Archive for the ‘Photo Tours’ Category
Sunday, March 7th, 2010

A young brown bear (Ursus arctos) walks through a stream hunting for spawning Sockeye Salmon. Grizzly bear, or coastal brown bear, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image for a larger version of the photo.
Hey folks
5-6 more weeks and the bears are running around the woods again!!!
I’ll be in the woods for the coming week, but I thought I’d post a brown bear photo, and schedule a couple of other blog posts for while I’m gone.
Catching this young blonde colored brown bear in some nice light was quite a treat. That’s the benefit of spending time in the field. Most wildlife photography, it seems, is done in places where the subject is pretty much a given; places like Homer for bald eagles, Yellowstone for elk, Churchill for polar bears, and Katmai National Park and Preserve for grizzly bears, or brown bears. So what makes the differernce? Light. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Skolai Images, Wildlife
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Photo Tours, Photography, Wildlife | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Skolai Pass, the north end; Sunset over Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
Skolai Pass has rocked into March 2010. This month’s edition of backpacker magazine, which I wrote about earlier, has a full page image of mine from Hole in the Wall, accompanying an article about hiking the Goat Trail. And this month’s edition of Popular Photography includes another photo from Skolai Pass by photographer Doug Roane, taken on one of last year’s Skolai Pass Photo Tours. Check out a large version of Doug’s amazing photo here. Better yet, take 15 minutes and browse the collection of images on Doug’s website. Awesome stuff!

Skolai Pass, the south end; Waterfalls overlooking Skolai Pass and Russell Glacier - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK. For a gorgeous larger version, visit Doug's website at www.dougroanephotography.com
Doug’s photo was voted 2nd place in the March “Your Best Shot” competition. Huge congratulations Doug, a recognition well-earned. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Doug Roane, Landscape features, photo tour, scenics, Skolai Images, Skolai Pass, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Cool stories, Glaciers, Landscape features, Mountains, News, Photo Tours, Photography, Waterfalls, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 13th, 2009

Tallest peaks in the University Range, Mt. Churchill and Mt. Bona rise dramatically from Russell Glacier, catching the last rays of the day, Fall colors in the foreground, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
Here’s an image that I am amazingly lucky to have made. Probably luckier than I deserve to be. Not because of the luck involved in catching this scene like this; this image has been a long, long time in coming. The scene is taken from the south end of Chitistone Pass, near Skolai Pass, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska. I’ve spent more time here than I probably should admit to, waiting, hoping and wondering if I’d ever actually happen to catch it in the light that I knew graces these peaks from time to time. Finally, this September, I was up there with our phototour and we were really blessed with some great weather. I was giddy with excitement and I’m sure the folks along on the trip were wondering just what they’d got themselves into. Within 20 minutes of landing we’d already found and photographed a Least Weasel, which I’d never had the opportunity to photograph inside the park previously. Next up we ran into some Woodland caribou, apparently the only woodland caribou herd in Alaska, so that was pretty awesome. Then we saw some Dall sheep rams, and managed to stalk up on them a little. Next up was sunset, (more…)
Tags: Alaska, alpenglow, Carl Donohue, Chitistone Pass, colors, Fall, fall colors, glacial, Glaciers, horizontals, ice, Landscape features, Mountains, Mt. Bona, Mt. Churchill, photos, Russell Glacier, scenics, Skolai Images, sunset, University Range, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Fall, Glaciers, Landscape features, Mountains, Photo Tours, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 5 Comments »
Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Hey Folks,
NB: I’ve now added this trip to the main section of guiding website, Alaskan Alpine Treks. By all means, browse this page, but please also visit the trip page here.
I’m excited to announce a Grizzly Bears in the Fall photo Tour for 2010. Details are posted on my Alaskan Alpine Treks website but I’ll copy it here as well:
This coming year, 2010, I’m running a new phototour to Katmai National Park and Preserve; we’ll be basecamping in remote southwest Alaska, photographing grizzly bears, dawn til dusk, for a week. Katmai National Park is home to some of the largest grizzly bears (or “brown bears” as they’re often called in that region) in the world. Feeding largely on salmon from some of the richest salmon runs in Alaska, the bears are magnificent creatures and there’s no better time to photograph them than in the fall. This trip offers an unsurpassed opportunity to photograph wild grizzly bears in a remote and brilliantly wild setting and promises some simply incredible photographic possibilities.
Schedule:
– Trip #1: Sept 19-25, 2010.
– Trip #2: Sept 26-Oct 2, 2010
Price:
– Fully Outfitted Camp and Guided Photo Tour: $2675.00
- Both trips (14 days): $4600.00
(more…)
Tags: Alaska, Alaskan Alpine Treks, Brown bears, Carl Donohue, Grizzly Bears, images, Katmai, Katmai National Park, Katmai National Park and Preserve, photo tour, photos, phototours, trips, Ursus arctos, workshop
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Landscape features, Photo Tours, Travel, Wildlife | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Hey Folks,
As I said in a recent post, on my recent trip to Katmai National Park and Preserve I really hoped to make some images that featured not only the great grizzly bears, but also the awesome fall colors of the boreal forest . The Black Cottonwoods of the area provide the perfect background for photographing grizzly bears, but rarely do photographers seem to combine the 2. Most folks come up to Alaska and shoot the bears in the summer, and I think they’re missing out. The classic shot of a grizzly bear fishing for salmon at Brooks Falls is nice, and only generally possible mid-summer, of course, but there are a lot of other opportunities around in the fall that can be equally exciting. Great fall colors make stunning backdrops, and can really bring a vibrancy to the image. Stepping back, zooming out, and letting the scene dictate the photos is often the key.
In this photo I enjoy the sense of relationship between subject and environment – the dichotomy is largely only a function of our thought processing. The idea that the “environment” is something other than everything is a little peculiar; the subject IS the environment, as equally as the environment is the subject. There is really no difference between the bear and his habitat. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, animals, bears, Brooks River, Brown bears, Carl Donohue, fishing, Grizzly Bears, hunting, images, Katmai, Katmai National Park, Katmai National Park and Preserve, mammals, photos, predators, Ursus arctos, Wildlife
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Fall, Forests, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Photo Tours, Travel, Trees, Wildlife | 6 Comments »