Skolai Images

hey Folks,

I just got back in from a long and really cool trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - awesome place! This is a photo of a Long-tailed Jaeger, sitting on a small mound on the coastal plain, taken around 1:00am; gotta love that summer arctic thing!

I’ve got about a million things to do, so this is just a quick short post - but do stay tuned. I have some ground-breaking stuff here, new, never before taken photos from the Refuge, and some discussion that will likely amaze a number of readers - the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a topical place right now, with the oil prices, and all, and I’m sure you’ll find some of my findings very interesting, maybe a little disturbing (or disturbed), and even surprising.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Mark knows his stuff. I’d never have got this photo of the Hubbard Glacier calving without his knowledge. He looked at the wall and said ‘that’s gunna go, soon’ .. so we waited. And sure enough, a few small pieces of ice started to fall. I shot a bit, and few more started to fall. I shot a bit more. Thinking ‘that was cool’, I started to ease up. Mark says “get ready”. I’m smart enough to know he knows what’s up, so I get ready; seconds later this huge wall lets go. This wall is approx 150′ high. To witness such a blast was amazing. I got some nice shots of the wall falling, then the camera lost focus in the splash - the autofocus just couldn’t grab onto anything, and I was too useless to do anything about it. (more…)

hey Folks,

As I said, Mark got us closer. And Closer. This photo is of Gilbert Point, famous because the glacier has advanced enough at times past that it closed the gap, and dammed up Russell Fjord, which sits behind the gap - around to the right in this photo, behind the cliff face. The Hubbard Glacier has been advancing pretty rapidly recently, and in 2002 it closed off Gilbert Point. This had occurred previously in 1986. It essentially turns Russell Fjord into a giant dam, stranding wildlife in the area, including whales, sea lions, fish, etc. Eventually the pressure builds up enough that the dam bursts, and water flows out of the strait at some insane volumes - (more…)

Hey Folks,

So ya can’t go to Yakutat without a trip up to get some Hubbard Glacier photos. I wanted to do a flight-seeing trip to shoot this glacier, but the light wasn’t that great. And when the light was great, I was out at the beach. I need to get back down there and shoot some stuff of this glacier from the air to complement the images I got from lower down. The Hubbard is one of the most visited glaciers in Wrangell - St. Elias - you can’t really do a book on Wrangell - St. Elias National Park without at least some photos from the Hubbard Glacier.
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Hey Folks,

The sun was still setting northwest of me, but the color toward the south was nice. I tried a few different shutter speeds, trying to get a nice blur of the waves. Shooting here was a great experience .. I really had a great time, alone on the beach, just enjoying the play of the surf. A beautiful place.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s a look at some of the pebbles and stones washed up on the beach at Point Carrew, a famous surfing beach near Yakutat. On a clear day, the view from here across Disenchantment Bay towards the Malaspina Glacier and Mt. St. Elias is second to none! On this evening, clouds to the northwest meant the view was stifled - I could see the pyramid like peak of St. Elias poking out above the clouds, but it wasn’t such a great photo. I liked this little collection of pebbles and rocks.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

I do enjoy the beach. Especially late in the day. This was after I’d returned from the debacle at Icy Bay and was wondering what I’d do with the rest of my time - I wasn’t scheduled to return back to Anchorage for a week, so I tooled around at the beach for a while - that’s usually a pretty good option, I reckon. Especially on days like this.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

After paddling back from the island I wrote about the other day, the light got warmer. The lupine weren’t as impressive back in this area, but still pretty cool. My tent wasn’t quite as close as this photo implies, but this was pretty much the view out my tent door for the night. Suh-weet!

Cheers

Carl

hey Folks,

While I’d never look down on anything as beautiful as a flower, I thought this perspective was pretty cool. Here’s a lupine from right near my camp in Icy Bay, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

hey Folks,

I told ya you’d see some more lupines. Aren’t they gorgeous flowers? This one in the foreground was not quite in full bloom yet, but I thought the scene worked well. Plus, I do love me some lupine, so I took a bunch of photos of different ones.

Cheers

Carl