During the last week of October, 2003, I and 4 other photographers under the direction of my self-appointed mentor trekked off Barrow, Alaska in search of Polar Bears.  It was his hope to find a place not yet spoiled by hoards of photographers in Tundra buggies where we could photograph these creatures in their natural environment as winter set in.

Barrow, Ak is the northermost city on the North American Continent.  It is located 320 miles inside the Arctic Circle.  That's way north, but still 1200 miles from the North Pole!  The city is unlike any other I've seen.  It is populated by about 4,000 people most of whom are native Inupiat Eskimos who have lived there for  over 15,000 years!  The city is built on permafrost which means the ground is always frozen!  Sewer and water have to be carried by above ground heated pipes.  All things have to be brought in by barge during the summer months or by air ... they are serviced by Alaska Airlines.  There were a couple of other anomalies..  First, there was a Japanese Sushi Bar in town staffed with a Japanese sushi chef, and if that wasn't unusual enough, a Mexican restaurant (Peppi's)! 

At that time of the year, Sunrise came at 10:15 AM and sunset at 6:00 PM.  And, for most of the time during our stay, light was at a premium.  As you all know, light, for a photographer, is all important.  The then state of the art in digital cameras was exemplified by my Nikon D2h.  It captured images with just 4 mega-pixels and it didn't do well in dim light. Nor did I know much about how to process images captured in that kind of light.

This first image was taken on a cloudy, cold (by Southern California standards) day at sunrise.  We are looking South West over the Bearing Sea which had not yet frozen ... an omen about the climate change, and about our chances of seeing Polar Bears since they come in off the ice.  

I've titled this image "Circles": 

and here's a verticle shot taken at the same time:

I love the soft tones of this next image which is looking North towards the Pole some 1,200 miles away:

We came across this scene.  I never got a straight story.  Is it a grave site or just a marker of some event that happened there?  I do not  know but I couldn't pass up the scene.

CAUTION:  IF YOU ARE SQUEEMISH, SKIP THE NEXT TWO PHOTOS!

There wasn't much in the way of wildlife to photograph.  We came across this Snowy Owl sitting on the ground and wondered what it was doing until we spotted a gull that it had knocked down and seriously wounded.  Our guide had to walk over to the gull and put it out of its misery.  

Have you ever wondered where the term "Fox Hole" came from?  I hadn't but it became obvious when we spotted this Arctic Fox who came out of his den for a brief moment.  Apparently he didn't like what he saw as he stretched, stuck out his tongue for he turned around and went right back into his fox hole!

There were herds of Caribou hanging around.  The natives would go out on their snowmobiles, shoot and dress one down as part of their food source.  I got these two back lighted images taken at Sunset:

And that was about it for live wildlife!  

One of the highlights of the trip, though, was the appearance of the aurora borealis (the Northern Lights).  One night we spent a couple of hours attempting to photograph them.  This was the best I did with my then curent knowledge and equipment.  I  like to think it would be a lot better it I attempted this today:

It seemed that the climate changes foiled our plan to photograph Polar Bears.  The sea had not frozen over and the bears were "stuck" out on the ice floes hundreds of miles away.  We saw one set of polar bear tracks, and that was it!  Such is the life of  a wildlife photographer ... dependent on good fortune and mother nature.  None-the-less, the experience was pretty interesting. 

Another highlight of the trip was a fascinating experience watching the Inuipat's carve up a whale which they had caught!  The next blog which I will title: "They had a Whale of a Time" will focus exclusively on that even.  If you are squeemish and don't like to see blood, I suggest you skip reading it.  

I hope you enjoyed this little adventure into the northern most part of the United States.

Bye for now,

Adam