Campsite at the Fosse, near Kennicott Glacier, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
This guiding business a tough gig, I tell ya.
Cheers
Carl
Archive for the ‘Canada’ Category
Tough stuff – guiding
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Free Photos – bull elk photo
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Bull Elk bugling, Jasper National Park, Canada.
Hey Folks,
I had another photo request for free use of my images today; they come in pretty regularly, it seems, particularly for wildlife and landscape photography. We nature lovers obviously love what we do, and so must have a desire to give our work away for free. How can we not?
I’ll be the first to admit it folks; these are tough times, for buyers and sellers alike. There’s no denying that truth. I thought I’d try to find some kind of compromise here. I always like to develop a relationship with someone who may potentially pay for my work, and I also wanted to help these people out – theirs is a just and worthwhile cause. And hey, maybe helping these folks out might provide the impetus for some real economic activity in the world? I hoped to do my bit to help the economy get rolling, my own little stimulus plan, if you will (I still can’t believe the government got away with labeling theirs a ‘stimulus package‘). At the same time, I didn’t really want to give away my work for free. What to do?
I tried to explain to the person on the phone; I listened closely, and sympathized – “yes, I realize you’re a non-profit organization, but my business, on the other hand, is NOT a non-profit“. This didn’t clarify things, apparently.
A different tact: ”Well, you see, my rent doesn’t go down according to the charity work that your business does, and the food I eat doesn’t become free simply because I did a good deed for the day“. We got nowhere. (more…)
Moraine Lake Hiking
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
A tourist hiker stands beside the shores of Moraine Lake and watches people canoeing on the lake The grand scenery of Moraine Lake and the Wenkchemna Peaks, or 10 Peaks at Moraine Lake make the area a popular tourist destination for hiking, canoeing, photography and adventures. Hiker, Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Click the image to see how good I look in red.
hey Folks
I was scanning through some images recently and stumbled on to this one. Here’s me in stunning mauve at Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, in Alberta Canada.
Most photographers know how much difference putting a person or 2 in the photo can make to the salability of an image. And adding some color makes a difference as well.
But the image must tell a story. For stock photography, the more generic the story might be, the more possible different uses it might have. This could be a tourist, a hiker, someone lost, a photographer, etc. It could even be someone advertising Arcteryx jackets.
But the real story of this photo, for me, is my first time to Moraine Lake. I spend a whole day just soaking up the grandeur of this place. I can think of very few places that are so simply pretty as the Canadian Rockies. They’re almost picture perfect. Many other places have a wonder all their own, and I’d never forsake the wildness of Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, for example, for the Canadian Rockies. But for sheer ‘hop out of the car and be amazed’ classical mountain beauty, the Canadian Rockies have it going on.
I’d been to Jasper National Park a few times, photographing wildlife there. I’d driven through Banff in order to get to Jasper. And I’d thought to myself ‘wow, Banff is pretty’ more than once. But the first time I drive up to Moraine Lake, got out the car and walked over to the lake, it just floored me. I walked along the lake’s edge, and sat and stared at everything. At the detail or these incredible peaks above me, the silence of the montane forest, and that water. That amazing water. It just absolutely blew me away.
They day was cloudy, it was early in the summer, and few people were around; those that were had taken rental canoes out on the lake, and I had the shoreline pretty much to myself. So I just sat and soaked it in. If you ever go to Banff National Park, and I recommend that you do, at least once in your life, give yourself plenty of time up at Moraine Lake. It takes time just to see it – you can’t stand at the overlook, glance around, and see it all. give yourself a day, and embrace the place. Your life will be richer for it.
More photos of Banff National Park.
Cheers
Carl
Name That Mountain: = Mt. Logan, Canada.
Friday, September 18th, 2009
Hey Folks,
Here’s another in the long line of ‘Name That Mountain’ posts. I’ll give you a hint; it’s huge. Really, really, really big. Bigger than Mt. Blackburn. Bigger than Mt Foraker. Bigger than Mt St. Elias. Quite a massif. The mountain is NOT in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, but the photo was taken from inside Wrangell – St. Elias National Park.
I’ll be gone as of today (friday, the 18th), and will be back in October. I’ll post more about that trip later .. check back in a week or so for a scheduled post that’s a mustelid .. way cool.
After that, well, we’ll see what the next 2 weeks brings.
Cheers
Carl
Sunset over Kennicott River.
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Hey Folks,
A sunset over the Kennicott River. This photo was taken probably less than 100 yards from the shaq. The day had been cloudy and not too promising, and as I was returning from a ski down the river, the clouds started to break up. So I motored on home, grabbed my camera and headed back over to this spot for the photo. this is right at the edge of the boreal forest and open riverbed, making a nice blend for the view. The mountains to the south are the eastern end of the Chugach Mountains. Winter is simply another world in the park – way too cool.
Cheers
Carl
Whitetail buck, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
hey Folks,
Here’s one of my favorite images – a whitetail buck photo from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Tennessee. Cades Cove in November/December is one of my FAVORITE places, and I’ll miss not being there this year, the 3rd year in a row that I’ve not been there. When I was in Atlanta, in years gone by, I’d look forward every year to heading up to the Cove to photograph the whitetail deer rut. The bucks are in their prime this time of year, and truly a glorious creature. One of the treats of returning each year was to run into the same bucks, year after year, it’s akin to running into old friends. This buck is one of the larger bucks, with a great wide 8 point rack, easily identified by his tiny little brow tines, the shorter ones directly above his ears. He was ever such a placid animal, though he did get a little feisty when other bucks came into his domain. (more…)
Wild MuskOx photo, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska.
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
Hey Folks,
Here’s another Musk Ox photo, from the Canning River, Section 1002 area of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. This trip was the first time I’ve seen MuskOx, and it was great to get some images. They’re almost a prehistoric looking creature, very cool, and reasonably calm, if approached carefully. We took over an hour just slowly getting closer and closer – but photos were few and far between, as they tended to stay in the willows and thicker brush, making decent photos hard to come by. Patience was rewarded, and I got this and a few other images that I liked.
Cheers
Carl
Coastal Plain, ANWR, Alaska.
Monday, July 21st, 2008
Hey Folks,
Another image of cotton grass in bloom on the arctic coastal plain, ANWR, Alaska. This is right by the shores of the Beaufort Sea. I’d been hoping to renew my memerbship in the Polar Bear Club, by swimming in the arctic ocean, but a cold wind blowing off the sea ice was a little more than I was interested in dealing with. One of the people on the trip, Bob, did get himself wet, as you’ll see later.
Cheers
Carl
Tongass National Forest, near Yakutat, Alaska.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Hey Folks,
Here’s a nice view of a little stream and grassy field in the Tongass National Forest, outside of Yakutat. I was looking for a campsite, after returning to Yakutat from Icy Bay. This looked like a great area. I walked out, set up my tripod, a young grizzly popped up, and ran off. I tooka few photos of the scene, packed up my gear, and thought I’d try t find somewhere else to camp. I’d kinda had my fill of grizzly bears for a while.
Cheers
Carl
Indian Paintbrush Photo, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Hey Folks,
Here’s a photo of an Indian Paintbrush, wildflower Castilleja miniata, from the Canadian Rockies, in Banff National Park. Banff National Park and the surrounding Greater Canadian Rockies ecosystem is a simply amazing place to photograph, with a myriad subjects to seek out and photograph. It has awesome mountain scenery, forests and montane ecosystems, sub-alpine and alpine regions, lakes and ponds, sloughs, rivers, glaciers, icefields, waterfalls, canyons, rockfaces, wildflowers, shrubs and grasses. Aspen trees, pine, larch, spruce, and so on. Wildlife photography in the area is probably some of the best in North America, second only (maybe) to Yellowstone National Park, which is just over a day’s drive south. Elk, moose, caribou, mule deer, whitetail deer, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, bald eagles, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, to chipmunks, magpies and jays – a long, long list of subjects.
I think one of the hardest things to deal with as a visitor to Banff National Park intending to photograph the area is (more…)
