Saturday, August 30, 2008

Images from Colorado

I made these images during my High Country Wildlife photo workshop that conclued earlier this week on Mount Evans, located west of Denver.
During our first morning in the field, we had been working a small herd of mountain goats for an hour or so, when I heard a familiar "call." I began looking, but did not see anything. Knowing who had made the call, I continued my search. Suddenly, one of them materialized, then another, and another. It was Nature's Master of Disguise . . . an entire flock of White-tailed 
Ptarmigan, less than 20-feet away. They had come to us. I began circling around them in order to place the light to better advantage. In  the process, I almost stepped on two "stragglers" that trailed behind the main flock.
In all, we encountered a variety of wildlife, including mountain goats, bighorn sheep, yellow-bellied marmots, pika, long-tailed weasels, and the White-tailed Ptarmigan. One day, a Golden Eagle even checked us out as it circled effortlessly overhead. The weather was fabulous and so were the photo opps. 

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More Pix From Alaska

Here are a few more images that I made during my recent Alaska photography workshop.
The sow and cub were photographed as they dug for razor clams at low tide along Cook Inlet near Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, our base of operations during the workshop.
The other two images were photographed at Shelter Creek were my group and I spent a couple of nights camping and enjoying a true wilderness experience.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Home From Alaska

I am home from Alaska and finally returning to my normal routine, whatever that may be. This year's adventure in Lake Clark National Park, was undoubtedly, the best one ever. There were more bears, every day, at one time, at every location, than I have ever witnessed in my nine years to this location. Everyone in my group has a wonderful time and could hardly believe how close they were able to get to the bears. We photographed bears claming on the mud flats along Cook Inlet at low tide, grazing among the sedges, and chasing salmon to and fro in the streams. The weather was superb and so were the bears!
The top image depicts a juvenal brown bear with Iliamna Volcano in the background, while the second photograph shows a bear in silhouette on the mud flats along Cook Inlet at low tide.