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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Canadian Geographic Cover

It's official! The December issue of Canadian Geographic magazine will feature this image of mine of Delinda, a wild wolf that I came to know very well over the course of a few years, on the cover:

I knew I was in the running for the cover about two weeks ago when the photo editor for the magazine called me and asked for my permission to put two of my images of Delinda in the online 'cover vote' that they do with subscribers to confirm their selection of each month's cover.

My two images (see below) were up against a red fox.


Fortunately for me, the readers chose one of the images of Delinda, though as this week's Banff Crag & Canyon article on the cover selection suggests, I wasn't sure I'd win. In fact, I was pretty sure that my two wolf images would saw each other off at the pass in the voting, handing the next cover to the image of the red fox.

Thankfully I was wrong! It's my first cover of Canadian Geographic magazine, though I've had several covers with them for their catalogs and calendars over the years and am quite regularly published in the magazine via my stock photography agents.

The Canadian Geographic website is also doing a feature story on the cover shot and on my experiences with Delinda, the former matriarch of the Bow Valley wolf pack who died tragically on the Trans-Canada Highway a year ago. You can read more about her untimely death in the article below from Macleans magazine in September 2008 (click on the picture to see the full-size article).


A year later and Delinda's death is still no easier for me to take. Every time I drive the Bow Valley Parkway I'm reminded of the cherished time I got to spend watching and photographing her and her pack. Her death signaled a changing of the pack structure and the beginning of chaos amid the Bow Valley wolves. Today, 14 months after her death, more than half her pack has been killed just like she was on the busy roads of Banff National Park, Canada's supposed 'flagship' national park. And with no sightings of any members of the pack in the past few months, no one is even sure if any of them are still alive.

Since this coming December issue is the special first anniversary of Canadian Geographic's annual Wildlife-only issue and one of the topics in the magazine will be the state of wildlife conservation in Canada, I think it's very fitting that this iconic image of Delinda, one that already greets millions of Banff visitors from the back of one of the town's hybrid buses, will be gracing the cover of Canada's most-read nature magazine.

I can only hope her picture and her story lead to an improvement in how wildlife is managed (an oxymoron in itself) in our national parks.

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Monday, November 2, 2009

Polar Bear Pictures

A year ago, as a test trip as part of a Canadian wildlife photography tour company that I'm launching in 2010, I visited Churchill, Manitoba along with a few colleagues. We braved -40 temperatures and five days of blizzards, but got some absolutely fabulous opportunities with the polar bears.

This is the first sneak peek at the polar bear pictures (the best are yet to come!). Enjoy!

A young polar bear bedded down in a snow drift

An adult polar bear pops up for a look at us

Mother and cub in a winter blizzard

Large adult polar bear having a snooze on the ice

A polar bear crosses the vast tundra beneath stormy skies

Two polar bears spar (playfight)

A mother polar bear and her yearling cub cross the tundra beneath sunny skies

For more information and updates on my new tour company launching in 2010, please stay tuned here on my blog.

Cheers,

John

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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Wildlife Photography Instructional Seminar - November 21st

I will be speaking all about wildlife photography, from tips, tricks and techniques, to essential must-have gear and my favourite locations, at the Gary Campbell Studio in Calgary, Saturday, November 21st, 2009 from 1-3 p.m.


If you're interested, you can sign up online at The Camera Store's website.

The Camera Store has also posted a video of me from last weekend's Western Canada Digital Photo Expo, so check that out when you have time (just ignore the supremely shiny bald head! Ha-ha!).

Stay tuned for updates on more seminars, field workshops, and new pictures in the coming days and weeks.

Cheers,

John

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