Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Travel”
Well being in quarantine has given me some extra time do go back through some past images looking for ones I may have missed, or that need further processing now that we have better tools for capturing shadows and highlights. This was from an evening spent in the mountains above the Mendenhall Glacier with a buddy back in 2014 – wow times flies! Right up there with one of the more memorable nights of photography I have ever had! Tongass National Forest, near Juneau, Alaska.
Saw the first humpback whale of the season from the home office this morning. Since I wasn’t able to capture a photo, I thought I would share one from last summer – whales and bears don’t seem to care about pandemics! This group of humpbacks are cooperatively feeding, a behavior that is amazing to see!
So excited, honored and proud to have the cover of two of the three large calendars produced by Greatland Graphics. Greatland Graphics has been producing some of the nicest Alaska calendars for years, but what makes it extra special is it is now owned by good friend and outstanding photographer Patrick Endres.
Like so many of my fellow photographers this is a very challenging time, even for the calendar business. You see, most of these sell in gift shops in the summer to cruise ship passengers, and with many cruise ships being locked down these days, most of these calendars will go unsold. However, if you click on the link, you can order these wonderful calendars directly from Greatland Graphics. You will end up with a high quality product, and help an Alaskan business at the same time!
This photo was from a very memorable morning on one of my Alaska bear photo tours a few years ago. We were the only ones up this morning, and spotted this sow with two spring cubs very near the lodge – in fact, we were able to walk over to them from the lodge. These particular cubs were prone to climbing onto their mom’s back, a really cute behavior you don’t always see. Couple that, with perfect morning light, and we had a morning I’ll never forget. Unfortunately, we couldn’t contain our excitement once we returned to the lodge, so that was the last morning that week that we were the only ones up!
A thirsty bat last night at the reflection table blind!
I think I have all the bugs worked out. I’m using a Cognisys Sabre for a trigger and the place the camera on bulb. The Sabre actually managed my exposure time. I vary it from 3 seconds at twilight, to 30 seconds in the darkness like you see here. The Sabre then does exposure after exposure waiting for a bat. When a bat does break the beam of the Sabre, it fires my flashes and not the camera. This way I avoid the lag time associated with trigger the camera. Firing the flashes is almost instantaneous. The Sabre then stops the exposure, and begins another one so that I don’t get duplicate bats in the same frame so I can go to bed. 🙂
Desert tortoise just a few minutes ago. First one I have seen this season. Cactus, including the saguaros are starting to now bloom in earnest. Thanks to the cool spring, it seems like things are running about a week later as compared to the last couple of warm years. The cool weather is over now!
So close! I have been working on bat photography at my water table blind the last few nights. Couldn’t figure out why part of the animal was blurry, it should be tack sharp at 1/16 flash power. It was like the flashes weren’t syncing. Just discovered, I had the flash on the right in high speed sync mode, that would do it! Now I can’t wait to try again. And, to fix up the background edge.
One of the fun things about spending almost 6 months each year camping on our remote piece of desert is being immersed in nature. Seeing all the changes that take place from week to week is fascinating, including this cactus wren pair.
Today, the cactus wren now have a giant, fully enclosed nest! However, I watched them in mid December placing some of the very first little sticks in the cholla. I captured these photos through the window as I was literally sitting at my desk. The adults would come and go, hopping around on the ground looking for the perfect stick. Once they found it, they would grab it and head straight to the nest with a real sense of purpose. It looked like a half-hazard mess at first, but as time went on, it turned out so nice!
Since we can’t see into the nest without disturbing them, we had no idea how they were doing until almost a month ago when we could hear the sounds of the babies inside. The chorus of sound would triple in volume every time one of the adults would return with a mouth full of bugs! It was hard to not smile watching this busy pair so diligently take care of their young.
Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened to the off-spring, since I didn’t get to see them fledge. I’m choosing to believe some of the the wren we see hopping around here are offspring. That said, the adults are busy again expanding the nest even further. The second photo shows just how big it is, it must be more that two feet long! When I took these photos a couple of days ago, the adults were mainly bringing feathers and other soft material to the nest, possibly getting ready for a second brood. There are so many similar stories being played out right now. At least two gilded flicker pairs have nests in saguaros on the property, and possibly even more gila woodpeckers. Those chicks of both are really loud! We will be back in Alaska before many of these stories conclude, but will look forward to seeing them all again next winter when new stories will be told.
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