Lake Clark in Alaska
Lake Clark is a stunning, remote location. We access it by flying south from Anchorage for one hour in small planes. We land on the beach and are shuttled to the lodge and to bear sites in ATV carts. After settling into our rooms, we headed right out into the field to photograph bears.
Bears in Meadows
Brown Bears are hungry this time of year and spend most of their waking hours grazing on sedges in the meadows near our lodge. This makes it easy for us to find them and photograph natural bear activity like scratching, greeting and grazing. We had some spectacular lenticular clouds this year that reminded us of skyscapes in Patagonia.
Moody Mornings
When the tides in Cook Inlet are really low, the bears go clamming and dig up razor clams. We had some spectacular mornings on the tidal flats with beautiful pastels and dazzling sunrises behind the bears. We worked on getting low to enhance the reflections of the bears in the water.
Bears in Action
People always want to know how close we get to bears on our Bear Workshops. We set up with our group all in a line and find that bears will often approach our group rather than us approaching them. Our guides set us up at a distance that does not change the bear behavior. Sometimes the bears will walk quite close to our group. We stay calm and focus on the photography, giving right of way when needed.
More Clamming Bears
The tide schedule was perfect for this workshop, allowing us to photograph bears on the clam flats 4 days in a row. The tidal flats are great for both close ups and environmental shots with distance mountains for a backdrop.
Bird Photography
Two of our photo session were "for the birds". We took small private boats to Duck Island to photograph nesting Horned Puffins. After landing on the beach we set up tripods and worked on capturing birds in flight. Tom found a single Tufted Puffin to photograph as we circumnavigated the island.
On our last day in the field we divided the group and explored the lakes behind the lodge in smaller groups. We photographed nesting Trumpeter Swans and vibrant yellow pond lilies.
Thanks to our wonderful group of photographers
Big thanks to our awesome guides Ruger and Rob, and the wonderfully accommodating staff at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge.