A Visit to Paradise

We just returned from completing a week long Wildlife Photo Workshop at the wonderful Silver Salmon Lodge in Lake Clark National Park Alaska. This area is known for its beauty and the opportunity to get up close and personal with the many coastal brown bears that inhabit this area. This trip was no exception. We photographed several sows with their cubs often from as little as 10 feet. We watched as the moms nursed, play with and disciplined their cubs. We photographed the cubs playing with each other or just playing with a stick or shell they found. In the mornings, when the tide was out, we photographed the bears on the beach as they hunted clams, dug them up and than with a couple of swipes of their giant paws opened the clams to eat the meat in side. The long Alaska summer days allowed us to photograph to well after 9pm.

The part of this trip that always leaves the greatest impression on me, however, is the raw natural beauty of this area. The beach is pristine. Tall saw grass in various shades of green cover the fields. The air is so clear the colors are almost surrealistic. Just beyond these fields rise steep mountains whose snow capped peaks are often lost in the clouds. Along the coast high wispy waterfalls sprout from rain forest covered cliffs that border the sea. Puffins, Murres, Oyster Catchers, huge flocks of Kittywakes and a wide variety of other sea birds soar overhead. The occasional bald eagle swoops in low above the streams to check for fish.

This is the Earth as it should be, as it was before we cut the forests to build mega-cities and strip malls. Before we fouled the rivers, the sky and drove away the wildlife . Lake Clark is not just a place for great wildlife photography it is also a place to refresh the soul.

We have already made a reservation to return to Lake Clark and Silver Salmon Lodge the week of August 19th 2012. We have places for seven of which 4 are already spoken for so please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to join us.

As soon as I have a chance to edit and review the many gigabytes of photos I took I will post a few on the site. Please come back and take a look.