2006
in Review
This year I did not get out as much as I would
have liked to do, but I did manage to capture a few images outside
of my normal studio work. Sometimes it is difficult to get away
from the daily grind to do something for yourself.
|
| |
The image of the Great Horned Owl above
was taken at the H.A.W.K Center run by Lynne Slater
One thing I did this year was to take some images of some of
the injured birds at the H.A.W.K Center ran by my friend Lynne
Slater. She rescues these wild critters and tries to nurse them
back to health so they can return to the wild. Those that can’t
be returned to the wild, end up as educational birds that go
to classrooms all over the state to teach children about wild
animals. Here are a few images of the birds in her care.
|
A Barred Owl from the H.A.W.K. Center |
A Barn Owl from the H.A.W.K. Center
|
Great Horned Owl
|
Barn Owl |
Red-tailed Hawk from the H.A.W.K. Center
|
|
Kevin and I were lucky enough to have the chance to return to
the McNeil River Bear Sanctuary for the second time. Lucas Condliffe
also went with us, which was his first time at McNeil. The salmon
were not running while we were there this time, so we were able
to get a different type of image than when we were there in 1998.
We had two good days to photograph and two days of rain. But when
you are in Alaska, you take what you can get! Here are a few images
from McNeil.
|
Play fighting at McNeil
|
The bears were often feeding on the sedge grass while waiting
for the salmon runs to start |
|
|
Mom and cubs walk across the mud flats during low tide |
|
The bears are often very close to the people at McNeil |
|
After hanging out at McNeil for about a week, we spent a few days
in Homer, Alaska photographing eagles out on the Homer Spit. It
was great to watch the magnificent birds in flight. We spent several
days photographing these guys in flight as well as landing. Here
are a few samples.
|
|
We were able to get dramtic, in flight images as well as some
nice portraits
|
|
The eagles provided some great photo ops as they made their
landing approach |
|
|
Occasionally it was possible to get close enough for a classic
tight portrait of our national symbol
|
Getting some images of the eagles in Homer was an added bonus
from our trip to McNeil |
While out Geocaching, which I do spend a fair amount of time doing
on my days off, I find some neat places. One of these places I found
this fall was on the Mulberry River, an 84 year old bridge just
before its closing. This old iron bridge, a one lane one that is
used by many people in the area, was determined to be unsafe for
travel. The bridge was closed a few days after these images were
taken. |
|
|
This old bridge provides some great photo ops |
|
In December I had a chance to go to an area in the Ozark Natural
Forrest that I had not been to. This unique area had rock formations
that were very strange as well as a natural bridge. Under this
arch, the sun rises up through it just 3 days of the year, Dec
21-23. I was off in that time frame and made the 2 mile hike in
darkness to reach the bridge just before sunrise. We were rewarded
with the sunrise through the arch and it was a nice site to see
on this cold winter morning. Here is one of the images from that
trip.
|
|
|
Hope you enjoy the images,
Mark
|
