New scans of old images.

Tim Ernst was very nice to me and allowed me to come up and scan about 70 images that I did not have digital files of.  Tim fired up the Nikon slide scanner and hooked it up to a MacBook Pro and I was off scanning.  A lot of these images i forgot I had and it was a real treat to get them to digital format.  I will post a few of these images so you can see them.  Some will be repeats that you can see in the gallery from the link at the top of the page.

It was a dark and rainy day at Katmai National Park when I took this image.  The bear was sitting in the water and finding dead fish and bringing the up to finish off.  The salmon run was over and he was looking for some more fish to snack on.  I had forgot about this image, I am glad I have the scan now

"RC" and Luther are being very vocal about who gets to fish at this sweet spot.  We never did see any fights, but they were quite territorial about their fishing spots.  Again, another cloudy rainy day in Alaska and I think I was shooting Fuji Velvia film on this shot.

After dragging the fish out of the water the bears would eat them right in front of us.  It was an amazing sight to see the furry and force they would tear these fish up.  In this image you can see the force of the water flying off as he shakes and tears off a piece of fish.

There are no bad seats for the show at McNeil!  Like I said before, they would catch the fish and eat them just a few feet from us.  At times they are so close our big glass could not focus on them and we just had to watch the show.  How I would love to go back there with today's digital cameras!

I will add some more images on my next post.

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Haw Creek Falls at Night

Last night I headed to a local area called Haw Creek Falls which is a nice camp area as well a great area for waterfalls.  There was not a lot of water running so I looked at some other areas to photograph in the area.  One reason I was there was to scope out the possibility of photographing the falls at night with a full moon as lighting the scene.  I had no moon, so I was hoping for a nice sunset to reflect in the water.  That did not work out, so I went for "Plan B", and that was to do a long exposure and paint with the flashlight I had.  I used a 21 LED flashlight and painted the water and rocks for a 21 second exposure.  It just so happens it was 21 seconds and has no relationship to the 21 LED's!  LED's tend to be blue light, so I would have to correct this in Photoshop's Camera Raw.  I removed the blue-purple tint and it was not bad.  I will have to perfect this technique later on.  Here is what I got.

Location: Haw Creek Falls

Camera: Canon 1Ds with 17-40mm F4 lens

Exposure: 21 seconds @ f/4, ISO 200

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Rock Monster of Fern Gully

Back a month ago Bob and Marilyn Laster went with me exploring a unique place near the town of Fern caled Fern Gully Scenic Area.  This is a unique place for all kinds of fun.  Rock climbers love this area as well as people who like to explore the art of creek jumping.  No water was running today, but it was just a chance to get out and explore.  As you go down into the creek area you will see all kinds of scenic areas, waterfalls, and quiet swirling pools of water.  One of the unique places you will encounter is a crack in the bluff line that will lead you back to the top of the bluff.  Some people call these features a "bear crack" and once you walk through it you will understand the term.  The "bear crack" is a favorite of local rock climbers as well as hikers and photographers.  Once you go through the crack, you end up on top of the bluff high above the creek.

As Bob and I were taking pictures of the "bear crack", Marilyn went off exploring above the bluff line.  As Marilyn was sitting on the bluffline looking down at the scenic beauty of the area and odd rock formation caught her eye.  She called it "Devil Rock" or somthing like that.  She came back and told Bob and I about it and I followed Marilyn back to the area she found the rock.  It was hard to find and looking at it from the trail you could not see it.  Marilyn said you need to set on this rock to see it.  Sure enough, there it was!  I think it is one of the evil Rock Monsters, but to each his own on what to call this.  It's about 100 or 200 yards just above the "bear crack along the trail.  I went back to get my camera gear and GPS so I could mark the area to return to it later at some point and could not find it again.  We looked for about 10 minutes and never found it.  I will have to go back and see if I can find it.

See the mouth and eye of the rock monster?  I think this is a neat formation.

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First show was a sucess!

I was really nervous about the show, but thanks to friends and family who gave me support I made it through it!  We had about 200 show up for the dessert fest and show.  I want to thank all of you for being there for me and showing your support.  I feel really good today, thanks for being at the show!

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First nature show this Sat, March 7th.

I am a little nervous about the show, but all the images are ready and my bookmarks came in on time, so I am happy.  We have printed lots of images for display as well as for sale, with the proceds going to the Mexico Mission Trip.  I always have a lot to say, but I will be limited for this show, since it is not just about me, but also about the mission trip.  I am sure everyone will enjoy the images.  I'll keep you posted.

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