I'm busily preparing for my semi-annual Yukon trip. I try to make two excursions each year, one in Fall and one in winter, to Canada's Yukon Territory, which I have grown to love dearly.  This year I am taking 5 friends who I have known for 25 years. Every other year we leave family behind and take a "mancation" together. This time we'll be driving 2 RVs from Whitehorse, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territory and then flying to Tuktoyaktuk, capped off with a dip in the Arctic Ocean. 

Once that 11-day adventure is over and my friends fly home to the States, I plan to spend another 10 days photographing bear, Fall foliage in the Arctic Tundra and the Northern Lights with my good friend and fellow pro photographer Richard Hartmier (www.hartmier.com). 

If you're inclined, follow my adventure through my blog site (http://blog.lesterpickerphoto.com or just click on the Blog button above). I'll be posting regular updates and you'll be able to follow my location each day via my SPOT GPS device. 

I leave for the Yukon on February 1 to cover the Yukon Quest dogsled race for several publications. While there I also hope to get some winter scenic images, although Mother Nature may have different ideas. Last week the temperatures in Whitehorse and Dawson City were -36F and -58F, respectively!! Still, I love Canada's Yukon, where there are two moose for every person and nearly one bear per person. Plus, photographically it is stunning, boasting mountains, lakes, rivers and the incomparable tundra. 

This trip I've added a new dimension to my travels. I'll be using the newest SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger device, so those following my expedition on my blog (blog.lesterpickerphoto.com) will be able to click on a link and see exactly where I am on Google maps. 

If you're interested in Canada's Yukon, or in cold weather photography in general, please consider following my blog where I post photo tips and near daily updates. 

In the  meantime, stay warm!

 We returned from the trip of a lifetime to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and New Caledonia. It rained or was gray and miserable for 26 of those days, yet nothing could take away from the grandeur of the places we visited. From the striking vistas of Australia's Great Ocean Road to the soaring majesty of New Zealand's fiords, one has to breathe every so often and recognize the incredible beauty of our natural world. 

To see images of these locales, visit the Gallery section of this website. To read descriptions of the trip itself, be sure to visit my blog site: blog.lesterpickerphoto.com. 

Just returned from a 2-week stint in Canada that took us in a loop from Baltimore to Vancouver, then northeast by train to Jasper and Banff National Parks, northwest by train to Prince Rupert, then by 15-hour ferry ride south to Vancouver Island, east to the Sunshine coast of British Columbia and back to Vancouver and Baltimore. I blogged several times during the trip (check out my blog), but the airplane-train-automobile-ferry adventure was a mixed bag. Rain and heavy forest fires in British Columbia (more than 300 fires were burning during our trip) messed with my photography goals. Guess I’ll just have to go back! To read more about the adventure, please visit my blog:

blog.lesterpickerphoto.com

 

I had an interesting 10-day trip to Costa Rica, exploring its volcanoes, waterfalls, national parks and other attractions. For me, the highlight was visiting the Osa peninsula, a remote section of the country that is home to an incredibly diverse flora and fauna. I’ll report more on this in my blog, and I’ll post some choice images on my website soon, but just imagine this; on a single night hike with an experienced guide we saw six species of snakes, five of them venomous, along with oversized insects and other creatures of the rain forest!

 

First, I wish all my clients, friends and website visitors a wonderful 2010!

I've begun catching up with processing images from my recent trips to British Columbia, Yukon Territory and Alberta. Sorting through hundreds of images, processing them and posting them is a painstaking process, made easier by the fact that I get to revisit some precious memories. I invite you to view the images from my Yukon visit. Click on Galleries>Canada>Yukon. If you are at all inclined toward adventure travel, I can't recommend a trip to the Yukon highly enough. With 33,000 residents, 65,000 moose, 30,000 bear and tens of thousands of caribou, this pristine country is valhalla for nature enthusiasts. If you can arrange it, go in Fall, which in the high latitudes comes in late August. The colors and abundance of wildlife will capture your heart and spirit. 

I also invite you to visit my new Photo Installations page, which highlights my latest multiple photo installation. It was a challenging and enjoyable project and highlights what photography can do for home and office decorating. If you're interested in adding oomph to your home or office decor, let me know. We can help with photo selection, and offer a complete design service. We even provide you with a template that makes installation easy!

Okay. back to processing. Watch for my Canadian Rockies (Banff and Jasper) images next. 

Les

PS: Please sign up for my mailing list. That way I can notify you of new releases, recent blog entries and private sales. 

 For more than 3 weeks I had my cameras loaded, eagerly anticipating our first snowfall. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so eager. When it arrived we were buried under 21", with no way for me to get out! Finally, on Day 2 after the dump, I took my 4WD to a state park, where I managed to get stuck. Instead of digging out immediately, I hiked through pristine snow to a stream and waterfall and spent a glorious 3 hours under a sunny sky photographing. In fact, there had been too much snow and the scene did not render quite as well as I would have liked (weigh in with your opinion). But, as a nature photographer once said, you can't have a bad day being out photographing the natural world. I did manage to get a few decent images, though. 

When I got back to my car, it was still stuck and it took 3 separate shovelings to extricate it. Okay, so maybe a nature photographer can have a bad day after all!

In any event, I would like to wish all my clients and website visitors a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and productive 2010!

Once I returned from the North Country, I eagerly anticipated a beautiful fall in my home state of Maryland. But, a record-setting rainy fall muted the normally vibrant colors and shortened the season. Still, I was able to photograph in several of the State parks and scenic areas near my home. You can see some of the images featured in my Mid-Atlantic Gallery. As a heads-up, click on my new PHOTO INSTALLATIONS banner at the top of my Website home page. I photographed a recent photo installation at a client's house. I welcome comments and critiques. 

Well, I just returned from an intense travel period from May into October that covered British Columbia, Yukon Territory, Maine, North Carolina, and Alberta.  In the coming weeks and months you'll see images appear on my site from these spectacular locations (another reason to sign up for my newsletter!).  Along the way I had encounters with grizzlies and black bears, coyotes, moose and other beautiful creatures. I awoke before sunrise and often photographed awesome landscapes all day until well past sunset. But what I will remember most are the wonderful people I met along the way. My hat is off to my fellow travelers, photographers and wise and welcoming residents of the areas I visited. As soon as I catch up with processing my images, I'll report back on what I saw and learned, but in the meantime, why not visit my blog and leave your comments to share with others? 

Best wishes for a great Fall. Happy shooting!

This summer promises to be a busy one. In July I’ll spend two weeks in British Columbia with my friends Ed and Joy Hill. We will join Barbara Higgins and her grandson Robert, and other members of the Sechelt First Nation people of Canada. I will be documenting a journey on Lake Okanagan in traditional canoes, stopping each day at a First Nation village and celebrating with them their rich native cultures. Go to www.pullingtogether.ca to learn more about Pulling Together, a paddling journey that creates bridges of understanding between the First Nations people and white society.

As an aside, Ed Hill and Barb Higgins are two of the most amazing people I have ever known. Ed is a retired and well-respected Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), as well as a consummate outdoorsman. After retirement he honed his ample artistic talents and is now a highly regarded Canadian wildlife and landscape artist. Please visit his work at http://edhillart.com.

Barbara Higgins is one of the matriarchs of the Sechelt First Nation, a people who are primarily located in the coastal areas north of Vancouver. To say that Barbara is a very wise elder and a seer would be an understatement. For a limited time I am giving away copies of her CDs to anyone who purchases one of my prints mounted on a ColorPlak display. The proceeds of the CDs will go to Barb and her uplifting work with the young people of her tribe. Barb is a master storyteller in the ancient First Nations tradition. I guarantee you will be transported to another time and place as you listen to the tales she spins on her CDs.

In August and September I will be in the Yukon and Arctic again, photographing the fall colors and hopefully Caribou and bear. Leslie and I will be traveling with our friends, Sibell and Stephen Hackney of Whitehorse. For part of our visit we will participate in a Great River Journey, an awesome trip down the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City, which I will be covering as part of a magazine/newspaper assignment. For details go to: www.greatriverjourney.com.

In late September-early October I’ll be in the Banff region of Canada, photographing and trying out some new photographic skills. Seems like there is a theme here. We sometimes think of the United States and its scenic splendor. But Canada is every bit as stunning as is America and in many cases, especially in the more remote regions, even more so.

As always I welcome questions about my photography, or photography in general, which I will answer in my blog (please click on my blog link).

Thank you for visiting my site!