ALASKA! This state has it all: WHALES, MOUNTAINS, GLACIERS, EAGLES, & BEARS. Alaska's Kenai Peninsula is home to some of the world's most extraordinary landscape and wildlife photographs. And this trip did not disappoint!

Our small group met up, and we began our first trip day by driving from Anchorage to Seward. Less than 30 minutes into the drive, we sighted a herd of Dall Sheep, ewes and lambs mostly, grazing near a seasonal pond. This was a great spotting! We were able to shoot down from a roadside camping spot and watch them frolic along the edge of the grass, less than 50 yards away. Our next pitstop at Bird Point included a beautiful landscape shot and three moose, all before our day's activity! Thus began our very fortunate encounters with wildlife on this trip.

We arrive in Seward and meet up with the boat crew to explore Kenai Fjords National Park and hear that we have to hurry up because a humpback whale is bubble-net feeding out in Resurrection Bay. So we stow our gear, get out safety training, and then head out to see this remarkable event! After less than an hour out to Resurrection Bay, we begin sighting humpbacks as they clear their blow holes, roll their backs above water, and flip their tails for a dive. We photograph a few of these as we pass Fox Island, but we are looking for the bubble net feeding we continued. And just around the corner of Hive Island, we come across two adolescent whales, lunge feeding. Lunge feeding is when a humpback rapidly propels itself through a concentrated group of fish with its mouth wide open. This can happen when a whale is alone or part of a small group. In the deep waters of the glacier-created bay, the whales can be close to the shoreline and help facilitate this type of feeding.

After spotting more whales, an eagle, both the horned puffins and (their much more attractive cousins J) tufted puffins, a small raft of sea otters, a small pod of Dall's porpoise, and some of the largest steller sea lions in the world we made our way north up Aialik Bay up the Holgate Arm to Holgate Glacier. Holgate Glacier is one of the many ice flows of the Harding icefields. While we slowly approached the glacier's face, we saw ice calving off the face of the Holgate Glacier, one of the most sublime sights in nature. The sight and sound of these events offer a visceral example of the power of these rivers of ice.

With the mid-point of our first aquatic adventure behind us, we head back towards Seward, searching for more marine wildlife. This time we find some harbor seals, more steller sea lions, and more puffins! Our final shooting location of the day was Spire Cove at low tide. The low tides make the base formations, caves, and tunnels visible to visitors. After Spire Cove, we head back into Seward for dinner and early morning the next day.

As you probably know, summer in Alaska has long days and short nights. On the morning of Day 3, we woke up very early to get some morning light photos and possibly see some eagles on the beach outside Seward. Unfortunately, the morning was overcast, but the eagles were moving around. After stopping back in Seward for breakfast, we head out to shoot some of my favorite landscapes in Alaska. The trip was a long landscape and wildlife day photography, stopping off to shoot the South Fork of Snow River, Moose Pass, Tern Lake, flyfishermen on the Russian River, and the beautiful drive around Skilak Loop Road. During the drive across the Kenai Peninsula to Homer, we saw trumpeter swans with cygnets, moose, American wigeon ducks and ducklings, more moose, a baby snowshoe hare, and more moose.

The following day we got up early to jump on a plane to Katmai National Park's Hallo Bay for a day with Coastal Brown Bears! The plane ride took our group across the Cook Inlet to the northern part of Katmai National Park, flying over Mt. Douglass, about 6900 feet high, with a beautiful crater lake almost at the top of the peak. We flew over this peak, down the Swikshak valley, and over to Hallo Bay, where we landed on the beach. After unloading, we crossed the wetlands, traversed small rivers, and came up to a bear almost immediately grazing on sedge grasses. We photograph him for a while from about 50 yards away. We then move on, wading across more creeks and water channels to find a blond female bear and cub grazing. The cub and mother bears were adorable! After photographing these bears for some time from across a small creek, we trek over to more bear action. Bears were all around us! At one time, we had 8 or 9 bears in line of sight from as far away as 100 yards to as close as 15 to 20 yards, and they didn't care! We shot so many bear photos, and the bears were moving so slowly that when a Swainson's Thrush flew over almost as one, the group swiveled to take pictures of this small little bird. Hallo Bay was a fantastic day trip for up-close bear action. Once back, the group took a bit of a break before heading out for some eagle shots up the western coast of the Kenai.

On the morning of day 5, we head out of the port of Homer to explore Kachemak Bay and the little town of Seldovia. The morning's first stop is Gull Island, where we see thousands of seagulls, horned and tufted puffins, pelagic cormorants, common murre, some sea otters, and an eagle who was not interested in moving off of its perch on top of the island. But this morning's ultimate search was the coveted "puffin on the rock" shot. Usually, this happens all the time on Gull Island and is not so coveted. But the eagle didn't like company, so all the puffins were in the water. The eagle finally left with another eagle in a flirty way, trying to hold hands. So we shot that too! After Gull Island, our boat captain drove the boat along the south side of Kachemak Bay, shot some landscapes, some more sea otters with pups on their belly, more eagles, and then headed into Seldovia for lunch. Seldovia is a picturesque little town where many of the outward-facing homes are built on stilts is one of my favorite places in Alaska. This small town was originally named Seldevoy in Russian, which translates to "Herring Bay," and has about 300 residents. After the afternoon exploring Seldovia, we head back to Gull Island to try to get "puffin on the rock" one more time. We got the shot, but the sea was much rougher, making for challenging shooting conditions.

Sunrise in the summer in Alaska is too early! We got up again for sunrise over Kachemak Bay. The light was beautiful, and the morning was clear. After breakfast, we head back up the coast of the Kenai Peninsula, photographing eagles the entire way. I shared some of my favorites, including the one I wasn't supposed to go to that shoots down at the eagles. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone.) But eagles were everywhere! The light was great, and we were within 10 yards of them. After shooting eagles all morning, we turned inland towards Tern Lake, where we photographed a Red-necked Grebe. Next, we headed towards our hotel in Girdwood.

The final morning of the trip was another early one, but we made it out to Portage Glacier for ~~sunset~~, ops I meant sunrise. We photograph Shakespeare, Burns, and Portage Glaciers (from north to south or left to right on the photograph). The light came over the hills at about 4:50 and lit up the valley and the glaciers across portage lake. Then on the way back to the hotel, we came across the most beautiful light just north of the twenty-mile creek. This light capped off the landscape images for the trip. It was almost ethereal as it lit up the slight fog that clung to the water from behind. It was idyllic.

Our final drive up the Turn Again Arm of the Cook Inlet was anything but boring. We came across what I think was the same heard of Dall Sheep we saw on the way south. This time they were perched halfway up a cliff about 3 miles south of where we saw them a week earlier. They posed for us, all looking in one direction and then the other. This is the type of thing that makes Alaska unique.

Our final photographic outing of the trip was to stop at Potter Marsh Wildlife Viewing Boardwalk, where we saw tree swallows, a Wilson's Snipe, trumpeter swans with their cygnets, another Red-necked Grebe, tons of Arctic Tern, a female mallard duck with her ducklings, and of all things a baby seagull. We hung out shooting the Arctic Tern, feeding its baby for quite a while. This was a great ending to the trip.

Alaska offers astounding wildlife and landscape opportunities. The summer here is teeming with activity; the birds like the Arctic Tern, which migrates 24,000 miles from Antarctica, are here, the bears are out and active with new cubs exploring the mountains, rivers, and marshes, and the whales are in the waters off of some of our most accessible coastlines feeding on the copious fish. Trips like Alaska's Kenai Peninsula are a fantastic way to explore the 49th state's abundant offerings. But there is always more to see in the Last Frontier. Alaska is a land of plenty.

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AUTHOR

Tom Turner

Tom Turner is an artist and educator based in Eagle River, Alaska. Turner has taught at the Art Institute of San Antonio, Northwest Vista College, Saint Mary’s University, Texas Tech University, and The Creative Light Workshops in San Antonio, Texas.

Turner’s artistic practice, which is principally in the medium of photography, focuses chiefly on the landscape, how we perceive time, and how our memory alters that perception of the natural world. His fascination with image-making began during his undergraduate studies at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. He continued this pursuit at The Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. After completing his education, he spent the next seven years working as a photojournalist. He worked for newspapers and magazines in Michigan, Southern California, Central, and East Texas. In 2010 Turner began his graduate studies at Texas Tech University, where he completed an MFA in Photography.

Turner, known for landscape imagery, which uses color and time to abstract the scene, his subjects range from national parks to appropriations of scientific imagery. He has exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally. Turner feels honored to have his work seen in Wired Photo, 4th International Photography Annual (INPHA 4), Juxtapoz Art and Culture Magazine, and most recently in Fraction Magazine. Check out Tom Turner’s website at https://tomturnerphotography.com.

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Trip Report: Alaska's Kenai Peninsula - June 2022

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