Photography

Alaska’s predators on display as hides and heads
Polar bears can be legally hunted by Alaskan Natives. This is one display I found at winter events that take place around the Iditarod every year in Anchorage. This shot dates from 2007.

A recent article in Slate magazine from October 2014 correctly noted that the hunting of wolves (and bears) by trophy hunters in Alaska has been a popular tool by GOP lawmakers to score local political points in one of the country’s reddest states, as measured by electoral outcomes and political attitudes. The article fails to mention, however, that guided hunts of wolves and bears can fetch $10,000 and more–and the state agency managing game is viewed by some critics as a rubber stamp for business interests who profit from this burgeoning business. I just checked and found out a brown bear hunt now can go as high as $11,500. I met a woman on an Anchorage-bound plane from Maryland once who told me she had spent $10,000 to hunt brown bears in Alaska, and she was extremely excited by the opportunity. Today, in Alaska, you can bait bears, usually with junk food, at bait stations and kill them during season legally in “game management districts.” Leaders who have spearheaded this change to expand the hunting of bears and wolves include former state lawmakers with close ties to state government. Aerial hunting planned six years ago pegged the number of planned wolf kills that year at more than 325. You can read the state’s “messages” that do not publish this other data talking about the business of hunting.

I shot this photo of two Alaskan men posing with a woman at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod in 2006. Pelts of killed wolves are sold here, and many trappers proudly show off their prizes with this head gear.

I shot this photo of two Alaskan men posing with a woman at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod in 2006. Pelts of killed wolves are sold here, and many trappers proudly show off their prizes with this head gear.

During the Fur Rondy events that precede the Iditarod, pelts and heads of killed wolves become commonplace sites in Anchorage, as displays at events and as products for sale on the streets. Trappers frequently wear wolf-cap headgear to pose with gawking out-of-staters. Here’s a shot I took from one of those events in 2006. Polar bears are legally hunted in Alaska’s North Slope and Arctic communities by Alaskan Native hunters, managed by treaty and regulations. This hide is likely from a legal hunt, and it is almost certain this wolf head is too. There are great differences between hunting for trophies and profit and subsistence hunting. I do support managed hunting, particularly for subsistence purposes by Native Alaskans and other groups globally. I do not support trophy hunting for profit, particularly hunting driven by political agendas that do not promote what I consider to be science-based conservation practices.

Working Portland, seen from Overlook Park
View of the Union Pacific rail yard, the Fremont Bridge (auto traffic only), and Downtown, all on a typically wet January day.
Forest Park looms on the hills behind the city’s industrial corridor on the Willamette River.
The yards are always busy with rail commerce.
Looking to mostly industrial lands and the historic Montgomery Park building

Portland’s riverfront, north of the Fremont Bridge (that big one seen in these photos), is utterly about work. Trains. Factories. Shipping and receiving facilities. Grain depots. Cement kilns. Factories. Fuel depots. The best perch to soak all that up is from Overlook Park. I took the photos from here, and also from another spot a block away at Overlook House. (Click on each photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Rose City Classic Dog Show, round two
The female show dog was taking it all in stride and feeling very relaxed.
It takes a lot of work getting a mass of fur looking good for show time.

I found a few more photos to publish of the utter bliss many dogs experience being the center of all that attention at the Rose City Classic Dog show in Portland. (Click on each photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Rose City Classic Dog Show, grooming time

 

Burmese mountain dog being groomed; photographed with a GoPro.
An Aussie shepherd is prepared to show in the larger grooming area.

The Rose City Classic Dog Show is a major Northwest event, attracting dogs and owners from a wide region and multiple states. The 2015 show took place at the Expo Center. It had some fabulous demonstrations of agility course athleticism. I would rather watch dogs jumping hurdles and running a slalom course than watch football any day. These are two pictures I took with my GoPro, which dogs feel comfortable with, since it is such a tiny camera. There were also some very sophisticated multimedia recordings going on, covering every participant in the agility shows, not to mention the photo booths that always populate shows.  (Click on each photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page

Missing those ubiquitous ski trails of Anchorage

 

Taken during the winter of 2007.
Taken during the winter of 2007.
Taken during the winter of 2007.
Taken during the winter of 2007.
Taken during the winter of 2007.
Taken during the winter of 2007.

Skate skiing used to be a part of my life in a major way in Anchorage, Alaska, for six winters. Now I have to drive 60 miles to some decent trails, which are not as well-groomed as what I had at my fingertips at one of the nation’s best cross-country ski areas–urban Anchorage. The Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage is the major reason why Nordic skiing in Anchorage was always way, way, way above average. A lousy winter this year has put a damper on the ski community (it was 38 degrees F on Friday, Jan. 16). I do miss those trails living so far away. I took all of these photos with a consumer-grade point and shoot Canon–a tough little workhorse that was easy to slip in my pocket and snap quick pics during a ski outing. And there were many ski outings.

(Click on each photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Janelle demonstrates frost face

 

Who the hell cares if it is a little cold outside. How about a run?

One of the truisms of true runners is, a runner runs. And they run no matter what the hell is happening outside, hot, cold, pollution, whatever. I took this shot of a running buddy, Janelle, on a great Anchorage area backcountry run on snow. Yes, you can run on snow that has melted a bit and then froze crust hard. Our adventure traversed the length of Chugach State Park in March 2007. Many a time I had ice on my eyelashes and whiskers when running during an Alaska winter.

Taking a walk through Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge
A nice walking trail takes one around the soggy bottom.
Moss is about the greenest thing in the refuge this time of year (January 2015).

 

The Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is about one-half mile from my house. At any given time one might see egrets and blue herons, ducks, geese, and maybe the urban coyotes who have found refuge here in between nocturnal prowls eating cats, rats, coons, trash, ducks, and other critters. Here are a couple of scenes from my walk last Sunday. Lovely place. (Click on each photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Good morning, great egret
I captured this great egret hunting on Jan. 11, 2015 on a slightly drizzly Portland morning.

My photographic stroll through Portland’s Oak Bottoms Wildlife Refuge led to this lovely encounter with a great egret, hunting for food. Note the orange beak and large body–characteristics that distinguish it from the snowy egret. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

You know you made it when you move to University City Hills

 

Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.
Shot with a GoPro.

I grew up in University City, Mo., a municipality next to St. Louis. It is a diverse community with a rich cultural and architectural history. It remains a racially diverse community with an incredible diversity of wealth, but has remained cohesive unlike other communities where the gap between the haves and haves not continues to widen because of growing and historic income inequality in the United States. The swankiest subdivision in this town is University City Hills, located on the south edge of the city next to much more affluent Clayton, Mo., a mini-financial hub for the St. Louis area. Homes date from the first half of the 20th century and span a wide variety of European styles. It exudes money and power, even though it is quaint as moneyed neighborhoods go.

Growing up in areas far less affluent than University City Hills, I always knew a giant gulf separated me and the kids who lived here. Many of them are the type of kids who went to the best private schools, whose parents were professional and upper-middle-class, and who had better opportunities and health then the less well-off in my community. Yes, many of the kids who grew up here went to my public high school, which was a bit rough and tumble, but many more went to private schools and never experienced the world just outside their leafy suburb. One of my college classmates grew up in one of these homes. We had absolutely nothing in common, and I do not think he ever had to worry about college loans, not doing holiday ski trips, and even thinking about what a security net means to success. He was a lot like many young people I knew at my private college.

I still love how pretty the homes are in University City Hills. I know many of the people who live here are likely good people. But they still remain in a place that is worlds apart from the lower-income areas about two miles north. However because these homes are in St. Louis, prices are ridiculously low compared to, say where I have lived, in Seattle. A three-story brick beauty here is actually less than a single story wood shack in parts of Seattle.