ALASKAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Opportunities for outdoor photographers are boundless in Alaska, whether your preference is for scenery or wildlife. The mountains, glaciers, and valleys are forever backlit by the midnight sun, and wildlife thrives in environments like it did in prehistoric times. Getting great pictures comes down to a matter of endurance, patience, and wilderness skills, and there’s never a time in the Last Frontier when the perfect photograph isn’t just over the next hill.

Access to Alaska’s wonders is fairly convenient with just enough roads and waterways to let photographers pick between alpine settings, glaciers, seascapes, stupendous mountains, and thick forests. I recently blogged about driving to Homer, and there are roads running to McCarthy, Valdez, and all the way to Deadhorse on the north side of the Brooks Range. Professional photographers can even apply for commercial access to Denali Park, which is a Jurassic Park if there ever was one. And where else in the world can you visit places like Brooks Falls or McNeil River and see brown bears wandering around like cattle? Idiot photographers like me can even come up with good pictures in places like that.

The grebe picture above is one of my favorites, since it shows wildlife parents caring for their chick. The father has caught a minnow and the baby is snuggled under its mother’s wing, waiting to be fed. We humans like to think we are surperior to animals, but that’s not true at all. Life and love are the same everywhere.