Had the opportunity to spend some time in Dominica with sperm whales. Amazing, huge, and incredibly docile, with the exception of a young bull named Chaos. They ranged from 15-20 ft calves all the way up to a 60-70 foot bull.
Orcas – Norway Fjords
Some of my favorite images from a recent trip this fall to photograph orcas in the fjords of Norway in the arctic circle. Cold temps, northern lights, hundreds of orcas, short days, humbpacks, and seemingly billions of herring in bait balls, made for an epic trip and fantastic, albeit challenging, photography.
One of my favorite shots, a bull orca herding a schooling bait ball of herring. The orca would flash it’s white underside to steer the herring, they would panic and swim in a tight circle as the orcas swam circles around them. Then they would selectively pick off the ones they wanted to eat.
New Images Coming Soon…
Wow, almost 2 years since I’ve updated my site. Time really got away from me. I have some new images coming soon, hopefully before the end of the year I’ll find time to get some posted.
It’s been a whirlwind couple of years with a lot of travel and great adventures. Generally only average photography as my boys have been pushing hard. They are more interested in bagging the next peak than sitting around waiting for perfect light and conditions. We even got my daughter out for her first Alaskan backcountry thru-hike to see some Coastal Brown Bears and a glaciated lake. Pretty epic. We’ve started mountaineering and scuba diving. Nothing like picking up a couple of new hobbies that require mountains or the ocean when we’re smack dab in the middle of the flatlands and can only get away a few times a year!
Trips from the past 2 years have included:
Alaska – Rugged wilderness, glaciers, and bears
Dominica – Sperm whales and dolphins
Florida – Diving
Hawaii – Diving
Canada – Mountaineering and peak bagging
Argentina – Southern Right Whales
Norway – Orcas & Humpbacks
Antarctic & South Georgia Trip
I recently had the opportunity to spend some time on the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Georgia Islands. Absolutely amazing trip. Was a blast getting to see such massive enviornmental diversity and huge colonies of penguins and seals. Definitely an unforgettable experience!
Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people, and it makes this huge impact, just like outer space. It’s like going to the moon. – Jon Krakauer
King penguins huddle on the snow on South Georgia Island.
Gentoo Penguins relaxing as sun peaks out while a storm builds on the horizon creating dynamic light and clouds in the area.
Gentoo Penguins porpoising as they travel at sea. On land they’re no very graceful, but in the water they really move. It’s amazing watching them shoot out of the water like fighter jets.
Gentoo penguins hike into a snowstorm trying to dissuade them from their journey.
King penguins huddle on a rock ledge in the South Georgia Islands.
King Penguin colony at Salisbury Plains South Georgia Island. Hundreds of thousands of King Penguins in a colony on a beautiful plain surrounded by snow capped peaks.
Gentoo and chinstrap penguins hitching a ride on an iceberg in the vicinity of Whatler’s Bay, Antarctica.
View more Antarctica images HERE!
Humpacks – Silverbank, Dominican Republic
Some underwater photos I took while on a snorkelling trip with humpback whales off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
This humpback whale calf was incredibly playful and inquisitive. Even getting rowdy at one point swimming directly at us and then veering off. Clearly having a great time entertaining itself with us while its mother rested below, she seemed to be quite thankful she had found a babysitter to entertain her rambunctious child.
Humpback whale checking us out.
Humpback whale and calf swim into the distance.
Humpback whale calf playing and putting on a show on the surface.
Humpback whale putting on a performance as it spins and dives.
Rain showers skirt the Silverbank as we watch a mother and calf humpback whale swim by.
Humpback whale calf and mother swim by, keeping an eye on us, but completely unbothered by our presence.
A humbpack whale calf swims directly under me checking me out.
Rowdy humpback whale calf wants to play.
Humpback whale and calf come up for a breath.
Humpback whale calf swims by puttin on a show for us.
Humpback whale dives into the depths.
Yosemite Firefall
This winter I had the opportunity to visit Yosemite for a brief trip to photograph the spectacular Firefall. I had planned for a full week of hiking, camping, and photography at Yosemite. Unfortunately mother nature had other plans. I was able to spend two amazing days there, and then a massive snowstorm blew in. The park service did a mandatory evactuation of all the campgrounds. I ended up leaving while it was dumping snow, and it didn’t let up for several days. They ended up fully closing the park for more than a week. With dynamic weather always comes the potential for dynamic lighting conditions, and those definitely didn’t disappoint.
Sunrise on the front edge of a massive snow storm that would dump enough snow to completely shutdown Yosemite National Park for a couple of weeks.
Firefall at sunset.
Firefall at sunset.
Raging sheets of water cascading into a snow cone at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls.
Alaska
This past summer, I finally made it to Alaska. It was a great trip with tons of wildlife, mountains, glaciers, helicopters, small planes, and boats! Probably one of the more memorable trips I’ve been on. Definitely unique going out on a hike in the middle of the night and have it be bright as day.
A brown bear hunting clams in the marsh.
Mother humpback teaching a calf to breach.
Mother humpback teaching a calf to breach.
Mother humpback teaching a calf to breach.
Kayakers exploring the shoreline.
Seal checking out a chunk of ice.
Seals resting at the foot of Aialik Glacier.
Sea otters watching the boat go by.
Sea lions sunning themselves.
Fire cove on a cloudy day.
Dall’s Porpoises are FAST! They pop in and out of the water very quickly and make a small popping sound as they take a quick breath.
Fishing boat heading out to sea.
View from an overlook of the Harding Icefield at sunrise.
Harding Icefield stretches out to the horizon.
Humpback tail.
Humpbacks lunge feeding near a glacier inlet.
Humpbacks lunge feeding.
A pod of orcas.
Orca cruising a bay.
A brown bear returning from hunting clams at low tide.
New Work
Relaxing after a long day of hiking with my boys in the amazing Yosemite backcountry.
Halfdome in Yosemite, lit from the backside as a full moon rose over the horizon.
One of my good friends enjoying fall colors.
Beckwith Mountain right at twilight.
Moonrise on Capitol Peak.
2018 – Glacier Peaks Wilderness
Glacier Peaks Wilderness in Washington had long been on my list, but I’d never taken the opportunity to go explore it before. This summer one of my buddies and I took a 63 mile backcountry loop through a section of it. Pretty amazing scenery throughout. Wildfires and bald blue skies made for less than epic photography, but the backpacking was amazing.
Chris hiking up Spider Glacier.
The hike we took on the way down from Lyman Glacier to Lyman Lakes:
A few snapshots from the trip:
2017 Trip Images
Finally some new images up for the remainder of my trips in 2017. Ended up taking the family with me to Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier. As a result the photography wasn’t quite as intense as usual, as I took it relatively easy hiking my family all over the national parks. They handled it like champs. Of course the awesome views in Glacier have a tendency to make the effort all melt away. Have some more hard core backpacking and photo trips planned for 2018.
Close up of the moose chilling on the banks of Lower Grinnell Lake, GNP. Unfortunately no grizz, only moose, mountain goats, big horn sheep, marmots, and one grumpy badger.
