Category Archives: National Petroleum Reserve I’ve had a canister of bear pepper spray for a long time and fortunately have never used it. Before replacing it with a new one, I decided to see what kind of spray range it retained. It functioned surprisingly well, although I did not test the efficacy of the solution. The new one came with...  This last June marked my second visit to the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, a monstrous 23 million acre area on Alaska’s north slope. It was originally set aside by president Harding as an emergency oil supply for the US Navy. The average person knows little about the region, and it is huge. Some consider...  A photographer’s schedule in June, in the arctic, is a complete function of weather and daylight. The blue cloudless skies become a curse, at least until about midnight when the warm wash of light drips across the landscape, and even then, some sort of cloud action helps grab some color in the sky. I unfortunately...  My blogging has been slim due to a 12 day river trip in the arctic, and now with time in the office I can play catch up on a few stories and photos worth sharing of my recent ventures…. Utukok Uplands, National Petroleum Reserve Alaska. While treading the homeland of grizzly bears, a shrewd and...  There is much to write about regarding my late June trip to the arctic, and little time to do so due to another scheduled photo trip in which I’ll float a river out of the Brooks range in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. More about that upon my return. Looking back on the last week,...  My trip to the high western arctic unfolded broadly under the never setting sun. With a short turn around between another venture back to the arctic for a river trip, I’ll have some photos to share but little time to write. The birds nesting in the tundra region were continual companions in a very solitary...  Near the confluence of the Nigu and Etivluk river, is Puvakrat mountain, a notable ridge with a rocky spine, great for hiking and splendid views. We began a day hike in rainy and cloudy conditions, but mixed blue skies and dramatic clouds and light spilled across the grand vista as evening progressed. The sky in...  On our 10 day river trip along the Nigu and Etivluk, we saw two grizzly bears, both of which upon noticing us, took off across the tundra. This is the kind of reaction one likes to see when encountering a bear in the wild. Well, sort of. Photographing bears in the arctic is quite unlike...  This little Red-necked phalarope, with its elegant presence, is the only shorebird that swims on the water. There were many nesting pairs along the same lake that the pair of Pacific loons were on. I usually see this bird in south central Alaska during the spring migration, and often see them in large flocks. So...  Is there ever really enough time? To get the right shot, to get the right light, heck, for life in general. So much to see and so much to do. In this particular instance, our two canoes were all packed up and it was time to hit the river for a day of paddling, with... |
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Select images from across Alaska's vast landscape.
Black bears, brown bears and polar bears in Alaska.
The mysterious northern lights
Some select photos from the wildlife that inhabits Alaska's arctic region
North America's tallest mountain has a million faces and changes constantly with shifting light
One of my favorite places to photograph brown bears
