A Trip to Southern California and Channel Islands National Park

Susan and I took a trip down to Southern California with the intention of seeing the Ducks win the Rose Bowl. We know how that turned out. As soon as it became clear that the Ducks were not going to win we got the hell out of LA. Having heard of the Channel Islands we figured that they might be a good destination, so we drove to Ventura.

Ventura Harbor.

Brown Pelican.
Brown Pelicans glide across the water at sunset.
The Channel Islands National Park is an hour boat ride from Ventura Harbor. The boat ride is far from boring. We used a company called Island Packers Adventures and found everything about the trip great.

Dolphins riding in the wake of the boat. We also saw a group of whales, and more sea birds than I can remember. Once on Santa Rosa Island we hiked to Smugglers Cove. It is a 3.5 mile hike to the other side of the island.

At Smugglers Cove we sat down and had some lunch. I shot a few photos.
Unfortunately this trip was too short. I would have loved to spend more time on the islands, and probably will in the future.

The flight back to Seattle provided some nice views until we got to the Oregon border at which point 14,000ft of clouds obscured everything.

The Bay Bridge?

Mt. Shasta.

The Alaska Range From the Air - Black and White Photos of Alaska's Biggest Mountain Range

Since 1999 I have been to the Alaska Range five times. Over those five trips I have taken numerous photo flights over the range. I am currently putting together a slide show with my photos from Alaska trips, this group of photos will be my next art show. This group of photos show the Alaska Range from the air and some of the planes that I have now spent quite a bit of time photographing from. None of these photos would have been possible without K2 Aviation so if you are looking to do a flight to the Alaska Range give them a call.

The Aircraft...
A Beaver sits on the tarmac in Talkeetna in the rain. No flights on this day.

An Otter on the Kahiltna Glacier.

A Otter makes a late flight into Kahiltna base camp

A Beaver Engine
Not all of the flying in the Alaska goes as planned.
The Alaska Range...

The Glaciers...

The glaciers really make some of the best subjects when flying in the Alaska Range. Even when the clouds are hiding the peaks there are always interesting glacier patterns to photograph.









The Climbers...

One thing that always adds interest to the glaciers are the added patterns of human presence. From the huge runway in the snow next to the busy camp of the Kahiltna Base, to a solitary track weaving through crevasses, these added patterns make some of my favorite photos.





The Mountains...

The mountains of the range make up some of the steepest, largest and most beautiful mountains in the world.

Mount Hunters north face

The Moose's ToothMount Foraker

Mt. Foraker as the early morning moisture dissipates.
Mount Hunter.

A ridge somewhere between the Kahiltna and Ruth Glaciers.
An unknown peak somewhere in the range.
Denali from the south.

Gold Creek drainage.
Small peaks at the base of the range.
Peaks in the lower Ruth Gorge
The summit of Mt. Hunter pokes through the clouds.
The Cassin Ridge on Denali

Mount Hunter's summit

Nikon 70-200 f 2.8 vr lens review.

A few months ago I purchased a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR. This is a professional quality lens and certainly the most expensive lens I have ever purchased. It is a heavy lens, but not so heavy that I have to leave it at home on all of the backpacking trips. I have carried it above tree line on Mount Baker, and I did not find it so heavy that it is not worth carrying. Most people will claim that it is not really a long enough lens for shooting photos of birds, but with patience and a little luck even 200mm can produce some pretty good bird photos. None of the photos here were shot using a tripod. It is just not realistic for me to use a tripod for most of my photos since I am usually hiking. A tripod would make these photos sharper, but these are still pretty sharp. The VR makes on this lens allows me to shoot hand held photos like this while i am hiking.

In my experience the varied thrush is one of the most reclusive shy birds around. They tend to sit high in the trees and not make themselves visible very often. This bird is very common in the forests of Washington, and I have still never seen one there even though I hear them on almost every trip to the woods. Yesterday while walking with my dogs in Tofino, BC I scared this one that was sitting on the trail in front of me. I had the Nikon 70-200 on my camera and was able to shoot this photo.

This eagle photo was shot as I was walking to breakfast. This is one place where 50% more zoom would have been nice.

A couple of months ago I took this lens up to the north side of Mount Baker on a work trip. I was hoping to shoot photos of ptarmigan. Conveniently upon getting to camp a group of ptarmigan showed up. Unfortunately I did not have enough time with this lens in hand to get perfect photos, but this one was pretty good.

I have also used this lens at a political fund raising event and was fairly happy with the photos even though I am still in the process of learning the ins and outs of shooting indoor flash photos. In this case the lens far exceeded the photographer.

In the next couple months I will continue to post photos from this lens as I get more comfortable shooting with it.

Tofino

I am currently in Tofino, BC enjoying all the rain the Pacific Coast can give me. It has been a difficult trip for photography, but I have managed to get plenty of other things done that have been on the back burner for a long time. In the next few weeks I will continue to post old photos from slides that I have been scanning from the pre-digital years.
Here a few photos from yesterday.

Mt. Foraker Sultana Ridge Photos

I am currently scanning photos of past trips that are on slides. this group of photos is from my Mt. Foraker trip in 2000. This trip was a long time ago and I tried to put the photos in order of how they were shot, but I am not going to promise they are in the correct order. They do however cover almost the entire route, so they should give you a good idea of everything you will encounter on the route.

The flight in past Mt. Huntington

Mt. Crosson From Kahiltna BaseMt. Hunter from the base of Mt. Crosson

Camp on the summit of Crosson with Kahiltna Dome in the background

Looking at the summit
Denali from the summit of Crosson
Leaving the Camp on the summit of Crosson