn’t just about me, but my recommendations on a visit to Alaska, and even a bit on the above / below water photos I have shared here on the photo blog.  If you don’t subscribe, you can read a version of the article here.  But better yet purchase a copy at a local book store!  Judging from the really nice congratulation comments I have been receiving via email, Facebook and Twitter, I would say it has been available in the Lower 48 for a week or two.  I haven’t received my copy yet in Alaska, nor have I been able to find it in any stores, but it should be arriving soon.

All of the credit for this article goes to Jeff Wignall.  He approached me with the idea and then did all the work, I am really grateful to Jeff for doing such a great job.  If you are not familiar with Jeff Wignall, he has to be the most prolific and successful photography writer of all time.  He has a huge number of book titles, and I believe at least one of his Kodak books on photography sold well over a million copies.  In addition to books, he has his own radio show, is a monthly contributor to Popular Photography and regularly featured in other magazines and blogs.  To learn more about Jeff, take a look at his website:  Jeff Wignall, also check out Jeff Wignall’s blog.  Thanks Jeff!

Winter Wonderland

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Christmas morning on the Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Here is another photo from Christmas morning.  This was about 10 minutes earlier then the one I  posted here on Monday.  The trees you see near the top of the little hill are the same ones in the foreground in Monday’s winter photo.

Christmas Morning

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 25 Comments

Snowy trees, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Snowy trees, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

I headed out the door a couple of hours before sunrise on Christmas morning – at 8:00 a.m. to be accurate.  These winter hours are kind of nice.  I drove 23 miles down the Seward Highway before I even saw another car!  All the pull outs and trail heads were empty – it was like I had Alaska all to myself for a couple of hours.  This spot was about a mile and a half walk in snowshoes – I forget how slow the going is in powder snow, and almost didn’t get here in time for first light.  It was a beautiful morning.  The temperature was a little below zero, and even after 2 hours of hiking and photographing, the battery on my Canon 5D II still had a strong charge.  That was impressive – at those temps, I would have needed to change batteries at least once with my previous camera.

This was a single exposure with my 24-105 lens at 105.  I was at f/14 for 1/5 of a second with an ISO of 400.  I was in an area of deep shade, but the rising sun was just beginning to glow on the distant mountains giving them a cool pastel glow.

Lunar Eclipse

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 12 Comments

Lunar eclipse from last night, Seward, Alaska.

Lunar eclipse from last night, Seward, Alaska.

Not the most creative photo, but I couldn’t resist photographing the moon last night.  This was a lot of focal length – a 600 plus 2x converter on a Canon 7D – so the 35mm equivalent of 1920 mm.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 21 Comments

Lunar eclepse from January 21, 2000, Seward, Alaska.

Lunar eclipse from January 21, 2000, Seward, Alaska.

There is going to be another lunar eclipse tonight, although unfortunately, it looks like much of North America will be under clouds.  This is the first total lunar eclipse in about 3 years.  The moon will begin to enter earths shadow at 10:32 Pacific Time.  The sunlight on the full moon will be completely blocked by the earth from 11:40 to 12:53 Pacific time.  The shadow should be off the moon at 2:02 a.m. Pacific time.

This photo was from back in the days I used slide film.  I had tracked the moons movement over the preceding days – I was actually surprised at how lateral the moon moved, originally I had expected to shoot this vertically.  I realized about 5 minutes between exposures gave me a nice placement.  So then on the night of the eclipse, I would take a photo, then back the film up and would repeat so that I made multiple exposures on a single piece of film.  I had to hope the exposure was right because there were no re-dos.  Looking back at this image reminds me just how much easier digital cameras have made photography!