Daniel has photographed grizzlies in the wilds of Alaska for well over a decade. His guidance and experience assist in giving guests the opportunity to take their own amazing images. We invite you to join us in this exceptional bear-viewing location where no viewing platforms are used. Peaceful encounters with these magnificent giants of the north—there is nothing more exhilarating than photographing these bears! Beware: this trip can be addictive!!
Tag: Alaska
Brooks Range Aurora and Winter Landscapes with Carl Johnson
This photo workshop combines abundant opportunities to photograph the amazing aurora borealis and time to explore Alaska’s most dramatic mountain range, the Brooks Range. The workshop starts in Fairbanks, Alaska, where we spend a night getting oriented to photographing the aurora borealis. We then drive to the remote community of Wiseman, deep in the heart of the Brooks Range in a valley created by intersecting rivers. Photographic opportunity and instruction will focus on various aspects of landscape photography, tailored to meet specific needs of workshop participants. Daily photo review will also be a part of the routine. Fee includes all meals and lodging, as well as transportation from Fairbanks to Wiseman. For more details on the itinerary, visit our workshop page for this event.
$250 DIscount for NANPA Members.
Polar Bears and Aurora with Carl Johnson
This photo workshop combines technique in photographing the aurora borealis with the opportunity to capture images of polar bears from relatively close distances. After a night of photographing the aurora borealis in Fairbanks, Alaska, we will fly to the remote Inupiat village of Kaktovik within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. There, we will spend a total of 24 hours over four days on boats observing and photographing polar bears that gather in the area as they wait for the winter sea ice to arrive. While in Kaktovik, we will take one night (weather permitting) to go out and photograph the aurora borealis in this farthest corner of the Arctic. All lodging and meals included. For more details on the itinerary, visit the workshop page on our website.
$500 Discount for NANPA Members
Glacier Bay with Betty Sederquist
If you think you’ve “seen” Glacier Bay from the deck of a cruise ship, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised and amazed by the things you’ll see on this trip. Glacier Bay is one of the largest national parks in the United States and yes, it does feature a lot of ice. However, there’s so much more. Traveling on a 50-foot boat that we use for our sleeping and eating, we take up to eight passengers. You’ll get closeup photos of humpback whales, sea lions, sea otters and often, brown and black bears as they forage along the ocean shoreline. Although we can get many amazing photos right from the deck of the boat, we’ll also kayak and do short hikes. I’m partnering yet again on this trip with Juneau resident and photographer extraordinaire Mark Kelley. Mark is a NANPA member who has been a Showcase winner many times. He has produced numerous coffee table books and calendars on Alaska and is an all-around nice guy. This will be my seventh trip to Glacier Bay. Our parent company, Dolphin Charters, has been traveling Glacier Bay for some 40 years. The captain knows the area intimately, and as a former whale biologist, intimately understands the behaviors of these magnificent marine mammals.
Megapixels and Sensor Size
Trees in fall color reflect in still pool at Upper Whiteoak Falls in Shenandoah National Park, VA. © Jerry Ginsberg
Alaskan Whale and Marine Wildlife with Larisa Manewal and Neil McDermott (3 day)
These exclusive expeditions in March and April are designed for avid and aspiring wildlife photographers whose goal it is to create original and impactful photographs with whales as the muse. Sitka, Alaska is home to the sac roe herring fishery, which occurs every spring as herring come back to spawn in the pristine waters around Sitka Sound. The marine environment kicks it into high gear as Humpbacks, Orcas and predators galore gorge on the bounty of herring. Abundant wildlife. jaw dropping landscapes and the amazing fishery operations add up to incredible photo opportunities.
This intimate experience includes private expeditions at sunrise and sunset* and personal mentoring and instruction with renowned Alaskan wildlife photographer Larisa Manewal and pilot and expedition leader Neil McDermott. Larisa will personally lead a 2 hour in studio class on day one and will be aboard on all expeditions helping you capture that perfect shot.
Your expedition includes, transportation to and from your accommodations and Five ( 5 ) whale watching excursions for a minimum of 20 hours total of private photography trips. We limit our expeditions to 4 people because we know meaningful wildlife experiences occur in small groups. You’ll ride safely and comfortably aboard our USCG captained, restroom equipped. and heated 26′ Sport Cabin, “Swell Times.”
Backing Up
View from atop Hunt’s Mesa in Monument Valley Tribal Park of the Navajo Nation, AZ. © Jerry Ginsberg
Story and photographs by Jerry Ginsberg
To apply some advice that I received several years ago, one hard drive will annoy ya….two are a paranoia. The hard truth is that only three things in life are certain: death, taxes and hard drive failures. They all have finite life spans. No matter how sophisticated your drives may be, given enough use over enough time, they will fail. Not if, but when.
Humpback Whales in Southeast Alaska
Story and photography by Neil McDermott
Humpback Whale. © Neil McDermott
The only place on earth you can observe Humpback whales working as a team bubble net feeding, is here in the pristine, nutrient rich waters of Southeast Alaska. This most impressive act of cooperative feeding was on display from early October to Mid-November in the Eastern Channel and up towards Silver Bay in front of the aptly named whale Park here in Sitka, Alaska.
Glacier Bay National Park
Story and photography by Jerry Ginsberg
Mammoth Johns Hopkins Glacier, calling card of Glacier Bay National Park,
meets the bay’s waters in tranquil Hopkins Inlet. © Jerry Ginsberg
For a place that is not reachable by any road, Glacier Bay National Park, tucked away in the southeastern corner of Alaska, can boast a great deal of popularity. This 5,000 square mile park, as large as any in the contiguous 48 states, gets its name from the long and narrow bay and the rivers of snow and ice that creep along its edges at a glacially slow pace. (Was that a pun? Ouch!)
Lake Clark National Park
Story and Photography by Jerry Ginsberg
Glacial rivers of ice move slowly between the protruding summits of the Chigmit Mountains. © Jerry Ginsberg
Alaska is often called “the last frontier” for good reason. The overwhelming majority of our 49th state is still pristine and wild. When traipsing around this wonderful wilderness, I am constantly reminded of the American pioneers of yesteryear such as John Colter and Jedediah Smith, so open is this vast state. It is truly in a class all by itself. Perhaps the prime feature shared by all eight national parks of Alaska (only California has more) is this singularly pristine wildness. These wonderful parks are vast tracts of pure, untamed and untrammeled Nature. Towering volcanoes, sparkling glaciers, crystalline lakes and mega fauna in the wild seem to be everywhere.
A century and a half after being acquired by Secretary of State William Seward from Russia’s Czar Alexander II, “Alyeska” remains remote, sparsely populated and largely roadless. Throughout this immense state, if you want to get around beyond the point where the few roads end, you will likely be using a raft or canoe to navigate the many river drainages or the ever-popular and ubiquitous bush planes for just about everything else.