Tufted Puffins

[gail bisson]

There are lots of things wrong with this picture but I like it for the memories.
While in Nome, we took a small boat out to Sledge island which is about an hour long trip. We thought we would be able to land on this small rocky outcrop but pack ice had completely surrounded the island.
3 of us decided to get off the boat and climb onto the pack ice with all our gear. Now that I think about it, it was a really dangerous thing to do but thankfully we had no problems and wandered about the ice for about 2 hours. Very slippery and lots of jumping from ice chunk to ice chunk. We were really lucky the ice pack did not move while we were on it.
It was worth it to see 3 lifers for me- horned and tufted puffin and emperor goose. Shooting conditions were very difficult and it was almost impossible to bet the sun behind us. Didn't get anything award winning but still love the images I got.
Canon 1DX 600mm and 1.4x ISO 800 F 10 SS 1/1000
PP Crop, levels, lifted the shadows,NR to BG, levels, DE at 5% on the belly of RH bird and 1% to the rest of the birds.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[gail bisson]

Here are pics of the island and the ice.
Mods feel free to delete if you want if not appropriate

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful birds and wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing, Gail.

[Colin Driscoll]

Great story and good that you survived to post your shot which has a nice environmental feel to it.

[Bill Dix]

Are you crazy, or what? I've done some similar things in years past, and only after the fact stopped to ask myself: What were you thinking? And it has led to a bunch of images that I refuse to delete, just for the memories. So thanks for posting this, to remind me of my own ill-advised shenanigans. The Puffin shot could be very nice if there were a way to tone down the brightness of the rocks; but I particularly like the environment in the final shot of the series.

[gail bisson]

Thanks for commenting Bill, Joe and Colin. Really appreciate it.

[Jim Crosswell]

Looks like you had a great adventure Gail! I have never seen these Puffins before, TFS.

[William Dickson]

These are the shots that inspire you. Love it Gail. Thanks for sharing

Will

[David Salem]

Not sure how I missed this one. The story is great, and to be honest, taking some chances is the way to get something special, as I think you know.
Thanks for the landscape shots. It looks like an awesome place to be and to make some endless memories. Congrats on getting your fine images Gail.