When we weren’t photographing bears we certainly weren’t bored with all the other subjects and the gorgeous Alaskan wilderness surrounding us. We spotted a fox with a bird in it’s mouth and just had time enough to fire off a few frames before he was gone…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm II ISO 800 f8 @ 1/180
An occasional sea otter would be cooperative and let us get close enough to photograph it…
Nikon D4, AF-S 200-400mm ISO 400 f5.6 @ 1/1000
And a pair of oystercatchers let us know when we got too close to their nest. They nest on the open ground with their eggs blending in with the rocks. It was interesting to watch them as they would scurry along the shoreline laying down on fake nests trying to lure us away from the real mccoy…
Nikon D4, AF-S 200-400mm f4 VR ISO 800 f5.6 @ 1/1000
We even had Dall Porpoises swimming at our bow one morning, darting back and forth and then leaping out of the water drenching us with salt spray as we leaned over the bow of the boat. I cranked my ISO up to 1600 to reach a fast enough shutter speed to handle the moving porpoises from a moving boat. I was very pleased at the low noise and a little NIK Dfine 2.0 removed what little noise there was…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 1800 f8 @ 1/2000
We spend a fair amount of time on the boat moving from one location to another. It’s the only way to travel in these parts (other than the float plane that brought us out). I love reflections and when the water is calm the colors and patterns are mesmerizing. I played with slower shutter speeds trying to capture a creative blur of colors. Different shutter speeds created different blur effects. I lowered my ISO and closed down my aperture to reach slow enough shutter speeds to blur the water…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 100 f22 @ 1/30
I even lowered my ISO to the L1 setting to get to a slower shutter speed and even more blur…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO L1 f38 @ 1/8
The eclipse of the moon was June 4th and I kept getting up to check the sky. The moonrise looked promising but, by the time the eclipse began the clouds had obscured the moon. Even though I was on a tripod, I had to bump my ISO to reach a fast enough shutter speed to capture the moon sharp with no movement…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR II ISO 800 f8 @ 1/4
A trip to a neighboring bay where a spring waterfall is very photogenic provided us with a diversion of working the flowing water for awhile…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 50 f16 @ 1/3
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO L1 f16 @ 1/3
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 100 f32 @ 1/3
A quick trip to Garden of Eden at low tide found me wandering the rock formations working the lines and patterns and converting the image to B&W to further emphasize these textures…
Nikon D4, AF-S 14-24mm f2.8 ISO 400 f8 @ 1/15
All too soon our week was over and we were boarding a floatplane back to Kodiak and on to our respective homes…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 200 f11 @ 1/250
As the lodge disappeared from view…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 200 f11 @ 1/125
I turned my attention forward to the ride ahead and looked down to see a rainbow…not just any rainbow but, a full double circle rainbow below our plane. Our pilot, Chris, made one sweeping turn so we could all photograph at least part of the rainbow with the distant snow capped mountains of Alaska in the distance…
Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR ISO 200 f11 @ 1/350
I’d say it was a perfect ending to a perfect week! Thanks to a great group of adventurers Bruce, Byron and Barry (the 3 B’s), the amazing staff at the lodge and most of all the bears for allowing us into their world for a short time. Stay tuned for musing from a fellow adventurer.
