Homer Eagle Feedings

I wanted my family to witness an eagle feeding in Homer Alaska. Jean Keene, the eagle lady, died this winter and Homer will not allow public feedings in Homer after March 27th. Jean has been feeding eagles for 30 years and it is a very unique opportunity to get up close to dozens of bald eagles. I usually go a couple times a winter to get my eagle fix. I just love these magnificent raptors.

Photographers from all over the world visit Homer in the winter to photograph eagles. You can click on each photo to get a larger view.

The lineup

My daughter among the photographers. This was an hour and a half before feedings and it was 7 degrees F with a stiff wind.....brrrrrr. I met photographers from England, Mass.,Alabama, Oklahoma, California, Canada and some Flickr friends as well. The majority of them were enthusiastic amateurs with much bigger budgets than me.

I was shooting eagles for the first time with my 5D mark ii with my 100-400mm. I gave my daughter a 40D with a 70-200mm 2.8 with a 1.4 teleconverter. I sure did have lens envy with all the 600mm around, but we were so close here. Sometimes you could feel the vortex created by the wings of the eagles as they flew in.

Catch of the Day

Fish were being thrown in the air and the eagles would launch off their perch and grab the fish. Amazing to watch, even more amazing to photograph with my super slow 5D.

Hanging Out

Did not put my wide angle lens on, but this gives you an idea of the numbers of eagles.

An Eagle Lineup

Coming at me

Got a fish

Another Catch

In for the catch

Wow

Hanging On

Over the Water

Most of these shots are straight out of the camera, no post processing. I took some video with the 5D as well. I will put something together soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/

Brno Balens review

I received an email from Amazon asking me to review the white balance lens cap I purchased a few weeks ago. It was the 77mm Brno balens http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KVXTTW/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img

Brno balens

I have to say I love it! I used to carry a grey card around with me. If I remembered it, I would have someone hold it just right so I could customize my camera white balance. Now I put this on like a lens cap, snap a photo and use that to customize my white balance.

I was having dinner with my family in Seattle when I snapped this photo of my niece.

Before

After

I have been happy with the purchase and thought I would share my experience.

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/

Photographing the Iditarod (Willow restart)

Over the years, the Iditarod has moved the start(restart) from Wasilla to Willow several times because of the lack of snow. As a matter of fact, the start has been in Willow since 2002 except in 2003 when the lack of snow moved the race to Fairbanks. In 2007 the decision was made to permanently move the restart to Willow citing safety of mushers and their dogs. It made since. The Wasilla area has grown so much that it was difficult for the mushers to avoid the congestion of people and traffic.

The restart in Willow was very crowded this year. I remember a few years back I could put on my dog food coat and wander among the mushers. No longer, the crowds are amazingly thick. We used to hike across the lake and practically be by ourselves. Now the crowd extends across the lake and into the woods.

Willow Restart Crowd

I was able to work my way into the crowd to snap some photos, but it was not easy.

Blake Matray

Here is a shot of Blake Matray's beautiful team of dogs.

Some of the fun of the Iditarod is meeting the characters in the crowd, it is a great place for people watching.

Only in Alaska!

Paul Gebhardt's team

Bjornar Anderson from Norway

Aliy Zirkle

Aliy always has a great smile, I got some great shots of her last year too.

Melissa Owens on her way home to Nome

DeeDee Jonrowe

Martin Buser

Lance Mackey

Lance was followed everywhere by photographers and film makers!

Lance Mackey

Lance Mackey's lead dogs ready to go

My lovely wife

Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/

Photographing the Iditarod (Ceremonial Start)

The Iditarod is here again. I have been following the mushers for a lot of years and enjoy both the ceremonial and restart portions of the race. The ceremonial start happens on Saturday in downtown Anchorage. It allows some close up opportunities to the mushers and their dogs.

Ray Redington's lead dogs

The run is 11 miles through the trails of Anchorage. This allows you to stake out a spot on the trail for a photo op.

Martin Buser

For this ceremonial start, the dogs must be slowed down. This shows Martin Buser with his Iditarider and handler. The Iditariders pay for the privilege to ride in the sled.

Sebastian Schnuelle

I liked Sebastian's hat. He was the Yukon Quest champion this year. He has someone trailing in another sled to slow his team. This is typical.

Jeff King

Jeff King had skis on and used his sled to push him through the course. He really looked like he was having fun.

Lance Mackey

Lance Mackey has been the Iditarod champion the last 2 years. He has a great shot at a 3-peat!

Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/

A week in Seattle

Spent the last week on business in the Seattle area. I was actually on Bainbridge Island, a ferry ride away from Seattle.

Bainbridge Island HDR

This photo was taken from the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal. This was also the only sunny hour I got all week. That makes it difficult for photography.

Washington State Ferry

Here is a shot from the same spot on Bainbridge Island. My family lives in this area so I travel on these ferries quite often.

Seattle, Washington

A photograph as we crossed. Sure could have used some better weather.

Butterfly

Went to the Science Center to see the Lucy exhibit. While there, we visited the butterfly display at the center.

Space Needle

Shot from the ferry on the Seattle side.

Seattle Seagull

I like photographing seagulls as practice for my eagle shots. Here I captured one following the ferry.

Seattle Seagull

Another seagull following the ferry hoping for snacks.

Wish I could have brought back more images, but the weather did not cooperate this trip.

Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/