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“Once Upon Alaska” 7th Spread…Image 2866

These humpback whales are engaged in a spectacular feeding frenzy known as “bubble netting”. Working together, a group of whales uses exhaled bubbles to form a “net” to encircle schools of baitfish, like herring, to bring them toward the surface. The whales then lunge through the mass with mouths wide open. Sea water is strained out through rows of baleen, leaving behind a huge mouthful of wriggling fish. Rare in the rest of the world, bubble netting is fairly common in Southeast Alaska. ...

“Once Upon Alaska” 6th Book Spread…Image 2865

I moved to Juneau in the summer of 1979. The following summer, I found myself photographing whales in a skiff off Point Adolphus in Icy Strait. Before this time, I had not really ever seen a whale. When the whale in this image showed up it started slapping its tail. I slowly moved in to capture the behavior. By the time I got near enough for a shot the whale had been tail slapping for at least ten minutes. With each successive slap, the whale kept picking up more and more water until ...

“Once Upon Alaska” 5th Book Spread…Image 2864

This is my son, Owen, holding up a king salmon that his mother, Jan, caught from the back of our skiff at False Outer Point on Douglas Island in Juneau. Owen weighed in around 50 pounds and the king salmon weighed in at 35 pounds. They really did catch a fish almost as "big as me”. This is the fifth book spread in “Once Upon Alaska” – my upcoming children’s book.

“Once Upon Alaska” 4th Book Spread…Image 2863

Salmon returning home is an iconic Alaska event. I shot this image of pink salmon through the window of the fish ladder at the Douglas Island Pink and Chum (DIPAC) Ladd Macauley Visitors Center. Pink salmon, the smallest of the Pacific salmon found in Alaska, weigh on average 3.5- pounds and average 20-25 inches long. This is the fourth book spread in "Once Upon Alaska" - my upcoming children's book.

“Once Upon Alaska” 3rd Book Spread…Image 2862

My family and I were out visiting Paul Johnson and family in Elfin Cove. It was Easter. It was pouring...a full rubber suit day in Southeast Alaska. In spite of the pounding rain, we all headed out on our skiff bundled up under a tarp for a beach walk. In the middle of the downpour, the sky opened up. I found my camera in the bottom of the dry bag and grabbed this shot. While getting in the skiff, I was wondering why on earth I would be traveling with my camera on such a miserable ...

“Once Upon Alaska” 2nd Image Spread…Image 2861

This is my son Gabe, oh so long ago. It was his first day of learning how to drive the skiff. He was a pretty happy and proud nine year old…presently he is 28. He did turn the throttle pretty hard and almost flipped me out of the boat while I was standing up taking this photo. The skiff lesson happened at Gull Cove while we were helping our friends Paul and Tammi work on their lodge that opened in 1996. My upcoming children’s book features many of my favorite images from all the years ...

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“As a kid in Buffalo, New York, I always wondered what it would be like to encounter a whale,” says Mark Kelley. Learn more about Mark...