Bull Moose

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Denali, Photos, Travel 16 Comments

A couple of bull moose in front of Mt McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska.

A couple of bull moose in front of Mt McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska.

It seems weird to call it Mt McKinley since no one, including myself ever calls it that in conversation, but I guess that is the official name.

Anyone who has hiked on tundra can tell you how hard and slow it is to move on such soft, uneven ground.  Well, now I can tell you it is even harder to run on the tundra, especially in Xtra tuffs boots, but that is what I had to do to keep “The Mountain” directly behind these massive moose.  They would take 10 steps to the right, I would have to take 50!

I knew the moose would still be in velvet during this trip.  That initially was disappointing, but in hindsight it did make exposing for them much easier as I didn’t have to worry about blowing out the exposure on the racks which is so easy to do.

Normally I would use a two or 3 stop hard edge graduated neutral density filter here, but I had left mine back in the truck.  So I auto bracketed exposure, and I used Photo shop to manually combine two images captured two stops apart after I returned to the office.

Lynx

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Denali, Photos, Travel 17 Comments

Wild lynx, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Wild lynx, Denali National Park, Alaska.

I love these rare animals!  The crazy hare population boom in Denali has definitely crashed, and from all I have read, the lynx population will follow a similar trend with a year lag – so I thought this might be one of my best chances to get more photos of a lynx at least for many years to come – so I was thrilled to spend about a half hour with two of them in Denali last week.  I have a similar image with it looking right at me, but I think I prefer this version with it looking off into the brush.

I had an awesome trip to Denali.  Along with lynx, I had wonderful close up experiences with wolves at least every day, saw huge moose, great sheep, bears, nice sunsets and sunrises, and even had the mountain out a couple of times!

Back to Denali!

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Denali, Photos, Travel 4 Comments

Grizzly bear sow and cub, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Grizzly bear sow and cub, Denali National Park, Alaska.

This is a photo from my trip to Denali earlier this summer.  It was a great trip -lots of bears and wolves, two of my favorites as you probably know by now.

I pre-scheduled this as I headed out the door early yesterday morning to make the long drive back up there for more photography.  I’m not taking a laptop, so this will be the last post until Tuesday.

Ted Stevens

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 3 Comments

Former Alaska Senator Ted-Stevens weighing salmon at the Seward Silver Salmon Derby, Seward, Alaska.

Former Alaska Senator Ted-Stevens weighing salmon at the Seward Silver Salmon Derby, Seward, Alaska.

This photo dates back to 1998 – a couple years before I became a professional photographer.  I walked down to check out the Silver Salmon Derby action with my camera and flash, and was surprised to see Senator Ted Stevens weighing salmon as a volunteer.  It wasn’t a figurehead kind of role for show, he was actually handling the salmon just like myself and all the other people who would volunteer there during the week – no media, photographers or film crews in sight.

I thought it was pretty cool to see one of the most powerful people in the United States volunteering at our little town’s  salmon derby – I had to get a photo.  When he saw me positioning myself for the photo, he turned and pretended to throw a salmon at me – that is the photo above.  He stopped at the last second holding on to the fish – gave me a quick smile, then proceeded to go about his business.

When I read about his passing yesterday I thought about this moment – dusted off and scanned the old slide and decided I would post it here.  Rest in peace Senator Stevens.

Brown Bear Sow

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 10 Comments

A Brown bear sow, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

A Brown bear sow, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I actually did photograph other bears besides cute little playful cubs!  Not  a lot, but a few.

I rarely place my subject in the dead center of the frame like this, but here I felt like it just “worked”.

Un-bear-able headache

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 22 Comments

Brown bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This little cub might look like he has a headache, but after watching him off and on for the last 4 days, I can say he has a pretty fun life of climbing logs, playing with sticks, playing with mom, nursing and eating – I don’t think he has a headache!

I just returned from my 4 day Alaska bear and puffin photo tour and I had a blast!   I knew we would have lots of bears – males, sows, cute cubs and even puffin, but I didn’t know I would have such a fun group.  Great stories and lots of laughs, it was really a fun time!

I will be offering two, 4 day tours with a limit of 6 people each next year around August 6 through the 12 with the possibility of doing the entire time for someone who would like more time with the bears.  Stay tuned for more details in the upcoming weeks.

Richard, Mike, Irene, Pam, Oliver and myself and the end of a fun tour.

Richard, Mike, Irene, Pam, Wilson and myself and the end of a fun tour.

Brown Bear Cub

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 6 Comments

Brown bear cub tries to "summit" large log, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown bear cub tries to "summit" large log, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This little guy sure had fun climbing and playing on this giant log, and we sure had fun watching him!

Alaska Brown Bears

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 16 Comments

Brown bear cub stadning on his hind legs, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown bear cub standing on his hind legs, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I began my Alaska bear and puffin photo tour and in just the first afternoon it has already been an awesome trip!  Great group of people and lots of bears!  Sow with cubs, males – all real close, we even hand a sow nurse a young cub right in front of us!  Gotta keep it short, hopefully I will have time for another quick post while I’m over here this week, otherwise we I get back to Seward later this week.

Nursing brown bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Nursing brown bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.