2008 World Eskimo Indian Olympics Dancing

Inland Eskimo Dancers, 2008 WEIO, Fairbanks, Alaska
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 300mm f2.8L IS, 1/200 sec @ f2.8, ISO 1000

The Inland Eskimo Dancers from Anuktuvik pass in Alaska's Brooks range danced on Friday night at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. Females dressed in purple, males dressed in blue, drumming and dance in the form of story. Entertaining and delightful to watch. Native dance is interspersed between the athletic events, with various different groups and regions represented each evening.

2008 World Eskimo Indian Olympics

Alaskan High Kick
Elijah Cabinboy, from Nome, Alaska

Elijah Cabinboy from Nome ties the world record for the Alaskan high kick Thursday evening at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in Fairbanks. After the competition, he tried one more time to break the record and hit the ball, but it was off the record since only his first three qualifying attempts count. A description of this and other events can be found on the WEIO website

"This is a game of balance where the athlete sits on the floor below a target with one hand grasping the opposite foot. With his/her remaining free hand planted on the floor, the athlete springs up and attempts to kick the target with the free foot. After kicking the target, the athlete must show balance upon landing - he/she is at the original position before kicking. Height is the objective.."

Full curl Dall sheep ram

Dall sheep ram on the mountain slopes of Denali National Park, Alaska.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 75-300mm 5.6 DO IS, (285mm), 1/320 @ f7.1, ISO 200

On a recent trip to Denali National Park, I hiked up a mountain to photograph a band of Dall sheep rams. About half way up, my brother and I were caught in an intense hail storm. We were pelted with hail the size of marbles--and it hurt. After taking shelter along the lee side of a rock outcrop to get out of the driving force of the hail, I glanced across the mountain to see a lone Dall sheep ram doing the same thing. Once on top, the ground was white with piles of hail that looked like moth balls. Once the storm dissipated, the rams gathered back together and one group, seeking to join up with the others, walked right past me (about 10 feet away). This ram sports a full curl, and the astute can age them by counting the growth rings on the horns.

Summit Lake, Alaska range

Fishing on Summit lake, Alaska range mountains

Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm 5.6L IS, 1/1600 @f8, ISO 100

Alaska's summer nights are unique. The light hangs into the late hours and extends recreation and work opportunities into unreasonable hours. Then we all need the darkness of winter to balance out the over amped summer. I saw these fishermen enjoying an evening of fishing for lake trout on Summit lake in Alaska's interior. The layered mountains of the Alaska range reveal a depth and grandeur hard to match.

Katmai cubs

Brown bear sow and cubs of the year, Katmai National Park, Alaska.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 400mm f5.6L, 1/500 sec @ 5.6, ISO 400

Katmai National Park in southwest Alaska is home to many Brown bears. These bears are larger than the interior grizzly bears mainly due to the protein rich diet of fish, although they are the same species. This sow with three cubs has a challenge ahead of her in feeding and protecting her hungry little cubs. The density of bears in the vicinity of Brooks river make the sow quite wary, and she needs to fish while simultaneously keeping an eye on her little ones. Male bears are known to kill cubs of the year. Long telephoto lenses are essential in photographing bears, and in particular, sows with little cubs. This is a crop from the original frame, which included more environment but I wanted to emphasize the cubs.

Horned Lark mouthfull

Horned Lark, Denali National Park, Alaska.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L w/2x converter, 1/200 sec. @ f/8, ISO 400

Horned larks are ground nesting birds that move quickly about the tundra collecting insects for their young. While hopefully waiting for the clouds to clear over Denali, I entertained myself photographing a pair of Horned larks on the tundra. Their comfortable range with me seemed to merit a 1000mm lens (500 and 2x converter). This means that AI servo only works on the center auto focus point, which can be challenging following a fast moving bird with that degree of lens magnification. There were splashes of wildflower color that I tried to capture the bird against, but this was the best I got. In particular, I liked the collection of insects.

Mt McKinley (Denali) reflections

Denali, North America's highest peak, about to get swallowed up in clouds for the day.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24-105mm f4.0L IS, 1/15 sec. @ f16, ISO 100

Mount McKinley (or, as the locals call it-Denali) is actually visible far more often than the average person thinks. The catch is, one needs to stay up very late, or rise very early to see it. Clouds tend to build as the sun rises and on a clear early morning, one can expect Denali to look like this, becoming engulfed in clouds by 6:00am often. Therefore, many visitors traveling into the park and arriving around 9:00am, often miss the show. When I woke at 4:00am on this morning, there was not a cloud in the sky, and remarkably, the skies stayed clear for some time, but by 8:51am, the clouds were all but covering the mountain.

Gray wolf eyes

Alpha female gray wolf, Denali National Park Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4.0L IS, 1/640 @ f6.3, ISO 400, hand held

This alpha female wolf in Denali National Park is raising six hungry pups, and frequents the park road for easy travel when hunting for food. On a quite morning before 6am, I was driving along the park road and saw her trotting towards me ahead. As is often the case in situations like this, I did my best to grab the camera and lens, get out of the vehicle and fire a few shots. Fleeting moments! There never seems to be quite enough time. In this case, the image is not razor sharp mainly because I did not have the auto focus on AI Servo, and the wolf kept walking towards so the focus was hair off. But, that 500mm IS lens is amazing, since there was no time at all to set up a tripod and learning to shoot from the hip will net some good shots. She trotted past me and then moved off into the nearby willows to hunt for her young pups.

Bell Heather & Alpine Azalea

Bell Heather and Alpine Azalea, Denali National Park, Alaska.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100mm f.28 FF Macro, 1/100 sec at f7.1, ISO 400

The occupation of Nature photography provokes an observant eye. The calendar moves more in accord with blooming flowers, bird life, and the other life cycles that mark Alaska's rapid, light filled summer than it does with weekdays. As for wildflowers, there are a few species with pink blossoms that introduce the explosion of color on the tundra. One is Alpine Azalea which blooms from late May to mid June. That is the out of focus background color in this image. Backgrounds are very important especially in photographs that use controlled focus, or strong use of depth of field. This is generally the case in super telephoto and close up photography. This Bell Heather--a small, bell shaped and aromatic flower--is well contrasted by a little splash of color in the background.

Bear descent, Denali National Park

On a late evening (10:00pm) while traveling through the shadowed cliffs of Polychrome Pass in Denali National park, I came upon this grizzly bear transecting the steep slopes. After watching it for about 5 minutes and seeing that it wanted to cross the road, I pulled over and opened the sun roof on my car and threw up my camera and telephoto lens. Thanks to the tremendous latitude in the pro digital camera RAW files, one can shoot in low light, at high ISO, and color balance for shady conditions. The bear came upon a steep ledge, just before the road, and it surveyed the scene, turned around, and slide down the slope backwards, just like a yound child going down a staircase. Once secure, it turned around and proceeded on its way