water | Brian H. Powell Photography

Aug 16

Alaska, Day 5

Our day started inauspiciously with an unfortunately placed iceberg.

Said iceberg was caught on a sandbar exactly in the middle of the entrance to Tracy Arm Fjord, blocking our entrance. Unable to get into the fjord to see more icebergs, we proceeded onto Juneau.

In Juneau, we went whale watching with Gastineau Guiding Company, with Captain Jen and photographer Andy Davidson. Captain Jen’s excitement about the whale activity was contagious. She did a great job of positioning our boat for photography, and Andy did a great job of inspiring us with our photography.

Here are some whale tails…

After returning to shore, we went to Mendenhall Glacier, one of the more famous glaciers only a few miles from Juneau. It’s about 13 miles long and ends in Mendenhall Lake.

There are a few markers showing the historic locations of the edge of the ice. This glacier has been retreating for centuries. This marker is well over a mile from the current ice limit.

More tomorrow, if connectivity allows. Thanks for reading.

Aug 15

Alaska, Days 3-4

Our pilot from Alaska Seaplane Tours seemed a little concerned about how far we were from the plane as the black bear stared at us.

So, we slowly returned to the plane.

Then we noticed a second, smaller bear—perhaps we’d found a mother and son, with mom encouraging us to move along.

But let’s back up. Day 3 was sailing Canada’s Inside Passage, before entering Alaska’s Inside Passage on day 4. This morning, we docked in Ketchikan, Alaska’s fourth largest city, with almost 9,000 residents.

The highlight of our day was a seaplane ride to Prince of Wales Island. We flew in a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, built in 1957. These are great planes for Alaska. Here are more photos from the flight.

We landed near the boats in this small cove. The boats were waiting for some fishing to open nearby.

You can see the small stream cutting through the rock beach. Once we got close, we could see all the salmon thrashing their way upstream. It was an amazing sight. The bears thought so, too, and they were hanging out there fishing.

More, soon, I hope, depending on my internet availability.

Aug 13

Alaska Adventure, Day 2.1

I’m posting this aboard the Seven Seas Navigator, sailing north through the Inside Passage. This is the post I wanted to publish earlier, but the internet wasn’t reliable enough. If you’re seeing this, I managed to get it to work well enough to publish a few photos.

We left Vancouver yesterday evening, sailing under the Lions Gate bridge at the north end of Stanley Park.

Every time I visit Vancouver, I’m fascinated by the seaplanes, and this trip is no exception.

Seaplane flying over Lions Gate Bridge as we sail under.

The satellite internet isn’t as reliable as I hoped, so I may not be posting everyday, and my posts (like this one) may be short.

Aug 12

Alaska Adventure, Day 1

The good news is that I’m now a member of Mountain Equipment Co-op!

The bad news is that I had an epic boot failure that necessitated the visit to MEC. The soles on both boots (a few years old) came unglued…

Fortunately, this happened on our first day in Vancouver, rather than after we were on the boat. The ship leaves this afternoon, heading up the inside passage. We’ll be on the ship for a week, ending in Seward.

It’s my third time in Vancouver, which is a beautiful city. Yesterday, we borrowed some bikes and rode around Stanley Park.

Totem Poles in Stanley Park

Girl in a Wetsuit (reminiscent of Den Lille Havfrue in Copenhagen)

More tomorrow!

Nov 28

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Bosque 2012, Day 3

I got up half an hour earlier today to try to get a decent spot to set up my tripod and camera just south of the “flight deck” area at Bosque. It was still crowded with dozens of photographers, just like the day before. I’m not complaining, mind you; just remarking. I think it’s wonderful that (1) some great pro photographers are making money holding workshops, (2) Bosque is making money through the entrance fees, and (3) people are excited enough about bird photography and the refuge to visit and spend time there.

The sunrise colors weren’t that spectacular today; I’ve seen much better. So, I decided to try for something different. There were a bunch (tens of thousands) of snow geese in the water, and I knew that sooner or later they’d all blast off. I envisioned a shot similar to one I’d done before with a relatively slow shutter speed, to blur the birds taking off. I switched to a shorter (80-200) lens, and waited. And waited. Finally, the birds went, and I started clicking the shutter.

Here’s one of the photos, using a shutter speed of 1/3 second. I really like how the birds in the foreground are relatively still while the birds in back are taking off. By the end of the sequence of photos (not shown here), there are no birds left in view.

Nov 26

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

For the first time in four years, I made it back to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I arrived this afternoon, and had a couple of hours of sunlight to try to come up with a plan. Each year at the Bosque is a bit different—the refuge managers change things up every year. I drove around the entire refuge to see where the crops are growing, which fields are flooded and which are dry, and see where the birds are hanging out. There are a lot of potentially good spots for sunset, but on any given day, only a couple are likely to pay off.

I knew that sunset was likely to be pretty spectacular; there were several high clouds in the western sky. I chose one of the areas on the east side of the refuge where it looked like I’d have a clear view of sunset, with several hundred sandhill cranes in the foreground.

I was a little nervous as people left just before sunset—did they know something I didn’t? I stuck with the decision to stay at my location and see what was going to happen. As the sun went down, there were some nice pale oranges in the sky, but I had a feeling that the colors were going to get better. I waited. A couple more people left. I waited. And then a hint of color in the clouds, and a bit more, and finally…

It was worth the wait.

This evening at a restaurant in Socorro, I ran into Arthur Morris, one of the world’s best bird photographers. It was good to see him, meet his workshop co-leader Denise Ippolito, and see his workshop participants. You can read more about Artie in this blog post I wrote in 2008.

That’s it for now; I’m hoping for a great sunrise in the morning.

Sep 30

Rainbow Lakes, Colorado

I was in Colorado last week, and got a chance to do a short hike to the Rainbow Lakes (elevation, approximately 10,000 ft.), north of Nederland and west of Boulder. The temperature was perfect, with a gentle rain occasionally falling.

Here’s a photo of a late-in-the-season Arapaho Glacier, from one of the upper Rainbow Lakes.

On my drive up County Road 116 (Rainbow Lakes Road), I turned a corner to find a moose standing in the road. We shared a mutual look of surprise before he walked off into the woods.

The fall colors along the Peak to Peak Highway north of Nederland were gorgeous.

I love September in Colorado. But I love every month of the year in Colorado—being with friends and enjoying the mountains.

Aug 18

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The High Uintas

I’m in Utah this week, and was able to get up into the mountains mid-afternoon on Friday. At the recommendation of a friend, I drove up the Mirror Lake Highway east of Kamas. I took a short hike to Wall Lake. Along one side of the lake is a rock wall, hence the name of the lake. There were some kids climbing that wall, which could only lead to one thing… jumping off:

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Here’s the rest of that photo to give you a sense of scale:

And just before landing in the cold water:

That it’s for now; I’ve got plenty more exploring to do.

Sep 23

Fallingwater

I’ve spent the past week in Pittsburgh, at a conference and visiting some professors at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Today, I escaped the city—Pittsburgh’s a great city, by the way—and did a little sightseeing in southwestern Pennsylvania.

I visited the Flight 93 National Memorial and the Johnstown Flood Museum. But most of my time was spent at Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater. There’s a hint of fall color just beginning to appear—this part of the country is beautiful.

A year or so ago, I visited Taliesin West. Both it and Fallingwater have an enormous sense of fitting exactly into their surrounding environments. Taliesin West sitting perfectly in the desert of Arizona, and Fallingwater belonging no other place than along the stream called Bear Run in Pennsylvania.

Jun 5

Inspiration

Sunset Over Kalalau Valley, Kaua’i

I had a great time in Hawaii, and made it back home safely. I very much appreciated the words my friends suggested for this series of articles. I want to talk about one more word… “inspiration”.

Hawaii is a pretty inspiring place, especially for a visual artist. Remote islands with beautiful scenery and amazing wildlife. Grab your camera and just head out for the day to see what you’re given.

But as I’ve said before, the most important inspiration comes to me from the people around me in my life. Family and friends. Really amazing family and friends. Amazing. And imperfect. And courageous. And especially, inspiring.

Thank you all for being here, for gathering here, in my life.

Conservation Photography and Other Photo Adventures

Posts tagged ‘water’