THE WINGED MIGRATION

I have been working on my second Freedom to Roam project ” B2B – The Wild Coast ” for a few years now. This spring I came back again to Baja California to photograph aspects of the massive migration that takes part along America`s West Coast. I was specifically interested in the different shore birds and waterfowl that rely upon a “daisy-chain” of wetlands on their migration to their nesting grounds up north in the high arctic. A lot of the habitats are in tidal zones along the coast. They are facing different pressures from encroaching development and the possibility of significant sea-level rise in the coming decades. For me the migrations symbolize the interconnectedness of the natural world like few other phenomenons.

In comparison to legged land mammals, birds have the incredible advantage of wings that lets them overcame huge distances of unsuitable habitat or developed landscapes. They however cannot master the enormous migrations without adequate reserves of energy. Migratory birds are dependent on important habitat that lets them consume large quantities of high energy food in a short period of time. It is therefore essential we set aside such important migratory bird sanctuaries that allows migratory birds to stop over in the course of their long migrations.

Migration hotspots can be found all along the west coast. One of the most famous locations for the Western Sandpipers is the Copper River Delta near Cordova, Alaska. Several million western Sandpipers make a stopover there before they continue their journey to the arctic.

By the hundreds of thousands members of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd fill valley after valley, Nikon D3x, 24-70mm f2.8

Barren Ground Grizzly wandering the edge of the Arctic Refuge. Nikon D3x, 600mm f4 VR lens

Far away from the centers of our civilization lies a land of wonder, where hundreds of thousands of caribou roam the plains, where myriads of birds migrate to rear their chicks and where the kingdoms of grizzly and polar bears meet. It is America’s vast Arctic, far removed from the rest of the world, but heavily affected by humankind.

Thousands of murres gather on pools on the ice awaiting the nesting season on the nearby cliffs; Nikon D3x, 70-200mm f2.8

A large lead opens in the Chuckchi Sea between Pt. Hope and Cape Lisburne; Nikon D3x, 24-70mm f2.8

For many years environmental organizations have fought for the protection of the Alaskan arctic, but as the energy crisis worsens, pressure is driving Congress to open this wilderness sanctuary to oil drilling and mining operations. As part of my Freedom to Roam project in connection with the Blue Earth Alliance and Braided River Books, I am  working to produce photographic material in support of the Arctic Conservation Campaign. With compelling imagery I hope we can reach Congress and the general public by showing a true portrait of a land often called a “barren wasteland”.

Sea ice landscape at the edge of the lead. Nikon D3x, 14-24mm f2.8

A polar bear roams the edge of the packice in the Chuckchi Sea. Nikon D300, 200-400mm f4 + TC/E 1.4

After spending many months on the ground amongst hundreds of thousands of caribou, nesting birds and barren ground grizzlies in 2008, I realize, that the only way to cover this massive expanse of land is the aerial perspective. So in 2008 I started to plan a major “Arctic Aerial Expedition”, as part of the 2009 work on the Freedom to Roam project. The goal was to show wildlife in their environment, offering a true representation of the way animals depend on this interconnected ecosystem. My goal was to document the retreating sea ice, the platform for seals, walrus, birds and the polar bear as well as to document the 3 major caribou herds of the arctic slope.

I want to invite you to follow my blog as I am going to share with you some of the amazing experiences I had over the last weeks photographing Alaska`s Arctic. Please pass the info on to friends who are interested in wildlife, conservation, Alaska and photography.

the weather has changed. I only have seconds to write it between fuel stops. We are out on the extended aerial expedition. Come back to check and I hope to share with you images of thousands of caribou, grizzlies, seals on the ice and maybe a polar bear. It is going to be an adventure!

After flying hours below the layer of fog we see a silver lining at the horizon. We need to put the plane down on a gravel bar and set up camp for the night. My pilot Ken wants to look for a spot where we can get out of the wind. We are fighting a stiff breeze of 20 – 30 nots on the nose of the plane.

As we are flying further inland, the sun finally breaks through the layers of fog. In the far distance I see the brooks range. Dark clouds are hugging the mountains and create a dramatic backdrop for photographs. We follow a river drainage south as I see a group of caribou in the riverbed heading to climb a steep snowbank  to join their group up on the extended plains, where food is plentiful.

We swing around with the plane while I keep an eye on the group running up the step snowbank seemingly without effort. I am trying to caputre the images struggling to keep the horizon straight in the viewfinder while the pilot goes into  a steep bank and balances out the gusts of wind. After hours of flying through bad weather, there it is: A few seconds of action in wonderful golden arctic light.

Aerial photography out of the Wilga with the NIkon D3x and GP-1 GPS receiver

We are supposed to head out in the field today for several weeks of intensive aerial photography, but I just wanted to squeeze in another post about a super cool little tool: The Nikon GP-1 GPS receiver. This little thing is a must for people who do aerial photography. I think it is also very cool for someone who is on a hiking, rafting or whatever trip and wants to later go back to locations on a maps recreating a picture trail. 

Nikon GP-1 GPS receiver 

Nikon GP-1 on the D3x

The GP-1 receiver just slides onto the camera into the flash shoe holder and you plug it into the bodies 12 pin connecter where the cable release normally goes. That is it and you are ready to go. You may want to switch the setting in the camera so that the GPS collects data whenever the camera is on. So that the GPS data is immediately available when you are taking a picture.  But switch off the camera if you do not use it and bring some extra batteries for the camera, because they do drain faster.

Lightroom Map feature

I will talk more about this tool when I get back – just another little hint. If you use lightroom, they have an automated tool in the library, that you can click on the GPS data and you immediately see the location on the map. Huge help for the keywording when you are flying around all over Alaska and do not know every river, mountain and creek.

A glacial stream mixes with the turquoise water of Lake Clark

My only concern with always having the exact GPS location embedded in the photograph is that certain photographers might like an image and will go to exactly the same location. With some landscape photographs that might get a big whole in the ground from tripods and photographers feet all trying to copy the same image ………..

Image of a giant group of Mobula Rays shoot with the Nikon D3x with 24.5 MP

I often get asked about my gear and Emil has been bugging me to do some updates about the photography, techniques and gear. So I better give it a start. I got the Nikon D3x a little while ago and I am sure some of you are burning to hear some my first impressions. Well, to sum it up in one sentence: I am completely impressed with the camera!

Hasselblad vs Nikon D3x

This year I knew I had to do a lot of aerial work for my Freedom to Roam project which meant I need to get a high resolution images in a single shot. There was no chance for stitching multiple images together to get a high resolution image. So for a while I way toying with the idea of renting a Hasselblad with a nice set of lenses. I borrowed on of the cameras from Glazers in Seattle and tried it out on a Sunday afternoon. To tell you the trooth, the Hasselblad produced wonderful images, but it was somewhat clumsy and slow in use. I imagined myself trying to photograph wildlife from the air in a fast moving plane and quickly tossed the idea. At that time the Nikon D3x was not out yet so I had no idea what I was going to do. When the camera finally was available I ordered it “blind” from Glazers and Emil bought it out into the field. The big advantage over the Hassi were the Super Fast Auto Focus, the huge array of lenses I already owned and especially the 5 frames per second with a 16 image buffer. 

First Impressions of the Nikon D3x

The very first impression of the camera does not make you happy: That is the price tag. I had a while to digest that before I actually had the D3x in my hands. When I unpacked the camera in a motel room in Baja and played around with the settings and fired off the first rounds of shot I suddenly thought there was something wrong with the camera. Oh my good – in the middle of a major project with a bad new camera. The problem: In CH (continous shooting hispeed ) the camera only made about a frame and a half per second. I was quite disturbed. After checking the booklet I realized however, that the reason was, that I had set the bit depth to 14 Bit. That is probably the only negative surprise that I experienced with the camera. In any other regard I was extremly impressed with how well it hit the focuspoints spot on, and how great the image quality was even with the wideangle zoom lenses. (Which speaks more for the quality of Nikon glass then of the camera)

The Nikon D3x at work

I have had the Nikon D3x for several months in the field now and tested it in some of the most difficult shooting situations you can imagine. Shooting marine life at and under the waters surface out of a fast moving plane. Such a scenario normally would be a huge nightmare for any autofocus system. To lock onto a subject that is below a reflective surface, while racing by with over 100 mph. This is where the camera blew me away. Out of a rapid fire series often 100 % of the images were perfectly sharp. And believe me I am a sharpness freak, reviewing my images constantly at a 100%. In average I would say, that over 90% of the time the AF worked beyond my expectations and the sharpness that resulted in the images was equally impressive. I suddenly realized that my D3 started to just sit in the camera bag and the only times I picked it up was when I wanted to change a lens that was on the D3 to the D3x. This is not at all to say that the D3 is a bad camera. The contrary. It is probably one of the best cameras on the market because of its wonderful high ISO performance, but I just LOVED to have 24.5 MP files from the D3x. 

This image is zoomed to 100% of the resolutions of the image / 24.5 MP Nikon D3x

Will I sell my D3?

Absolutely not. I love the camera and there are so many situations where the High ISO quality will have the priority. Whether it is in my SUBAL UW housing or for night time photography. The D3 is a absolutely perfect camera for just about anything if you do not want to go really big as for exhibits or if you want to have the flexibility to sometimes do large crops. 

SO What about the higher ISO quality?

If you expected a D3x with the same ISO quality as the D3, just twice as many pixels, you are wrong. The D3x simply does not live up to that. The obvious reason: Nikon need to pack 24.5 MP on theD3x sensor, where the D3 has only little over 12 MP. These denser pixels cannot be as light sensitive and noise free. 

That being said, I do love the way Nikon approches “noise” as film grain. I like that “organic” look of the images. I is much more like a higher ISO traditional FILM that digital image noise. Without hesitation I used settings between 400 ISO and 1000 ISO which were sufficient for my shooting situations. Beyond 1000 ISO the quality drops more obviously.

More to come about the gear in use …………