14-JUN-2013
Cannery Relic, Pybus Point Lodge, Admiralty Island, Alaska, 2013
This fly-in fishing camp was constructed upon the foundations of a salmon cannery, which was built more than 100 years ago. Relics of this cannery can still be found strewn about this camp. This gear was part of a machine that processed salmon. It was covered in red rust, and almost buried by the lush vegetation. By converting this image to black and white, I made the gear almost invisible. It seems as if it is there, yet also not quite there, just as the cannery itself. The era of commercial salmon fishing and processing is long gone from Admiralty Island. In fact, the entire 90 mile long island – the seventh largest island in the United States – is now mostly occupied by the Admiralty Island National Monument, a federally protected wilderness area. The camp itself is allowed to exist today because its builders purchased the land from the heirs of the cannery owners, a structure built and later abandoned long before the island became a National Monument.
14-JUN-2013
Fishing Fleet, Pybus Point Lodge, Admiralty Island, Alaska, 2013
I photographed parts of two identical fishing boats parked side by side at our fly-in fishing camp. I organized the image through rhythm and pattern, stressing the repeating flow of hull supports and railings. A fisherman stands within one of the boats at upper right, lending human scale to the scene. The silver structures suggest power and strength, two important characteristics for small craft that must carry up to a dozen people in weather that is always changing by the hour.
14-JUN-2013
Dungeness Crab traps, Pybus Bay, Admiralty Island, Alaska, 2013
A pile of 30 crab traps stand on a wilderness beach, waiting to be placed in the water. I was drawn to this image because of the layering of colors. The brown and orange traps, along with the sandy beach, are squeezed between a layer of green water at bottom and a layer of green trees at the top. The Alaskan Dungeness Crab season opened the day after I made this photograph, and commercial crab trappers were obviously fully ready for it. They had already piled caches of such traps along the shores of the inlets and channels where the crab were most likely to be found. Dungeness Crab is trapped in eelgrass beds, as well as on the bottom of the bay itself. The day after I made this image, Dungeness Crab was featured at our lodge’s dinner. The crabs had been trapped only a few hours before they were served to us. The meat has a delicate flavor and is slightly sweet.
15-JUN-2013
Bald eagle roost, Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
Our fishing camp was located within Cannery Cove –a small bay within Pybus Bay itself. Dozens of bald eagles roost in this cove, many of them within our fishing camp, largely because they usually feed on the carcasses of the fish that are caught and then cleaned here. This backlighted immature eagle waits on a nearby rock for a free breakfast. However, each day’s catch is not cleaned until the fishermen return home at 5 pm, and this young eagle will have a long wait.
14-JUN-2013
A gathering of eagles, Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
This is the first image in a three-picture sequence featuring bald eagles feeding on fish carcasses at the Pybus Point Lodge fly-in fishing camp. More than a dozen eagles, both mature and immature, gathered on these rocks at sunset as the tide receded, waiting for it to reveal what remained of the halibut discarded by the camp’s fishermen. Here three mature bald eagles wait patiently, paying no attention to an immature eagle about to land in their midst.
14-JUN-2013
Parental lesson, Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
In this, the second image of this eagle-feeding sequence, a mature eagle shows off its six-foot wingspan to a young member of the family. A vivid sunset turns the island just behind it to gold. A mature bald eagle has a wingspan of six or seven feet. The largest bald eagles are found here in Alaska. Female bald eagles are twenty five per cent larger than males. This eagle in flight might well be the mother of the immature eagle waiting on the rock. At this time of year, the immature eagles are being taught how to hunt by their parents.
14-JUN-2013
Halibut feast, Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
Five minutes after making the previous image, this eagle spotted a chunk of halibut carcass in the shallow water and swooped down to grab it in its talons. I conclude this sequence with this image of success, as the eagle soars towards my camera. The young eagle behind it will soon share in the feast.
15-JUN-2013
Fearsome sight, Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
A bald eagle lunges towards a young eagle barely visible in the lower right hand corner of the frame. I caught its fearsome expression in the early morning light – it was responding with what seemed like anger to something the young eagle had done. The low angle of the sun illuminates the head, while throwing the rest into shadow. I made hundreds of images of eagles while at the Pybus Point Lodge. I was fortunate to visit at this time of year – later in the summer these eagles leave the lodge area to hunt among distant streams filled with spawning salmon. I made at least several hundred images of eagles during my four-day stay at the Pybus Point Lodge fishing camp. Bald eagles were always around me, day and night. They would float past the windows of my cabin, filling the air with their cries. This image is perhaps the single most rewarding image I was to make of eagles in Alaska. It is more than a descriptive portrait. It is intimate, beautifully illuminated, and full of feeling.
16-JUN-2013
Ducks on Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
I caught three ducks here, each frozen in a different stage of motion, traveling before me in horizontal alignment towards a distant island. The water was calm, the skies laden in mist. This image is rich in atmosphere and mood, and I convert it to black and white to further abstract it, honing it down to only its most essential elements.
17-JUN-2013
Waterbirds, Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
This quintet, most likely immature seagulls, aligned themselves perfectly within my frame. Their delicate pale features contrast with their lookout spot, a large, kelp covered rock. This rock had just become available to them as a gift from the outgoing tide. The negative space between each gull creates a sense of tension, while the repeating heads provide rhythmic repetition that carries the eye through the image.
17-JUN-2013
Nature’s trick, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
My guide took me deep into an unnamed cove, tucked into the vast nooks and crannies of Pybus Bay. The water was as smooth as a mirror, allowing me to work with reflection as well as subject matter. This tree seems to have broken free of the ground, and hangs lifeless against the rocks before us. However, the surrounding overhead canopy of vibrant green foliage makes it seem as if this tree is alive and flourishing. I regard the scene as a trick of nature.
16-JUN-2013
Dragon Rock, Pybus Bay, Alaska, 2013
As soon as I saw this rock, crowded with trees along its spine and glowing in the morning light, I thought I was seeing a dragon. Its translucent head draws the eye. It seems to have a hooked beak and an open mouth. My guide told me that it is called “Dragon Rock,” and I asked him how it came to have that name. He answered, “I think it looks like a dragon, and obviously, so do you.”