Anan Creek Eagle

Two years ago I was at Anan Creek, south of Wrangell, Alaska. Here, amazing numbers of bears and eagles congregate for a salmon feast during spawning season in late summer. Perhaps 300 eagles were within half a mile of our small photography group. Walking the trail from the bear viewing area to the beach where we would board our Zodiac for the return trip to our boat, I saw this bird on a branch, almost hidden by dense forest. Quietly shooting through the branches, handheld using a Nikon 80-400, I made a quick series of images before the bird moved on.

Today, I revisited this image using Topaz filters. I then brought back the detail in the eye and mouth with a layer mask.

Mama Bear

After some thought, I have decided to veer away from curmudgeonly opinions and stick to what I know best: photography. My thought is to post an interesting photo and give some background. This process will be intermittent, as I do have a life besides blogging.

I photographed this beautiful black bear mother and her two little cubs at Anan Creek, one of the best places in Alaska to see black (and occasional brown) bears. The U.S. Forest Services maintains this area south of the town of Wrangell and it is only accessible by floatplane or boat. For this photograph, I used an 80-400 Nikon telephoto (since swapped for a Sigma 150-500 because of the slow performance of the lens), and shot from a spacious viewing deck at the creek. This mom took good care of her babies, regularly bringing them salmon from the stream just below. I have visited here many times while serving as a photo tour leader for Dolphin Charters. Each time I take hundreds of photos of the bears as they swipe and dive for fish. It's always a fascinating sight.