One-flowered cinquefoil (Potentilla uniflora), Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala), Moss Campion (Silene acaulis) and the view across Chitistone Canyon toward the University Range, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Image of the Month for July 2011: from a photo trip in June. This scene from Wolverine, looking across the Chitistone Valley toward the University Range.  The alpine flowers up there were gorgeous this last week, earlier than I expected them to be, but I was glad to be surprised.

This is part of the view we had right from camp.

Cheers

Carl

Mount Blackburn in alpenglow, across the Root Glacier and Donoho Basin, winter time, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Image of the Month for June, 2011. Mount Blackburn, in all the glory of a clear winter morning.

This is another of those photos I really wanted to shoot for along time. As grand a scene as Mount Blackburn is in the summertime, from Kennicott or McCarthy, it doesn’t get that really great alpenglow like this, because the sun rises and sets so far to the north during those months.

For years I thought about making the effort to shoot Mount Blackburn in the winter in rich warm light. Finally making the photo was a nice treat.

Cheers

Carl

Brown bear sow, or female grizzly bear stands tall, raised up on her hind feet. Coastal brown bears can stand nearly 10' tall. (Ursus arctos). Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. To view a larger version of this photo, please click on the photo above.

Hey Folks,

From last year’s Grizzly Bear Fall Photo Tour. It took a lot of trying, but I finally managed to snag a few images of this grand bear standing upright, looking toward me.

A photo like this is one I’ve really wanted for a long, long time, so I was pretty glad when I finally managed to get something like this.

Can’t wait to get back there this year and see how she’s doing. The bears are just a great way to end the season.

Cheers

Carl

Mount Sanford and the Copper River Basin, winter, dawn alpenglow, boreal forest and tundra, Wrangell Mountains, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

From a trip to Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve last month, here’s a photo of Mount Sanford and the Copper River Basin.

The wind was fairly whippin this morning, and it was way colder than I like for it to be, but the light was nice. What a  mountain, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Snowshoeing and backcountry skiing in the Mentasta Mountains, winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Another photo from a winter trip; this one to the Mentasta Mountains in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve. My favorite mode of travel; snowshoe up, and ski back down. It’s worth bringing the extra gear!

Heinous wind – Yikes!

Cheers

Carl

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Mountains, Crystalline Hills and the Kuskulana River, from the Kuskulana River Bridge, McCarthy Road, Winter, Alaska. To view larger version of this photo, please click on the image above.

Hey Folks,

From a short trip to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park over the holidays.

Small piece of trivia – Minus 40deg F is the same temperature as minus 40 deg C.

Cold days indeed.

Stay warm folks,

Cheers

Carl

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Mountains and the Kuskulana River, Mount Blackburn, near Nugget Creek mine. Winter, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

hey Folks,

Welcome to mount Blackburn, winter, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

A short selection of images. 12 favorites from 2010.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger versions of each photo in the gallery. (more…)

Coastal plain, near the Canning River, Section 1002, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska. Please click on the thumbnail above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

December is, of course, the month of the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, so it’s probably fitting that the Image of the Month for Dec, 2010, is from the Refuge. A small kettle pond on the coastal plain east of the Canning River. What an amazing evening this was!

A nice hike across the tundra around midnight, enjoying that magical summer evening of the arctic. I spent some time photographing this small pond, then stayed around and played my flute for an hour or so. Memorable evening.

If you didn’t check out the video tribute here already, take a look. It’s a collection of 50 photos from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge put to some music I recorded (including my flute) to honor the 50 years since the establishment of the refuge.

I’ll be back there next summer, 2011.

Cheers

Carl

A female brown bear (grizzly bear, Ursus arctos) chases Sockeye Salmon up Brooks River. Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Wow, another month has passed by already! So here’s the Image of the Month for November, 2010. No surprises for what kind of photo would be posted this month; after 2 weeks of virtually nonstop grizzly bear photography at the end of September, I could do a whole year of Images of the Month with nothing but bear photos.

So, speaking of bear photos, I might just add that I’ve updated the 2 bear galleries on the website, as I undertake a major overhaul of all the photo galleries here. Tedious work, but they’re such a schemozzle I know I need to do it. (and, I really wanted to use the word “schemozzle” in a blog post). So, take a look at the new galleries .. virtually all new images posted, with larger photos, too. Here’s the Bears #1 gallery, and here is the Bears #2 gallery. I hope you enjoy some of the images. Oh, and I also added the dates for the 2011 bear photo tour.

So, back to this image; just a nice low angle on a sow racing through the water, splashing her way after some luckless Sockeye salmon. I’m glad I’m not a 5lb fish meeting a 800lb bear!

Hope you like it folks.

Cheers

Carl