Moose Facts

Two fun moose facts for you: 

1. Moose have no upper front teeth. They have eight sharp incisors for cutting and molars & premolars for grinding their food. 

2. It was previously believed that moose would strip and eat the bark of aspen trees only out of desperation in winter months when food was scarce. After further research, it turns out the under layer may hold some nutritional value, as this bull is demonstrating here. 

Thankfully, the film crew was able to capture this today for their documentary assignment. Another great day on the job!

Limited Edition Signed & Numbered Bear Print with 2017 Aurora Borealis Calendar

Hello friends,

My recent morning bear photos have been getting quite a bit of attention online. One of them received more than 8,000 likes on Alaska Magazine's page and I am happy to say this image is currently one of the most popular photographs trending on National Geographic Your Shot. In light of this, I have decided to make a very special, limited offer. I am going to release the very first ten prints on 12x18" metallic finish paper, signed and numbered, for $75.

In addition to the limited edition print, I will include a personalized 2017 Aurora Borealis Calendar, a $20 value. My photo is on the month of February, which I will sign for you, and the rest of the calendar showcases the work of 12 other photographers from Alaska and northern Canada. Every purchase helps fund my next adventure and allows me to continue exploring, creating and sharing with the world. Follow the link to make a purchase and please share: http://www.colintyler.com/…/signed-and-numbered-autumn-sunr…

As always, thank you for following along!

Colin

Autumn Morning Bear

A conceptual photograph involves much more than simply documenting a subject. When I am able to combine the elements to convey the mood of a scene and evoke an emotional response from my viewers, then I have succeeded in creating a truly artistic image.
 
Another crisp morning to start the day. In just over a month, the sun will drop behind the mountains and we will be in the shade until late January. I am going to miss this autumn light and most of all, this bear.

Early Morning Reflected Light

It is true that the early bird gets the worm; this is why I love early morning autumn solitude. Living in a valley where the sun does not reach until late morning, I've learned to use reflected light on my subjects, which, in my opinion, can be more dramatic than direct light. Knowing this, I was able to position myself in anticipation of capturing this moment.

Happy Autumn

At 9:21 am CST yesterday, the sun was directly over the equator and autumn arrived in the northern hemisphere. In south central Alaska, it arrived with a vengeance. After a few days of heavy rain and high wind, the skies parted this morning to reveal a blanket of fresh snow across the mountains or as it is known in Alaska, "termination dust."

Heritage Falls and another moose encounter...

Day 3, Crow Pass Trail with Tyler Howie, the final stretch. Heritage Falls in autumn glory. Following our encounter with two bull moose at the river crossing the night before, we set up camp at Thunder Gorge, roughly 11 miles from our destination - Friends of Eagle River Nature Center. While packing up our gear the following morning and getting ready to make the final push home, we suddenly noticed another bull moose next to Thunder Creek, staring in our direction. My first thought was the two bulls from the night before were pursuing us, until it was apparent that this was a different moose and was on the trail of a cow, both were headed down the trail toward our camp. Tyler grabbed Freija’s collar and we darted back into the brush, just in time for the two moose to charge through our campsite and down the trail in the direction we were going to be headed. Fortunately nothing was damaged, nor did we encounter them on the way out. We arrived at the Nature Center just before 10 pm after nearly 8 hours of hiking from Thunder Gorge.

Sparring Bulls

Day 2, Crow Pass Trail with Tyler Howie. Without time for a proper breakfast, we grabbed handfuls of mixed nuts and hit the trail, trying stay ahead of the looming rainclouds that were billowing over the pass and heading our direction. After hiking all day and stopping periodically to satiate on ripe blueberries, we reached the point where we were to cross Eagle River only to be greeted by these two sparring bull moose, exactly where we needed to be. After observing and photographing them, they crossed the river and chose to hang out on the opposite bank, again right where we needed to cross. With darkness looming, they wandered off after a short while and we forded the river. While warming our feet from the ice-cold glacier water and sipping a cup of hot tea, the two bulls returned and drove us out of their turf. Still in my water shoes, we threw on our packs, grabbed everything that was scattered on the ground and hightailed it down the trail.

 

 

 

 

Crow Pass

A couple shots from our way up to and on top of Crow Pass on Tuesday. Approximately 3 miles and 2,000 vertical feet to the top, each step a brutal reminder that I was carrying more than 25% of my body weight in my pack, half of which was camera gear. I was happy to have used all the gear I carried throughout the trek, thereby justifying the extra effort.

Today's Photography Class

Just got in from leading an all-day fall photography workshop at the Nature Center. We had good weather along with nice colors and a great group of people. I truly enjoy teaching these classes and I hope my students gain a bit of knowledge as well. I offer at least one beginning class each season along with aurora photography classes in winter, so please stay tuned for the next session if you are interested.

Raven Glacier

Tyler Howie and I returned late yesterday evening after completing the Crow Pass Trail from Girdwood to Eagle River. Three days, two nights, 23 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation gain followed by a 4,000 descent and one river crossing. The colors were spectacular and wildlife was abundant - we had a couple of close calls with rutting moose, which I will describe in more detail later. Here is Tyler with our fearless leader Freija sporting her K-9 Pack from Mountainsmith, passing by Raven Glacier. I will have more to share soon. 

Colin

Crow Pass Trek

I was planning starting the Crow Pass Trail today with my good friend and trekking partner Tyler Howie and his faithful dog Freija, but we decided to postpone until tomorrow due to high winds and heavy rain. If all goes as planned, we will start in Girdwood tomorrow, hike over the pass (to the left of the mountains pictured here) and spend two nights camped near Glacier Lake, right below Eagle Glacier, which is the source of Eagle River. The trail is 23 miles total with a 2,000-foot elevation gain going up to the pass followed by 4,000 feet down the other side to the river, plus we'll be adding the extra trip around the lake to the glacier. Autumn colors should be peaking at higher elevations and I hope to return with new images and stories to share.

Have a great week, everybody!

Colin

Everyone is "raven" about the new iPhone 7...

Seems everyone's "raven" about the new iPhone 7 and its 12-megapixel camera. Might be wise to invest in a good, bird-proof case.

This raven was unusually curious and obviously looking for food, it's likely been conditioned to receiving handouts from people. The photo was taken with a 17mm wide-angle lens at very close range - within a couple feet. iPhone (unintentionally) provided by Jean Cheng/\.

Behind-the-Scenes

Here is a behind-the-scenes shot from early Thursday morning. I spent the better part of two hours hopping out to this rock and back to my camera, experimenting with different exposures and compositions, adjusting the intensity and direction of light from my headlamp to illuminate the water and backlight myself so I would show up against the dark foreground. I got it all dialed in just before the sky erupted with aurora around 2 am, when I took the shot that was in Alaska Dispatch News on Friday. I almost fell into the water on at least five different occasions and after hiking the roughly 1.5 miles out to this spot and back at night, alone, knowing full well there were bears in the immediate area, I returned home shortly after 4 am, edited through the images and picked my favorite one to post. Needless to say, it was gratifying to have landed a photo on the front page of Alaska’s largest newspaper just 24 hours later.

PS – if you look closely, you can see two salmon next to the submerged log on my right.

Auroras and Salmon

Aurora chasing and salmon gazing, there is a lot going on right now with the changing season. It's been a long but productive evening and I shot from a new location that I've had in mind for some time. Salmon were splashing all around me and thankfully I did not encounter a bear on my nighttime hike. Now I must get a few hours of sleep.

Namaste,

Colin