The largest concentration of bald eagles is found in Alaska, and we were welcomed by one of them just a few hours into our cruise. Drifting high above our ship, the eagle’s huge seven-foot wingspan is echoed by the golden cloud that stretches across the frame above it. The juxtaposition of wing and cloud suggests not only the physical majesty of the bird, but its symbolic role as the national symbol of the United States.

I have photographed whales for many years, but had never been fortunate to see one throw its huge body out of the water, let alone photograph such an event. But on the night of June 7, 2013, I was able to do both. Not only was I able to capture this humpback at the apex of its leap, but also the backdrop and the late Alaskan evening light offered a memorable context for the scene. This whale had been following our boat for a mile or so, swimming in wide circles around it. The sun was due to set within the hour, due to the very long Alaskan summer night. The angle of the sun plunged the rounded island in the background into shadow, and muted the light on the mountains and sky behind it. Yet the water itself appeared as a golden sheet of shimmering ripples. The whale has been releasing golden puffs of water, known as spouts, for more than ten minutes. I photographed many of those spouts, and was very pleased with the results. More importantly, my “spout shooting” forced me to remain focused on the ripples the whale was making from just below the surface, so that when it decided to vault into the air, I able catch the decisive moment. The angle of the light turns the splash around the whale, and the water pouring off of its massive body, to gold as well. I had prepared for such a moment as this as best I could, but in the end, it is the whale that made the picture by deciding to breach right in front my camera. In my post processing, I kept this golden leap true to life. My most significant processing addition was to slightly darken the tree, mountain, and sky backdrop, leaving center stage to the breaching whale shedding its curtain of golden water.

This memorable sunset capped our very first day in Alaska. I made this about fifteen minutes after the sun had set (at 10:15 at night), turning Chichagof Strait into a copper and turquoise channel carrying the eye to the brilliantly colored snowcapped peaks on Chichagof Island itself. In just our first five hours of cruising, I had already photographed a bald eagle, a rainbow, and a breaching whale – a fitting prelude to this image, one of the most striking dusk scenes I’ve ever encountered.

Shooting from a skiff, I came within a few yards of this massive chunk of floating ice that had broken away from Margerie Glacier. I was drawn to its translucence and its odd blue color. The color is due to air bubbles trapped within the ice being squeezed out. As the size of the ice crystals within the ice increase, they become clear and blue. The blue color is intensified by the blue reflection in the water. I was also drawn to the diagonal thrusts of the ice itself, and the way it seems to glow at the base. The jagged blue translucent ice symbolically provides a metaphor for a rugged yet magical place.

While glaciers are prominent in the northern half of Glacier National Park, temperate rainforests dominate its southern part. Evergreen trees such as Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce thrive in the mild, moist climate of these rainforests. Such trees drip with lichens and mosses, and share space with layers of vegetation that include blueberries, fungi, liverworts and wildflowers that blanket the forest floor. The vast quantity of things living or that once lived but that are now decaying produces some of the largest accumulations of organic material on earth. A National Park Service Ranger took us on a walk through just such a rainforest adjacent to the park’s visitor’s center. During that walk, I came upon this scene. In this image, I attempt to express the essence of rejuvenation itself. Using a prime 24mm wideangle lens, I emphasize the sheer scale of these massive fallen trees, now covered in moss and lichen, yet providing a platform for new growth everywhere around them.

I photographed many different creatures during my eleven-day shoot in Alaska, ranging in size from huge humpback whales to the tiny red bug shown in this image. This insect, which I’ve learned is most likely known scientifically as "Dictoptera Hamatus," was extremely difficult to shoot at close range. It was scuttling quickly across a flat rock in a rainforest near the National Park’s visitors center. I put my camera in Macro mode, and moved in as far as my wideangle lens would allow, and was able to make several images before it fled from sight. The insect vanished into my shadow in my first few images, but eventually the little red bug emerged from my looming shadow and broke into the clear. It seems to be laboring uphill at the moment, its head down but antennae held high as its six little red legs churn forward. This kind of insect is related to termites and cockroaches, but is far bolder in color. While this photo is a far cry from a breaching humpback whale, it does depict a legitimate native of Southeastern Alaska’s rain forest in action.