Wildlife Photography 101

July 29th, 2015 Anchorage - It is wonderful to reunite with my camera, its been to long. Since I was a small boy I always wanted to be a wildlife photographer. I had my own dark room in the basement and would sneak around taking pictures of my dog Tippy. When choices were made for college I decided to go the safe route and picked a major that could pay the bills rather than photography. I sold out! 

In 2000 when Lovisa and I were living on our boat Cafe de Tap and not working for the "Man" anymore we self studied photography; shooting underwater most days. The Jewel in our shooting crown was an around the world trip highlighted by 2 months in Kenya. We still have thousands of shots of African wildlife.

When the kids were born... well... need I say more. Not much of anything but kid shots. Now that I am not working again I have time to pursue my dream again.

Another dream I had as a kid was to see Kodiak Bears. I was totally into animals and would watch every documentary I could get my hands on. I remember sitting on my bed in suburban Long Island and reading my deck of animal cards over and over again. Giant Kodiak bears just seemed about the furthest and wildest thing from my life and I promised myself I would see them one day.

When we were in Kodiak a couple of weeks ago, walking around the meadows in the rain, surrounded by wonderful Kodiak bears, photographing, Zack turned to me with a giant grin and said " Pops, this is so cool, you are living your dream of seeing Kodiak Bears and you are a wildlife Photographer! I am so glad I am getting to live your dream with you!"