Author: Michael Fuchs Photography

I took this photograph off the coast of the Monterey peninsula. Three humpback whales just surfaced and are sinking back into the water after lunge feeding. In this case, the whales would come up as a group directly under a school of sardines. Each of the whales would take a large gulp of sardine filled water at the surface and then slowly squeeze the water through their baleen as they sank back into the water. At the time, there were also a lot of sea lions feeding in the area.  When the whales where about the come up, the sea lions would scatter in all directions to avoid the surfacing whales.

Cracks in the upper snowfield of a glacier in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska

This is a large male Stone Sheep in northern British Columbia that I photographed watching over a small group of other Stone Sheep.

Arctic tundra is a bit different than I originally expected.  From a distance it looks like rolling hills of short brown or green grass.  A bit closer up, you notice that it often has small flowers, Arctic Cottongrass, and clumps of different plants.  Looking even closer, it is neat to observe that it is a very dense ecosystem of many small plants mixed together. It is often quite soft when not frozen.  Walking on it is difficult as you sink down into the soft mossy surface and into the mud that separates the tundra from the underlying permafrost.

The midnight sun shines across the arctic tundra covered foothills of the Richardson Mountains.

I photographed this female Stone Sheep in northern British Columbia in the Canadian Rockies. It’s impressive how easily they maneuver along the rocky cliffs.

I photographed this Starburst Sea Anemone along the California coast.  I like all of the subtle color, textures, and slight transparency.