Snowy Owl - Close to Home

In November we traveled thousands of miles to a lodge about 70 miles north of Churchill Canada. Our main goal was to photograph polar bears. We were also hopeful to photograph arctic fox, the Northern Lights and Snowy Owls. The polar bears and arctic fox worked out well and you can see a number of these images in the "Galleries/Recent Photos" area of our www.frierworks.com website. We never saw the Northern Lights as the weather didn't cooperate. The only snowy owl we saw was one flying by, very far away. I was disappointed not to get a chance to photograph this beautiful bird.

All that travel to find out that the snowy owls winter in our hometown of Ocean Shores, Washington. There are several state and federal wildlife sanctuaries adjacent to Ocean Shores and we found this one in the Damon Point State Wildlife Sanctuary. It a long walk out to the sanctuary and at high tide the path is underwater. Its worth the effort as the sanctuary is beautiful.

The owls favorite food is small arctic mammals called lemmings .The owls have a more or less regular population cycle depending on the amount of lemmings in the arctic. Every 5 years the population of both lemmings and snowy owls peaks and this is one of those years.

You can travel the world and sometimes the best subjects show up in your own backyard.

Polar Bears

We just return from a Wildlife Photo Workshop to Seal River Heritage Lodge. The lodge is about 70km north of Churchill Canada and locate on the west coast of Hudson Bay.

Each year the polar bears gather here to wait for Hudson Bay to freeze so they can get out on the bay to hunt.

We saw a number of polar bears wrestling, playing, wandering and just hanging out. We also had a chance to photograph arctic foxes.

The climate appears to begetting warmer there and as a result the snow which should have been covering the ground barely existed. Most of our photos had to be shot with dead tundra plants for a background. Despite this I shot over 3000 frames. I invite you to see a small selection of the photos that I have so far edited on my www.frierworks.com website. Go to the Galleries drop-down menu and select the Recent Photos tab or just use the link below:

http://www.frierworks.com/Newfrierworks/index.php?option=com_imageshow&view=show&Itemid=41

Observation from a Recent Tetons and Yellowstone Trip

Two weeks ago we returned from a two week trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. I was going to write this blog at that time but was distracted by the death of Steve Jobs and wanted to write a little something about him.

The first week we were in the Tetons for the Photography at the Summit Workshop. This is one of the Rich Clarkson series of Workshops. Rich brings in a number of top photo pros and its a busy week of wildlife shooting, classes and critiques. We spend most of our time working with Nikon (who is a sponsor) and taking groups of students out to shoot. The second week we spent with friends shooting in Yellowstone.

Now to the point...We've made at least 2 visits a year, for the last 10 or more years, to this area and I'm amazed how in the last few years, the amount of wildlife seems to have decreased dramatically. We are seeing far fewer bears, moose, elk and other animals than we did just four or five years ago. This is particularly noticeable in the Fall. I'm not sure of the reason for this but there seems to be several theories.

First and most reasonable is that in the last couple of years there has been a dramatic increase in visitors to these parks. This sharp increase in visitors has sort of "freaked-out the animals" and they have retreated to more remote areas of the parks.

Another theory proposes that these parks have become "over-managed" by the park service. The park service's desire to keep visitors and wildlife separated is working too well. This was the first year I actually saw an area of the Tetons park closed because there were bears in the area.

Weather could be a third factor. In years past there would be a foot or more of snow on the ground by the second week of October but in the last couple of years the daytime temperature, this time of the year, has been as high as the 70's. The animals, who have grown in their winter coats, are too hot and therefore inactive. Anybody who thinks global warming is a myth is just engaging in "magical thinking" pretending that if they say it doesn't exist it won't. Global warming here and its obvious.

Whatever the reason for this dearth of wildlife I hope it temporary. In the meantime we're off to Alaska.

Steve Jobs

Rest in Peace Steve Jobs - A Life Very Well Lived

I never meet Steve Jobs. I only saw him briefly, once, at a MacWorld Expo yet with his death I feel that I have lost someone important in my life. Its truly sad that someone with so much talent had to die at such an early age. It is a loss for all of us when one thinks about what other innovations the genius of Steve Jobs may have come up with had he lived at least the average American lifespan of 79 years. What other industries and businesses he might have revolutionized. How much more our lives and technologies might have been improved.

Thank You from a Lifetime Apple Fan. -

NOBODY DID IT BETTER!

New J1 and V1 Cameras From Nikon

I've had several phone calls today asking about the new Nikon J1 & V1 cameras that Nikon introduced yesterday. The first reaction I got was disappointment that the announcement was not about new professional D-SLRs. Nikon has most certainly not abandoned or lost interest in the pro market. The reality is that this is not cause for disappointment but cause for excitement. While these are not pro cameras the technology in them is stunning and when extrapolated to the future it is obvious that when-not if- but when those new D-SLR's do come we can expect great things.

We have come to the point where professional level D-SLR cameras have become so good that neither the technology nor the current economy warrants the rapid 20-30 month life-cycle that we saw in the beginning of the digital camera revolution. After 26 years with Nikon I have learned to be patient and fasten your seat belt.

Mt Rainier National Park is Awesome

The weather in Western Washington has been fantastic this Summer. Paula, our good friend Rick Hunter (www.rickhunterimages.com) and I took the opportunity to visit Mt Rainier National Park. It's a fantastic place! We got to the the Sunrise area of the park mid-afternoon and were disappointed to find the mountain totally socked in by clouds. However, despite the September date the wildflowers were in full and massive bloom. The area was riot of color with tons of great photographic opportunities.

The next morning we were at the Sunrise summit for sunrise and were not disappointed. The clouds had cleared and Mt Rainier was out in full glory lite by a golden sunrise. It was breathtaking. The rest of the day remained clear and we drove the park spending extra time to explore the giant trees of the Hall of Monarchs area (interesting but not highly photographic) and the Paradise area (great for photography).

If you go here's a few tips. Give yourself at least a day, more is better, its a long way around. Get gas and food before you enter the park. There is very little food and even less gas in the park. Check with the park for when the wildflowers are in bloom, its usually toward the end August.

I'M BACK

It's been a very long time since I wrote to this blog. Last December we moved from our long time home in Los Angeles to Ocean Shores, Washington. It was the move from Hell. Between our Wildlife Photo Workshops programs and the move there was virtually no time to spend working on our website and this blog. We have finally gotten pretty settled in and now I can begin to turn some of my attention to other things. I still have at least 30Gigs of photos from recently completed workshops to edit. I will, as soon as possible, post some of the best to the galleries in this site. I will also try to now keep this blog as regular as possible.

I have just sent our first Wildlife Photo Workshops newsletter. If you would like to be on the list for future newsletters please send your email address to frierworks@gmail.com. We have lots of great workshops coming in 2012 and its all in the newsletter. I will also soon be updating all the workshop information on the Wildlife Photo Workshops part of this website.