Longtime Juneauite Mark Kelley said his goal as a photographer has always been to share Alaska one image at a time. Recently, 10 of his images did just that — and more.
Last month Kelley was named the winning photographer in the 2022 portfolio category featured in the National Wildlife Magazine photo contest, an annual competition that receives more than 30,000 photos submitted by over 3,100 photographers with images coming in from across the globe.
Kelley’s winning portfolio featured 10 photos taken over the past 13 years which document the abundance of black and brown bears that live within the Tongass National Forest along Anan Creek, located around 30 miles from Wrangell. The creek supports one of the most robust pink salmon runs in Southeast Alaska and is one of the exceedingly rare locations where both black and brown bears coexist close to each other.
This photo was one of the 10 photos a part of Juneau-based photographer Mark Kelley’s award-winning portfolio featured in the 2022 National Wildlife Magazine photo contest. The photo depicts a black bear eating a pink salmon after fishing along the Anan Creek. (Courtesy / Mark Kelley)
“It’s a real honor,” Kelley said to the Empire. “I was blown away — I think for a wildlife photographer it’s the world’s highest compliment.”
Kelley is no stranger to award-winning shots — he’s won dozens over the decades he’s lived and worked as a photographer in Southeast Alaska.
Although he’s originally from Buffalo, New York, Kelley said he considers himself a “Southeast guy.”
Kelley said he always thought his love for photography growing up was just a hobby, not something he could turn into a career. That changed when he began taking photography classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks after leaving the Lower 48 and coming to also in 1974.
“I left for Alaska with a pickup truck and a couple of thousand dollars with no great plan,” he said.
After graduating, Kelley was able to successfully secure a photography job in Juneau and after moving to the capital city in 1979, he never looked back.
“I fell in love with Juneau,” he said.
Kelley said he was drawn to Anan Creek and the animals surrounding it because the location is distinctly Southeast Alaska. He said each photo depicts the constant rain, towering trees and flourishing green of the forest that makes the region, unlike other parts of Alaska. But, beyond the location, he said what brings the area to life is the abundant range of wildlife that lives among the torrential rainforest.
Mark Kelley analyses some of his photos that were featured in the print edition of the 2022 National Wildlife Magazine photo contest edition. Each photo included in his portfolio was closely examined and deliberated on before he settled with the final 10 photos that built the body of work. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
“I go to Anan because it’s so much fun — forget the picture — it’s so much fun watching these bears and how they interact with each other, they show all the emotions of a human being — I just never wanted to miss anything,” he said.
For those 13 years he spent capturing photos at the location, Kelley estimated that for each one of the 10 photos he chose, thousands were taken to find those exact moments. Along with that, each time he visited the area, he spent around three to four days standing on a viewing platform for 8-10 hours with no food in hopes to catch those special moments.
“I learned to be really patient,” he said.
And that patience paid off.
“The winners presented here, from each of our nine different categories, reflect nature in all its rich variety, from moments of raw but life-giving predation to a parent’s tender embrace, from lofty cliffside perches to placid undersea meadows,” the contest website stated. “Whether avid amateurs or longtime professionals, nature photographers who share their gifts help the rest of us see the world through new eyes—and inspire us to save what we see.”
To that end, Kelley referenced one of the photos where a mother and cub are seen walking behind a group of people as they look in the opposite direction, completely oblivious to the scene just feet away from them. He said moments like that come in the blink of an eye, but when captured, it makes all those long hours of waiting worth it.
This photo was one of the 10 photos a part of Juneau-based photographer Mark Kelley’s award-winning portfolio featured in the 2022 National Wildlife Magazine photo contest. The photo depicts black bear carrying a salmon behind the backs of visitors to the Tongass National Forest along Anan Creek. (Courtesy / Mark Kelley)
“It was just a wonderful moment, those people who were looking for the thing that was happening right behind them,” he said. “I just wanted to show the range of emotions, a range of views, wide and tight, I was looking for moments showing the caring nature of bears and illustrate what it’s like there.”
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
