February 2023
A month of Auroral magic and wild animals
It was a good month for photography, February has been a wild time for me. I started the month sick and wasn’t able to hike much as I recovered, but luckily it seems the great views have been coming to me instead. The aurora was visible from a beach that I could drive to, and I was able to find otters and sea lions all around the harbor and piers. I’m so glad I moved back to Alaska.
After a bit of feedback from last month, I’m trying out a different format. Scroll to see my best images of the past month, captions are under each image.
This was actually shot in January, but got lost in my SD card until I found it again earlier this month. I put out a photo of Pyramid reflected in Buskin Lake in my previous blog, and I would have loved to recreate that photo with these conditions, but the light was fading fast. I ended up settling on a telephoto image of the lone peak with just a hint of cloud on the top.
A classic high-contrast moon shot with some cloud.
A beautiful patch of light on a single peak. Another fleeting moment, but this time I shot it while I was sick. I was ready to pass out for about half of this walk, but I persevered and made it back to the car, where Amelia drove us home.
An absolutely massive reflection overlooking Women’s Bay.
Barometer Mountain behind some boats in the St. Paul Harbor.
Another from the St. Paul Harbor. Whenever it’s sunny out, there’s a solid chance otters will be around and I just happened to get a shot as a bird came by in what I can only assume was an attempt to steal the otter’s food.
The same otter, but it drifted towards the sun’s reflection. I loved how the waters sparkle.
Some sea lions from again, that same day. What a wonderful amount of wildlife we have.
I can’t tell if that’s coast guard or a civilian cargo plane, but I loved how it looked as a silhouette against the gradient in the sky. The little bird is another little point to look at and I thought it made for a beautiful image.
It took me a long time to get the contrast just right in this image. In the end, I felt more subdued and less saturated colors were better and really let the light make the image.
An amazing aurora that night, and I had the beach almost entirely to myself. Mill Bay Beach is a very popular spot around town to watch the northern lights - and for good reason. This night however, a lot of people left early because the clouds had covered the sky for most of the night, but it really started to open up around midnight.
From the same night. The aurora really exploded and started moving quickly around 12:30/1 a.m. It moved so quickly, it looked as if the sky was lit by a giant, green fire.
I couldn’t decide which I liked better, the previous one or this one. In this image I felt it looked like a giant rose bud in the sky. Which reminds me, I should probably buy some flowers for my table.
A herd of sea lions, just off of Pier 2. There have been a few groups that pop up there and splash around in these impressive pods. I’ve been lucky enough to see them a few times. I hope they’ll stick around.
A gorgeous eagle in front of grey skies with just a hint of light on its head.
I’m not much of a wildlife photographer, but I do love to do it sometimes. These likely wouldn’t win any awards, but I do enjoy an action shot now and then.
One last mountain photo. Tons of contrast and shapes on this ridge, and I’m not sure why, but I just enjoy it a lot.
