We’re trying to get back into full swing. We’re scheduling our March Alaska northern lights photo tour for 2022. March is a fun time for the northern lights. It’s still “winter” in Alaska, and that means we have a good possibility of some nice wintery landscape foregrounds, long dark skies and fewer people. But it’s not mid-January, so the weather’s a bit warmer and life under the Alaska night time skies a little easier.
March is also the time of our vernal equinox, when day length and night length are approximately the same. For some reason, the equinoxes seem to yield the best northern lights activity. Nobody seems to know why this is so, just that it is so. it’s our favorite Alaska secret (that and smoked salmon). It’ll be an awesome aurora fest for the eyes.
I didn’t get to Fairbanks this spring, and I’m looking forward to returning in 2022 to photograph the northern lights. Wanna join me? We’re setting 2-3 weeks of dates, and it should be a good time for all. The auroral activity seems to be returning towards a peak, so hopefully the displays in Alaska will be excellent. This past month they were as good as ever. Next year hopefully even better.
If you’re new to photographing the northern lights, no problem. That’s what I’m for. I’ll help you with your knowledge and skills to make these photos. And if you don’t have it, this primer ebook is a great start for learning what it takes.
Download the ebook, gear up, make some plans and join us for a fun Alaska northern lights photo trip this coming spring.
Bears are my favorite photography subject. By far.
Mostly because I have had the exceedingly good fortune to photograph them as often as I have.
This summer I’m so looking forward to getting back to the Alaska Peninsula and the Katmai National Park area to see the great bears of the Katmai region.
I definitely love catching the action of a hungry bear hot on the heels (tailfin) of a spawning salmon. This hungry young mother bear had 3 even hunger and younger mouths to feed, and she was pretty intent on doing what needed to be done to make that happen.
Hopefully when we return this summer we’ll catch more action like this. And if not, it’ll still be awesome just to be around these magnificent animals. They’re good for the soul.
Wrapped up another year, and to start off the new year, here’s a look back at some of our favorite images from 2019. And we look forward to making a whole lot more, along with a veritable bevvy of more fun photos, this year.
Two young brown bear cubs playing on the tundra, Katmai National Park, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
We’re announcing a new brown bear photo tour, to interior Katmai National Park. Info is as below:
Price $4400.00
Dates: Aug 4-9, 2021
Details: We’ll meet you in King Salmon, the morning of Aug 4 (you’ll want to arrive the previous night and overnight in King Salmon). Fly in to Katmai National Park and make camp. From camp we have endless miles of relatively easy hiking and perfect brown bear photography terrain. Open tundra, small clear salmon streams, tens of thousands of spawning Sockeye Salmon, and as many as 40-50 bears right in the area.
We’ll fly back to King Salmon on the 4th, and you should be be able to either overnight there or fly back to Anchorage that evening.
All the details are pretty similar to our Grizzlies in the Fall trip, but it’s a different location, with as many or more bears, fewer people in the area, and really nice array of backgrounds and photography options.
Please be in touch directly, this trip will fill quickly. Contact me here.
Cheers
Carl
A male brown bear on the tundra is dwarfed by a distant ridge of the Alaska Range in Katmai National Park.Brown bear chasing Sockeye Salmon, Katmai National Park, Alaska.
And so slides by yet another year. They seem to disappear more quickly than ever these days.
I thought I’d toss up a few images from the year. Mostly bears and northern lights as I was pretty busy with those trips this year.
Looking forward to 2019. We have a great bunch of trips we’ll be running.
Without further ado, I’ll throw some pictures up for you. Enjoy.
Before the Aurora
We arrived at our spot early and waited for the aurora to fire up .. and while we were waiting, this happened.
A beautiful evening sky against the arctic Alaskan boreal forest, Alaska.
Aurora borealis
Good things come to those who wait, eh? This aurora fire up late, and came back again even later. Always something of a treat to see.
Northern Lights fire up over a snow-covered boreal forest in interior Alaska.
Packrafting Nizina
A fun early season trip was packrafting Nizina River, The water levels were not too high, and we had a blast running through the canyons and camping beneath the amazing Mile High Cliffs. One in a million trip.
Packrafting Nizina Lake, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Brown Bears
We had a GREAT bunch of trips shooting brown bears this past summer/fall. I spent nearly 6 weeks leading tours and shooting on my own, in some favorite haunts of past years as well as some new locations as well. Awesome year.
A large male brown bear really getting after it, fishing for Pink Salmon, Alaska.
A male brown bear on the tundra is dwarfed by a distant ridge of the Alaska Range in Katmai National Park.
A female brown bear about to snag a salmon on the Katmai Coast. Alaska.
Excitement on the Coast as a brown bear hits top speed chasing salmon through the shallows. Alaska.
Polar Bears
We were lucky to catch some great moments with these amazing animals in 2018. This trip is truly a fantastic opportunity to see and photograph the great Nanuk.
A large adult male polar bear patrols the beach of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska.
It’s always a treat to see the polar bears on ice. This youngster was gingerly testing out the newly formed sea ice on his own.
A wide open mouth displays some pretty hefty canines.
A young bear, 3 years old, approaches to take a closer look at our group.
He pulled up, out of the sea, a caribou antler.
I thought this image looked a little better converted to Black & White.
Cub of the Year, or COY. One of the cutest and tiniest little polar bear cubs I’ve seen.
Sibling of the cub above.
These two gorgeous young polar bear cubs put on a helluva show. Great fun to watch.
This mother and cub gave us a treat when they headed for this point and we got some really strong images. Awesome scene to photograph.
Bald Eagles
A few images from our weeks at Haines in November. Really a fun couple of weeks with some great people and lots of opportunities for bald eagle images. We had a blast.
A bald eagles takes off to avoid the talons of an incoming eagle.
A bald eagle lands in fresh snow on the riverbank, Chilkat River, Haines, Alaska.
A moment. The swirling fog made for a great background and a touch of brighter sky lit the eagle perfectly.
I realize it’s a little heavy on the polar bears, lol. They’re just so amazing to photograph. Really, really a beautiful animal.
I’ll try to add a few more images over the next few months from other trips and activities. Packrafting, backpacking, rafting and more .. stay tuned.
In the meantime .. I and all of us here with Expeditions Alaska wish you the very best for the coming New Year. Travel safe, and enjoy.
2 new trips on the website for 2018, and more to come.
The first one is one Rhane guided in 2017 for us as an exploratory trip, in Lake Clark National Park. We’re offering custom trips to Lake Clark National Park this year, either basecamp trips where we camp, hike and packraft for a week, or a 4-6 day backpack trip through the heart of the Alaska Range in this classic Alaska walk. Continue reading…
Wrangell Mountains at sunset in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Please click on the image to view the full size version
Hey Folks,
Anyone coming up to Alaska this winter? Here’s a good reason why.
The Wrangell mountains, in al their alpenglow-ing glory are second to none in the winter.
Here I’m looking across the Copper Winter toward the Wrangell Mountain range. From the left the peaks you can see are Mt. Sanford (in the background), Mt Drum, Mt. Snyder, Mt. Zanetti, and Mt Wrangell at the right hand edge of the frame.
