Skolai Images

Hey Folks,

It’s WAY too late for me here in Anchorage - I just walked in a little while ago from this little blues bar, called Blue Central. They have an open mic night every sunday, and I was fortunate to get to play this evening for an hour or more - nice finish to my week.It was tons of fun, and the folks I played with did a bunch of different styles of music, so it was interesting. There’s nothing quite like sitting in with people you’ve never met before, and making music together. It’s all the more fun when they start playing tunes you have no idea what they are, how they go, what key they’re in, or anything else. You just have to listen closely. (more…)

Hey Folks,

It’s a weekend, and I’ve been having a good day. I won’t ruin it by writing much, once again, but I will tell you I saw the Rugby World Cup Final this morning. Even though the Wallabies weren’t there, as I hoped they would be, it was a decent game. South Africa played England, and South Africa won, which I’m glad about. England beat the Aussies in the previous WC Final, 2003, in the tightest of games, and then beat us again in the quarter final this year - so I was kinda hoping the Springboks would win, which they did. Next I went for a short walk with my buddy Charlie, and his 2 dogs, Keba and KebaMusa . Keba is an African name, kinda like, say, John, might be here .. and “KebaMusa” means “Keba’s Wife” .. they’re awesome dogs, except Musa gets mad at other dogs on the trail, so that’s always exciting. In honor of Keba and KebaMusa, I thought I’d post another image of Denali - the link being, obviously, the names I wrote about recently. I’m still working on another image from the mountain I took this summer, and once I get it worked up correctly, I’ll post it here.

I also want to thank my friend Guy Tal, for his help. He’s an amazing fella, a ridiculous photographer, and very generous with his willingness to help out. He’s helped me enormously with learning stuff about photoshop, and computer stuff in general. He’s also super smart, and his writings are always insightful and great to read. Check his site out here if you’re not familiar with Guy - spending some time browsing his website will definitely add years to your life.

For the photo-tech stuff, this is a blend of several different exposures (3, actually) - I’ve always done images like this in the past with either a grad density filter, or manually blended exposures on the computer - this is my first ever image using the HDR processing of Adobe Photoshop. I hope you like it.

I’m off to bed.

Cheers

Carl

More Denali National Park Photos.

Hey Folks

Today’s my mum’s birthday! Happy birthday, mum! Mum refers to October as her ‘birthday month’, meaning she celebrates her birthday for the entire month of October.. which translates to ‘whatever mum wants goes for the month of October’. Pretty nifty deal, for her, I spose. Anyway, it’s all OK, because she’s mum. Happy birthday, mum - Love you! (more…)

Hey Folks

Well, well, well .. times have indeed changed. I’m currently sitting in the plush surroundings of the Princess Cruise Line Copper Center Lodge. I’m sitting in the ‘Wrangell Room” appropriately enough, gazing out one of the 15 twelve foot-high windows, across the Copper River Basin, where I can see Mt Drum, Mt Sanford and Mt Wrangell. If for some reason I took it upon myself to stand up, out of my comfy swivel chair, I could also see Mt Blackburn to the south. An impressive view. (more…)

hey Folks

Well, I made it. Many, many miles of sitting behind my steering wheel finally got me up to Alaska. And whata gorgeous day it is to arrive. This morning, as I made my way through the final couple hundred miles of the Yukon Territory, I saw moose, tundra swans, grizzly bears and a coyote. I managed to take a few images of the coyote, and also the bears as they grazed on the wildflowers and grasses. I saw a number of black bears in western and northern BC, but no grizzlies. Grizzlies are SO cool, it’s always a treat to see them, (more…)

Hey Folks

Today is the last day of my tenure here in Atlanta, GA. Tomorrow morning I venture north, and west, to Alaska. I’ll be working, as usual, as a backpacking guide in Alaska, running trips for my company, Alaskan Alpine Treks. However, this year, come fall, I won’t be returning to Atlanta. (more…)

Hey Folks,

I’ve been reading a little about a recent case of a bear attack, this time in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Fortunately, the fellow who was mauled is alive. Here’s one version of the story.

A lot of discussion has focused on this incident on various nature photography forums. Much of that discussion revolves around the potential for this kind of thing to be a vehicle for new, tighter regulations brought into place by the National Parks’ Service, placing ever tighter restrictions on photographers and the activities they engage. While I think that’s a worthy discussion, hopefully it’s not the be sole focus of our concern. Firstly, I hope the guy’s OK. I’ve been close enough to many grizzly bears that I can barely (now there’s a great pun) imagine how terrible it must be to be mauled by one. (more…)