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.

Polar bear reflection along Alaska's arctic coast. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS, 1/800 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 800

A calm day this time of year along Alaska’s typically windy arctic coast is a treat. Such was the case yesterday, at least for a short while. During a photo session with the polar bears, one walked over to the edge of the water and lowered its face to reveal a beautiful reflection. I happened to to have a long lens on my camera, with my focus point set on a specific area. And that is the answer to perhaps your question, and certainly mine: why did I not lower the lens just a little more to capture the full face reflection? Things happen fast and often for a short period of time in wildlife photography. While long lenses have great advantages, I often find that I end up too tight on many subjects. (This is often the case with the 1.3x sensor on the 1D Mark IV and 500mm lens combo. I can’t wait for Canon’s new 1Dx which will finally offer a fast frame rate and buffer at a full sensor size!)

My shooting style is generally in manual mode (when the light is not changing much) with an expose to the right model. I prefer this for the precise exposure control it offers, and it’s consistency presented in post production work. However, there are some drawbacks to manual mode. The main one is that it makes changing exposure values in unexpected situations much slower. For example: in this situation, I was photographing two polar bears fighting and had the shutter speed set to 1/800 second to stop action, resulting in an f/4.5 opening. When I swung over to this scene, I barely had time to quickly focus and shoot, let alone compose much and change exposure. On aperture priority however, it would have been a quick spin of the dial on the back of Canon’s camera to lower the shutter speed and increase the f/stop for greater depth of field. This shot is pretty sharp on the face, but just barely. How many times do we wish we could have an opportunity to reshoot a particular scene!

I dug these few paragraphs out of the drafts folder, having started writing it sometime around the start of the new year. That’s near the time the great task of reprocessing and re-editing my entire stock files began. It is a grinding process with burnout on the near border, but great strides have been made. My new website should be coming to the surface to breath soon.

Looking forward holds as much value as looking backwards and both will contribute their respective positive or negative influence based on ones personality and experience. A retrospective glance that looks back on a year, or even a decade worth of images provokes some transporting  thoughts, and puts a span of time in a visual and chronological context.

Days and weeks, excursions and adventures get layered upon each other in the course of Alaska’s robust and energetic seasons. A slow motion review in the form of pictures unfolds pleasantly when reviewing these captured moments, and their individual voice tells of time, temperature, wind, emotion, sound and the rugged context of both journey and discovery.

After nearly 20 years of locking moments in a single frame, I see and find the gift that photography sends back to me.  The picture opens up that world archived in time, one more time, to think upon and re experience. This to me is the “gift back” that photography offers.

Aerial of the Phillip Smith mountains of the Brooks range, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Canon 5 D Mark II, 100-400mm f/5.6L IS, 1/2000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400

“There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.”

G. K. Chesterton

My growing affinity for something as intangible and transient as clouds is the result of years of treading the land and looking up. The magic and art of the sky is ever changing, fleeting, ominous, lovely and at times simply spellbinding. I don’t know if this is a hidden source for my fondness for landscape photography, but indeed, a dramatic happening in the clouds is a sure ingredient for a striking landscape photo. The big, open and ever changing skies that unfold across Alaska’s mountainous landscape is one aspect that ties me to this chunk of geography.  I wanted to share some with you here in a gallery.

There is no lack of top five, top ten, top whatever lists…these days. When making any list or selection, the process is influenced by many factors. I’ve picked a few images, 100 to be exact that were notable to me in some way during the past year. In retrospect, my photography seemed minimized in diversity in 2010, but nevertheless was filled with many great experiences. Here is a little gallery for your enjoyment.

Polar bear in the snow on an island in the Beaufort Sea on Alaska's arctic coast. Canon 7D, 100-400mm f5.6L IS (350mm), 1/320 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800

If you have been tuned into Alaska news, you might have heard that:

I’m not making this a political blog post, but instead thought I’d share a portrait of a female polar that I took along Alaska’s arctic coast. They are majestic and impressive animals, and this image is one of my favorites because of her vigilant expression.

Polar bear cub and falling snow, Arctic Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500 mm f/4L IS w/1.4x (700mm), 1640 @ f/4, ISO 400.

It’s hard to get too much of polar bears, they are among the most fascinating animals to watch and photograph. This picture seems appropriate for a winter day boasting temperatures in the sub -30 degrees in Fairbanks. I really liked the falling snow on this October day along Alaska’s arctic coast. The temperature then was just about freezing. Not too cold, but a little on the warm side since snow melted all over the camera. Furthermore, wet snow blown on the lens is troublesome to clean and keep fog free. This cub of the year was very playful and seems intrigued by the falling snow. The shtterspeed of 1/640 was enough to capture the snow.

ATT 2011 Calendar

Polar bear cleaning fur, Beaufort Sea, arctic Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS, 1/320 sec. @f/5.6, ISO 800, hand held

For 25 years AT&T has had a tradition of publishing a calendar that is distributed freely (and download-able as a screen saver–I’ll share that link when it is available). I’ve had my work selected for some of those calendars, and this year, they took a slightly different angle by selecting a wildlife image. In years past I’ve had some runner up wildlife candidates, but none that made it all the way to selection. It’s hard to find a more magnetic and iconic subject of Alaska than a polar bear. Once you watch one play in the frigid icy waters of the Beaufort Sea, their adaptations to live in the landscape they do is beyond remarkable.

How a photo is made is often of equal interest to me as the photo itself. This particular shot was “on the margins” in all ways. Low light, high ISO, marginal shutter speed, cold hands having problems focus tracking–but the movement slowed enough for the shutter speed to sharply freeze the face. I attempt to think panorama when I’m in the field, since I gave up the 6×17 film camera years ago. It’s a challenge to think compositional when you don’t see the whole scene, but there are times when it works out. I often photograph panos for the express reason that they include “extra” negative space, which is a design element that is strongly desired, and usually not an element that is fitting for fine art prints. This frame is a stitch of two images shot side by side.

I will have some new material of polar bears on my website soon, and I’m excited to share some of the cool scenes. You can see more polar bear photos and arctic wildlife photos respectively on my website.

Polar bear sow and cub on the newly forming sea ice of the Beaufort Sea. Canon 1DS Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS, w1.4x (700mm) 1/400 sec @ f/5.6, 400 ISO

The demands of traveling, taking photos, processing them, and presenting them to the public is a process that requires many steps. Having recently finalized some time-sensitive printing project deadlines, I’m just now starting to take a more in-depth look at images from my October arctic photo tours. There were some shining moments in there for sure, and as always, a few lamentations. This picture falls into that latter category. For a reason I have not fully figured out yet, the series was blurry/soft. It may not look so in this small image, but it lacks the scrutinizing quality score that should be leveled on professional imagery. It is usable in some sizes, but wow, what a scene, and what light! Can I have this chance over again please.

Polar bear on the Beaufort Sea. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L IS, 1/500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Yesterday concluded our photo venture with Alaska’s polar bears and it was a great day of viewing and a challenging day of photography. Winds that gusted to 50mph were sweeping across the coast blowing snow and salt spray. This in conjunction with the lens shake caused by such force made shooting difficult. However, I think everyone stole a few good shots in spite of that, as we had some great sights. Here is one capture of a sow polar bear as she paused on the frozen coast of the Beaufort Sea.