After a couple of days of re-grouping, shopping and re-organizing I’m ready to join my partner David and friends Debbie, Kerry, Ken and George, for another great adventure in Alaska. This time it is going to be a bit more rugged… left behind the comfort of a nice warm and especially dry room in the lodge we are going camping in Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park.

The weather forecast is not very promising… in fact we end up having the worst weather in history of this region!

Who said that being a wildlife photographer is an easy job??? Honestly sometimes it really sucks! Wet clothes, wet shoes, wet equipment, condensation in the lens, no light, dehydrate food, no shower and an open air toilet among grizzly bears and nasty bugs biting your butt…

During these uncomfortable days you really have to see well beyond the logistic difficulties. Stop moaning and enjoy what nature has to offer… then when you open your eyes you realize how life is good and how lucky you are to be blessed with such wild beauty all around! The bears are amazing creatures. Watching them fill me with incredible peace and awe. They don’t care if it is raining or it is sunny, life for them is dictated by the rhythm of nature. Sleep, eat, play, fish, nap, nurse … they don’t care about you…

When the weather is not co-operating you’ve to come up with some imagination and creativity. It is not easy. In low light you have to compromise speed and ISO and sometimes it is simply impossible to make it works… In these 15 days in Alaska I’ve shot roughly 6’500 images. More than half of them are gone in the first selection… unsharp, soft, blurred, too noisy images…. At the end I think I will be really happy if I get 100 images out of it!

Here some of the keepers!

.

The wonderful views in a sunny day!

Our home for ten days.

Stormy sunset

At dusk

Alert

Going fishing!

Play time

Opss… couldn’t hold it…!!

Not only grizzlies… close encounters with a wolf!

At sunrise… going fishing

GOT IT!

Thanks to David, Debbie, Karry, Ken and George for sharing this wet but incredible adventure!

courtesy of Debbie Garside www.truenorthfineimages.com

.

The Palouse Country covers approximately 16’000 sq km of land in southeastern Washington, northwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The peculiar and picturesque silt dunes which characterize the Palouse prairie were formed during the ice ages. Agricultural activity started in the late 19^th century and now the Palouse is the richest wheat-growing area in the United States.

My dear friend Susanne Weissenberger and I just spent a week exploring this enchanting human made landscape mixed with nature.

Waking up every morning at 3.45am was really tough… but once on location a sense of peace and gratitude would immediately take over.

The still crispy breeze will wake us up along with the wonderful songs of the early birds. The vision of the deer grazing in the fields and the first beams of light on the rolling hills made the rest.

A mix of contrasting emotions characterized this experience in the Palouse;

gratitude to mother Nature for its generosity;

awe for the beautiful human made field patterns;

sadness for the highly exploited land and biodiversity destruction.

.

Sunrise over the rolling hills at 4.30am

The little barn in the prairie

Canola flowers

Ladybug on wheat crop

Chocolate-mint as my friend Susanne like to call this mix of colors.

Approaching storm on Canola field

.

Views of the rolling hills at sunset

For more images visit Susanne’s blog:

http://whitemountainphotography.blogspot.com

.

I guess this is a holiday… no heavy backpacks to carry around and no alarm clock at 5 am to check the light!

We spend a few days in BA relaxing, visiting the city and catching up with old friends.

The city life if overwhelming after six weeks in the wilderness.

La Boca neighbourhood

Zelfa, David and I in BA

.

Today is a wildlife day…. Love Guanacos!

.

.

We spend the day driving from El Calafate to Torre del Paine.

.