Denali time

[IPT]

Despite my apparent lack of presence I'm still alive and kicking! Unfortunately I've just been working my tail off. However, as a very much needed break we got up to Denali for the annual fall trip and it was a great one. We had it all man, it was amazing. Unobstructed views of "The Mountain", killer fall colors, bears, a fox outside it's den, stormy light, fresh snow, really the whole kit and kaboodle.

The only negative really was a killer pic I got of a bull moose draped in the velvet he was shedding. I just didn't have the focal length I wanted. Its good for email but that's about it. Frustrating. Ah, but the silver lining comes along. As I'm sorting my images I say something about the uber expensive 500, or 600mm lens some of the guys are toting around up there. Then the wife says "maybe you should just get one". What??!! Man, I'm sure glad I waited and married the right women :love2:.

Hope you guys like 'em. LOL, I know at least two of you remember me .

 

[IPT]

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Those are wonderful!!

 

[Reef Bass]

Hey Louis. Glad bears haven't found you tasty yet. Beautiful pics as usual. And yes, it sounds as though you have found the right woman! Congrats.

I hear your desire for those longer lenses. Especially with what you shoot. My longest lens is a 400mm and if I want longer, I add the 1.4x extender. Definitely helps, making in essence a 560mm, but I lose autofocus.

Is the bear in shot 4 rubbing or scratching on something? Amusing. Reminds me of Baloo from The Jungle Book.

Is that a raven in the first shot of the second post? Great shot! Love the display of the throat feathers. I swear I can hear him sounding off.

 

[Misled]

Hey Louis!! Good to see you!! I love the second bear shot. He has that "Dude, go away" look about him!!!

Reminds me of Baloo from The Jungle Book.

Thanks, now that song is stuck!!! :lol:

 

[IPT]

Those are wonderful!!

Thanks .

Hey Louis. Glad bears haven't found you tasty yet. Beautiful pics as usual. And yes, it sounds as though you have found the right woman! Congrats.

I hear your desire for those longer lenses. Especially with what you shoot. My longest lens is a 400mm and if I want longer, I add the 1.4x extender. Definitely helps, making in essence a 560mm, but I lose autofocus.

Is the bear in shot 4 rubbing or scratching on something? Amusing.

Is that a raven in the first shot of the second post? Great shot! Love the display of the throat feathers. I swear I can hear him sounding off.

Ha, a few weeks ago I was in my garage doing some woodwork. For some reason I turned around and there was a black bear standing about 15' from me. At first I had to process what it was. Then, what it wanted! My wife left the garbage out the week before so it got a free meal. I decided it thought that was tasty, not me, so my panic subsided. I took one step to get my phone and snap a shot and "poof" he was outta there!

Yeah, this dude was either scratching his back and/or marking his territory on the tree. Was pretty cool to see. Unfortunately for the bulk of these shots I was on the wrong the side of the bus shooting handheld over peoples heads. I'm amazed I got the images I did. Way to many soft ones if you ask me but it is what it is.

Yup, a Raven. he was awesome. Spectacular distant background too. He was a real poser and vocal. Got some great shots of him. In the more telephoto ones I took his feather detail is awesome. The color is just this inky black with hints of iridescence.

400mm huh? My go to gear on the trail is a 300F4 with a 1.4 tele on a 7D. If I'm near the car or motivated I'll take the 300 F2.8 and the 1.4. That puts me at 420mm F4 with just the lens and tel. Seems to me a 500mm F4 is just not worth the weight and expense for 80mm. So my only real option is go 600mm or just make do with what I have. I just imagine a 600mm being a major pain. My sidekick mount wont work. So I'll need to have a Full sized Wimberly. It's a pain to get on and off if I want to go back and forth from landscape to wildlife. Then again it might not be that much harder to unscrew the ball head and put it on vs mounting the sidekick sideways in the ballhead. I got a lot to think about.

Hey Louis!! Good to see you!! I love the second bear shot. He has that "Dude, go away" look about him!!!

Thanks Jesse - LOL he was just an eating machine. Don't really even think he knew we were there. odd since we were in a humongous school bus! They're used to it now though. Shut down real quick, don't move. If people are making noise or the bear starts to act differently due to our presence they'll literally drive away. The parks goal is to not impact the wildlife.

That said, he does seem to have a glare in his look doesn't he!

 

[IPT]

Mascara? LOL, that's the first thing that struck me about this image. The eyelashes! Crazy that this huge animal gets such a large amount of it's calories from tiny berries! These interior Grizzlies have no idea just how good the coastal brown bears have it.

 

[IPT]

 

[IPT]

whoops double post.

 

[glaukos]

Awesome pics!
Thanks for sharing

 

[ibanezgfx]

All are awesome! The location is absolutely beautiful.
The one of the crow (or whatever bird that is) is really cool, i really like the composition

 

[Reef Bass]

+1 for the composition on the raven shot. "I see what you did there"

The raven is so interesting I'd be tempted to (if you used in Lightroom) virtual clone the pic and try another version with tighter cropping at about 1/3 of what is there with similar style. Won't upset or undo your existing image.

 

[IPT]

Tighter crop from a horizontal version I got. He was there for some time, and yes it's a Raven. I even got some images of another one (so two) sitting together in that tree. For (what I think) is obvious reasons I just love this tree! I often makes in to my images when I get up there. Usually for pure landscapes though. It was nice to have a live subject in it this trip.

 

[IPT]

Bull Moose still in Velvet. I was surprised because the different moose were in so many different stages of shedding simultaneously. From full velvet like this guy, to shredded velvet to completely boned out.

 

[jroovers]

Beautiful shots! All are fantastic, the rutting bulls together are spectacular, as are the bear shots. FWIW, I like the first raven shot better, with more of the tree in it, than the second. Frame worthy in my opinion. I don't know what it is about crows/ravens, even though they are pretty prevalent in most areas, they always seem to present in decent numbers in the backcountry too... sometimes in Algonquin when canoeing, you might not hear anything for some time, it can be eerily silent, and then you hear the crow. Evokes a certain sense of loneliness or solitude - I think your photo captures that amazingly well, the fact that the tree is dead adds to that sense.

 

[toothybugs]

WOOOOOW. Sir I am in awe!

 

[Sangheili]

Beautiful!!

 

[IPT]

Beautiful shots! All are fantastic, the rutting bulls together are spectacular, as are the bear shots. I don't know what it is about crows/ravens, even though they are pretty prevalent in most areas, they always seem to present in decent numbers in the backcountry too...

Thank you. Yes, at night you can see the Raven as they fly back into the mountains to roost. Someone one told me they studied them and the sheer numbers that "commuted" to the city and back was something crazy. Guess there are tons of shiny things and lots of more food to eat in town then in the mountains!

WOOOOOW. Sir I am in awe!

Thanks.

Beautiful!!

Thank you.

Glad you folks liked them. It makes it more fun to share them knowing people are actually looking at them!

 

[toothybugs]

It makes it more fun to share them knowing people are actually looking at them!

I showed these to my wife as I'm trying to talk her in to a trip up to Alaska for a week and a half or so; she saw these and asked "if you had a better zoom lens could you do this too?"



So... I might be going shopping before too long while planning a trip!

 

[IPT]

I showed these to my wife as I'm trying to talk her in to a trip up to Alaska for a week and a half or so; she saw these and asked "if you had a better zoom lens could you do this too?"



So... I might be going shopping before too long while planning a trip!

S W E E T :bounce1:. Both the trip and the lens will be a choice and investment you'll make you will not regret. Moving up here (actually just visiting up here) changed my life forever. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, i think everyone in the US should visit Alaska. After my first trip once I returned "home" (NY, by the city) I was literally in tears looking down at all the houses and pavement. it was a stark contrast to the wide open undeveloped spaces you can still find up here.