Female Pine Grosbeak in autumn plumage

The female pine grosbeak has a beautiful, rusty brown/orange color in autumn, which seems to blend in perfectly with the dried leaves of the willow bush in which she seeks food. The male, in spring plumage, is quite dramatically displayed in brilliant red. While at a rest stop along a highway, I noticed this bird feeding in the trees and hand just enough time to grab my 500mm and get a few shots hand held, before she flew off. Birds, while they are not the great money makers in general in the world of stock photography, sure are fun to watch and photograph.

Mt Sukakpak is a notable mountain in the Brooks range, with a prominent set of peaks that change drastically based on the angle of view. It’s always amazing in nature photography, to observe the changes in light and color from day to day, at the same location. Last October, I took these pictures less than 24 hours apart.

The Roller Coaster, James Dalton Highway, the Haul Road

For those of you familiar with the TV reality show, Ice Road Truckers, then you have heard them speak of this section of the James Dalton Highway know as the roller coaster. It makes a pretty radical descent, with an equal rise on the other side. It is not intrinsically dangerous, but if conditions are marginal, it certainly feels unlike most roads one would travel on in today’s age. Windy and snowy conditions can often make visibility marginal, and the truckers that drive this road use their CB radio to alert potential oncoming traffic of their presence.

Caribou migrating in Alaska’s arctic

Polar bear symmetry

While her cubs were off playing, this female polar bear curled up on the snow and dozed off occasionally. The posture makes a beautiful, symmetrical pose. It is a cropped version of an image taken with a Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm + 1.4x extender, which translates into a focal length of 910mm. That is a long reach, but it is still very sharp.

As Fairbanks awaits a chilly minus 50 degree temperature this weekend, it is amazing that these bears survive in the chilly arctic waters. They are incredibly well insulated with up to 4 inches of fat under some of that white fur. Ian Sterling reports in his book on Polar Bears, that aerial infrared heat sensing equipment can’t detect the actual bear, just the warm air exiting their mouth when trekking across the ice pack.

I’ll be processing more images from this folder over the next week and will share a few keepers on subsequent posts. You can see more polar bear photos on my website.

Brown bear (ursus arctos) and red salmon (oncorhynchus nerka)

I watched this female brown bear capture many red salmon in the Brooks river of Katmai national park, in southwest Alaska. She had one cub of the year to feed, who watched from the river bank keeping alert for other bears. This picture was taken at a focal length of 700mm, which makes it seem closer than it actually was, but even still, I happened to be in a position that did not allow for me to back up easily, which sometimes happens photographing bears. The bear had approached me while chasing fish in the river, so I grabbed a few shots before she walked back to the bank to feed her cub. Photographing a moving subject, in low light, with a long lens resulted in many out of focus shots. The depth of field is very narrow at f/4 at this distance, and the eye needs to be sharp. This was a successful one, and I liked how it reveals the dexterous manner in which the bears can handle fish, she is holding it with her teeth by the dorsal fin.

I have shot extensively at Katmai, and you can see more images on my website: Katmai National Park and Brown bears

 Full curl Dall sheep ram

I took this shot a few months ago while traveling through Alaska’s Brooks range. Dall sheep rams with a full curl are generally pretty wary due to hunting pressure which has increased in the region over the last decade. Due to the breeding season, a few rams were mingling with a flock of female sheep which were accessible to photograph along the winter, snowy tundra north of Atigun Pass. Shadowed conditions are pretty common in this steep mountain country during late October and November due to the lack of daylight, and the sun that seldom shines into the steep valleys. For this reason, the light is often flat, and minimal. The classic white on white requires about a +1-1/2 or a little more exposure compensation, in order to render the whites white.

Visit my website for more dall sheep photos

]]> http://www.alaskaphotographyblog.com/2012/01/dall-sheep-ram-with-full-curl/feed/ 0 http://www.alaskaphotographyblog.com/2012/01/dall-sheep-ram-with-full-curl/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Alaskaphotographyblog/~3/vKq-AEbZ6ZY/ http://www.alaskaphotographyblog.com/2012/01/katmai-brown-bear-stitch-from-4-images/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:46:09 +0000 Patrick Endres http://www.alaskaphotographyblog.com/?p=4912 To to see large photos view the original post.

I’ve been digging through some files from that latter part of 2011, doing some clean up work and getting folders in a completed state. Occasionally I will shoot a series of images which are to be stitched into a larger file in post production. I do this for panoramas, and sometimes to increase the overall resolution due to focal length and/or scene restrictions. This is one of those made from four images. I was set up along the beach in Katmai National Park and knew that the bears make this morning journey. I missed a few chances for simply not being ready, but this time, I had set my focal length to 35mm, anticipating the basic composition of the bear. After I shot the series of the bear walking along, I kept the camera on the tripod and shot three images in a vertical direction, which includes the tree and sky. This affords a nice, high resolution file very suitable large publication.

Cinnamon Bay Beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands

Cinnamon beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L, 1/50 sec @ f/14, ISO 200, polarizer

Given the current temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska this morning, which weighs in at -40 below zero, this scene is about as far away from my current view as possible. My week on the Island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands was filled with views of aqua blue water, and temperatures between 75-85 degrees. That is 125 degrees different that today. Alaska, its a land of extremes, and that’s one of my favorite things about living here.

It may look like this picture has been heavily saturated, but in fact, I added zero saturation in lightroom, just a little vibrance and contrast. It really does look like that along that stretch of beach.

My dreams of the expansive and crystal clear views under the Caribbean were not fully realized on this trip due to some stormy waters and the resulting turbidity. However, I spent some time snorkeling in the 80+ degree water, which yielded awesome sights of underworld creatures like, octopus, coral, squid, sharks, brilliantly colored fish and and a colorful sea floor.

I took this shot with my EWA Marine housing, having left my larger Ikelite housing at home in order to travel light. The great barracudas would hang out just off the reef, keeping fairly stationary in the water, and somewhat easy to approach. Basically, there is no way around it, underwater photography is challenging. I’ll be going back there some day to focus more on underwater views. In the wake are some great times in this aqua blue, marvelous island landscape.

Great barracuda, St John, Virgin Islands. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L (35mm), EWA Marine housing. 1/500 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400