Friday, August 7, 2009

Denali - Photographing on the Park Road



Been dynamic here in Denali lately. I have been out just about every evening since my last post, doing either wildlife photography or social things. I had an opportunity to photograph on the Denali park road with two awesome photographers. One, a Kent Miller, who is a photo-journalism professor from Central Michigan University, The other, Neil Blake, his student intern doing photojournalism studies here in Denali. We photographed the road for two solid days and had good times. The above images were some of my favorites.


Although the wildlife activity was generally slow, we had two exceptional opportunities with a sow and her two cubs close to the road and a rainbow that appeared in the Polychrome area of the park.

Fortunate for us, the mountain (Mt. McKinley) was out as well. The hiker pictured above was from Switzerland. He was passing through when we stopped to photograph Denali. He was the real deal. When I talked to him, he told me he had already spent 10 days in the park back country. If you look closely you can see his beat up water bottle and natural wood hiking stick, no commercial trekking poles for this fellow. I asked if he wouldn't mind posing just to the right of the mountain.


We also had a great opportunity to photograph some Arctic Terns. These amazing birds are always a blast to photograph. After patterning their flight over a portion of a small lake, we could predict where they would return to hover prior to diving in for a minnow. The above are just a few of a series of fun images.

Blue Skies.

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15 comments:

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Each pictures is more astounding than the next Ken but the second one hits the spot with me.

Asolutley fantastic post again and well worth waiting for as usual. I was just asking someone where you were. :)

What a magnificent place this is.

Michaela said...

Awesum photographs! Love the photo from Mt.McKinley and the hiker!

Aryo Halim said...

i like nature, INdonesia have some unique animal too...

Tim Rucci said...

What a great opportunity for you, Ken, and you really made the best of it. I especially like the bear photos, and the hiker shot is priceless.

Twisted Fencepost said...

Amazing shots, Ken. As usual. I expect nothing less.
I love the shot of the Swiss hiker and Mt. McKinley.

Anonymous said...

The second shot is really great !!

Elaine said...

Another group of stunning photos! The bear photos are fantastic. I think I like the photo with the hiker best.

Willard said...

An amazing group of photographs, Ken. All are outstanding, but I especially like the 2nd because of the atmosphere it portrays.

Coy Hill said...

All of these photographs are outstanding Ken with the rainbow shots totally awesome! I have certainly enjoyed your summer in Denali.

Willard & I were hoping to get a preview of what bucks SNP had to offer for this years rut but no such luck. I'm sure though that when the air chills and the days shorten that it will again offer outstanding whitetail photography.

Marka said...

Beautiful photographs! I really like the variety, and they're all excellent!

Jose's World said...

Well Ken: How do you socialize with the bears? Awesome as always.

Juan C. Aguero said...

Excellent Ken and good company!!

Willard said...

Outstanding photos. I love the wildlife photos, but the second shots has amazing colors. All in all a wonderful series!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Ken: Wonderful wildlife photos, so nicely captured.

Stacey Olson said...

What a fantastic summer you have had.. wow!