Carl Johnson

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Carl Johnson Carl explores wild places of the United States, circumpolar Arctic, and Botswana.

We have had a marvelous, extended autumn this year. As I look outside my home office window toward the Chugach Mountains...
10/12/2026

We have had a marvelous, extended autumn this year. As I look outside my home office window toward the Chugach Mountains to the east, I still see lots of fall colors in the trees with the snow line about halfway down the mountain.

Michelle and I are heading up to Fairbanks today for the annual convention of the Alaska Travel Industry Association. I will be leading a panel discussion on how to grow dark sky tourism in Alaska.

A lot has been going on, there is a bit of news to share here and there, but for now I am going to be posting some fall color images to share with you what I have been photographing lately. Enjoy!

Whether during day tours or on my photo workshops, or in my presentations about the northern lights, I always lecture ab...
09/21/2026

Whether during day tours or on my photo workshops, or in my presentations about the northern lights, I always lecture about the importance of composition in aurora photography. It is still, after all, landscape photography. Careful composition matters. It is easy to get excited and just shoot the aurora without thinking about things like foreground elements or leading lines. But we need to slow down and remember that those things still matter at night. During my recent Brooks Range Landscapes & Aurora workshop, we battled cloud patterns that refused to give us a full view of the sky. This compelled me to seek out a spot we had shot during the daytime: a nearby pond with a stream outflow. (Hint: This also reflects the importance of daytime scouting for aurora photography.) The foreground reflections allowed me to expand through reflection the available subject to photograph.

Okay everyone, where am I tonight? (iPhone photo)
09/20/2026

Okay everyone, where am I tonight? (iPhone photo)

Alaska is rarely identified as a travel destination for fall colors. Perhaps it is because we lack the oak and maple tha...
09/18/2026

Alaska is rarely identified as a travel destination for fall colors. Perhaps it is because we lack the oak and maple that adds so much color to the woods. But that's only because those travel writers are just looking to the woods. We have entire mountainsides that turn hues of red, maroon, purple, orange, and gold. Bearberry, blueberry, dwarf dogwood, dwarf birch - all come together to create an insane portfolio of autumn color. And from when colors are peaking in the North Slope region down to when they are in Southcentral Alaska, there is almost six weeks of fall colors. So when you are in Alaska in the autumn, look high.

Due to lodging availability and moon phases, it had been a few years since I conducted my autumn Brooks Range trip at ar...
09/17/2026

Due to lodging availability and moon phases, it had been a few years since I conducted my autumn Brooks Range trip at around peak fall colors. It was amazing to be back in that part of the state for the colors, but also to see the landscapes in between there and Anchorage at various stages of transition. Here is just a sample of colorful landscapes from the area near Denali National Park & Preserve and the Chandalar Shelf in the Brooks Range.

My trip next year has the same dates of September 3-8. Care to join me? https://alaskaphototreks.com/experience-alaska/experience-alaska-brooks-range-landscapes-and-aurora/

This will be the last photo I post for a bit from my recent trip out to Chinitna Bay with Brown Bear Bay Suites. I am he...
09/04/2026

This will be the last photo I post for a bit from my recent trip out to Chinitna Bay with Brown Bear Bay Suites. I am heading up to Fairbanks today to meet up with clients for our autumn trip to the Brooks Range. The next few days of photos will be from that trip.

There are several things I love about this photo of a wolf. First, the color. We have so many plants that contribute to our autumn colors in Alaska, and here the tidal sedges are creating that pop. Second, I took this photo from the balcony outside my room. It really does not get any better than that when it comes to wild accommodations! And third, I love how the wolf's fur color really is a great match for its surroundings.

More to come later on photos from the trip. You can read my Site Visit report I posted to the blog for Alaska Photo Treks. - https://alaskaphototreks.com/site-visit-brown-bear-bay-lodge/

I had a vision for this morning from when I first got up and saw the low, moody clouds hanging around the mountains. I w...
08/31/2026

I had a vision for this morning from when I first got up and saw the low, moody clouds hanging around the mountains. I wanted to get a bear in the foreground with those dramatic cloud-enshrouded mountains in the background. We found this sow and cub resting on the end of a spit and waited. Once in a while, a sound would get their attention and they would lift their heads a little, but not much. This time, they both raised their heads enough to provide some separation between each other and their background. Another marvelous day in Chinitna Bay with Brown Bear Bay Suites!

08/31/2026

And now for a more humorous video ... Among the many things we viewed at the Brown Bear Bay Suites was this sow brown bear scratching her back on a scent-marking tree. I was about thirty feet away from her, watching from my balcony.

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