The Wrath of Poseidon & Chocolate Cherries

I traveled to the coast of Olympic National Park recently on assignment for Wilderness Systems. I have to say I was nervous for this one, of course the area is notoriously moist - "mostly cloudy and overcast with a strong chance of rain" - but we also had storm alerts, 45mph gusting winds and a 12ft swell building...nice. We certainly got our fair share of nasty weather. And just when things couldn't have got much worse one of our team capsized and then turned green with sea-sickness. Despite the set backs and being at the complete mercy of Poseidon's wrath we persevered and for our cheery spirits were blessed with a fabulous last shoot day. During intense ups and downs on shoots like this there is one thing that keeps me and my team sane and happy:

The Chocolate Cherry!

These little things carry a huge punch of instant euphoria. A succulent semi dried cherry smothered in two layers of milk chocolate that seems to send sunbeams swirling around your gob - pure loveliness. A huge thank you to the guys and gals over at Confluence Watersports for making the shoot such a success. These images are all about team work!

Exhibition: Alaska's Red Gold

I'm currently working with the wonderful folks over at Trout Unlimited to put together an exhibition of my images from this summers assignment in Bristol Bay, Alaska. If you are in the Seattle area in November then be sure to drop by the Tashiro Kaplan Center, 312 South Washington Street.

Tell a friend or ten and lets get some more momentum to stop Pebble Mine.

Red Monsters

Ahhhhhhhh! The red monster.

From ocean silver to river red (and green) these little monsters navigate their way along an epic journey to spawn, spread their genes, propagate and then die a very noble death. But not without a fight! Hence this male has elongated his jaws so he can bite his opponents out of the way and tend to his beautiful princess monsters.

Check out those teeth! I was inches away from this beautiful fish and feared for the my little fingers. Luckily I snapped and he shuffled and our confrontation was over as quickly as it began. Bravo and Respect to the infamous sockeye salmon!

Where Paddling Takes Us

This picture is one of a series of images from Katmai National Park, Alaska. Five days of kayaking through pristine wilderness full of salmon, bears, eagles, and LOTS of biting insects! Its a majestic wonderland that reaffirms in me the need to look after our wild places.

Wolves OFF the menu....Thank goodness!

Here is a note from the Centre for Biological Diversity on the recent ruling to re-instate endangered species status for the Wolf. If only they could huff and puff and blow those hunters houses down. Come on....a little respect please! Just because a species suddenly comes off the endangered species list isn't an excuse to go on an all out rampage against the wolf.

"In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice and eleven other conservation groups, a federal judge today reinstated Endangered Species Act protection for wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. The decision brings an immediate halt to the slaughter of over 100 wolves since the Bush administration stripped Endangered Species Act protection for Northern Rocky Mountain wolves in February 2008.

The judge reinstated wolf protection because he agreed that 1) the wolf had not met its federal recovery plan goals before being declared "recovered", and 2) the state of Wyoming, in its rush to kill wolves, had not committed to maintaining enough wolves to sustain a viable population.

Calling the Bush administration's arguments "disingenuous," Judge Molloy noted that the administration had "flip-flopped without explanation" on critical wolf conservation policies.

The killing has stopped, but the battle isn't over. This preliminary injunction only holds until a final ruling in the case is issued later this year. And anticipating that it's weak argument for removing wolves from the endangered species list would fail, the Bush administration established a separate decision allowing the killing of wolves even if they are returned to the federal endangered species list. We're in court fighting that rule, also."

The Science Behind the Salmon

Some images from a recent trip up the Wood River to Aleknagik. Aleknagik is at the base of seven lakes known as the Chain of Lakes. Its one of the most stunning landscapes I have been. I was warmly welcomed at the Washington University Fisheries Research station. Its all about the salmon there. With passion and purpose a great team of scientists and conservationists, grad students and undergrads yomp around the lake, up streams, and over tundra all in the name of salmon science.





























Plus a cheeky view of the lake from the research station's dock. This was taken at midnight. The light is simply lush up here, I love it!

FRESH TO FROZEN

I Just returned from a few days on board a floating salmon processing ship. An unreal experience!