A transient orca in Holkham Bay.
Alaska. Photography. Wildlife.
Alaska and photography are the perfect fusion of wilderness and wildlife—with outstanding photography, aerial photography, and photo-video opportunities.
Join us on an eight-day Photography Workshop, and experience the locations of Alaska's Inside Passage aboard Glacier Bear. The Glacier Bear offers an ideal platform to photograph the tidewater glaciers, coastal brown bears, and migrating humpback whales of Alaska. Photographers of all experience levels, especially those wishing to experience Alaska in comfort, will love exploring aboard this handsome boat.
Nothing matches the freedom and comfort of a photography expedition aboard a private Alaskan yacht. Our mobile base transports us to pristine waterways, with unparalleled access to whales and wildlife and the best locations for viewing fjords, icebergs, and glaciers. Wildlife photographers can expect to add Alaska Brown Bears, Stellar Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Orcas, Humpback Whales, and Bald Eagles to their dream portfolios. Landscape photographers will thrill at the photographic perspectives available from wilderness hikes, our highly stable double kayaks, and our motorized boat. There is no better way to share the joy of the mesmerizing Alaskan wilderness than capturing images with your fellow photographers.
Bald Eagle Using an iPhone camera, anyone can capture high-quality photos and video. You'll have endless opportunities—each day features fantastic locations, including fog-shrouded waterfalls and rainforest, the astonishing blue-green waters of quiet coves and bays, quaint fishing village, and haunting icebergs adrift in mystical fjords. The beautifully rugged Alaska coast creates an incomparable stage to photograph or film Alaska's magnificent wildlife—including bears, eagles, orcas, and humpback whales. Mix it all, and it's spectacular.
During our active week, you'll experience life Alaskan style. The 95' Glacier Bear is a great platform to anchor our adventure, and it's a nice warm place to relax after daily field sessions. The Crew will pamper you, the Chef will delight you, while the Captain maneuvers Glacier Bear to perfect locations.
Schedule Your Trip
- Trip Dates: Custom Charter
- Starts: Juneau or Sitka
- Ends: Sitka or Juneau
- Activities: Photography, Hiking, Kayaking, Photo Classroom, Photo Reviews
- Photo Highlights: Fjords, Glaciers, Icebergs, Landscapes, Rainforest, Waterfalls, Wildlife
verdant green moss-covered rocks on a hike in Sanford Cove.
Our Photographer
John Schnell Photography has lived and worked in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, and Vermont. He was an Air Traffic Controller in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in Southeast Asia. He worked as a photographer for the Ministry of Tourism in Zimbabwe while a Volunteer in the U.S Peace Corps. He also taught Marketing and International Marketing at the University of Alaska.
John is our kayaking and photography guide. He has extensive experience in Alaska. During the 1990's John was an expedition photographer for Alaska Discovery and was an assistant guide for Alaska Photography Workshops with John Fielder in 2008 and 2017. John led photography tours for Alaska Sailing Charters in 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011. He guided photography trips for Alaska Wilderness Charters in 2018 and 2019.
John's photographs have appeared in Audubon, Sierra Club, and Nature Conservancy calendars. He won the Alaska Magazine photography contest in 1993. John's images have also appeared in numerous magazines, including Nature Photography and Canoe/Kayak.
John provides valuable insight about how to create captivating photos and aerial photo-video. You'll observe, photograph, and film the extraordinary wildlife and Locations of Alaska. Our Alaska Photography Workshop is a fantastic opportunity for novice and highly skilled photographers.
For additional information, contact John at:
- Email: john@johnschnell.com
- Facebook: John Schnell Photography
- Instagram: John Schnell Photography
The beautiful harbor in Sitka, Alaska.
Our Guests Speak Highly Of Us!
It's hard to overstate how amazing the Glacier Bear, location, staff, and overall experience of being a part of the Alaska Wilderness Charters. I enjoyed everything about my time on the boat, and feel lucky to have experienced it. Cruising through the fjords, witnessing the wildlife, glaciers and mountains you definitely get a sense for the beauty of untouched wilderness. The daily excursions means hiking to magnificent hidden waterfalls, hot springs, kayaking through lovely still waters, and catching fresh fish and crab for dinner. The food was amazing! The photography was awesome! Humpback whales, eagles, sea lions, puffins, dolphins, glaciers and fields of beautiful wild flowers all made my trip over the top. My favorite was Orcas! We witnessed a pod of orcas breaching and playing on both sides of the ship. I took over 2,100 photos during our time with them. The professionalism of the entire staff, the comfortable accommodations, the delicious food and the sense of adventure created made for such a memorable experience that I can't imagine anything better. I definitely will return!
Exploring Alaska's Inside Passage by kayak and aboard the Glacier Bear was a fantastic eco-adventure! The gastronomy, flora, fauna, megafauna, migratory birds, sea of greens, wilderness, fjords, Crew and guests all contributed to heightening the experience. Moreover, I appreciated learning about the many unique ecosystems that we visited from Captain Neil, Assistant Captain Josh, Chef Katie, and John the Sharpshooter. Everyone was kind and generous with their time and knowledge. In a sentence: It is a tremendous opportunity for anyone that appreciates becoming immersed in nature, but at the same time, having all the modern-day luxuries. No doubt, I will be on another Glacier Bear voyage in years to come.
What I love most about life is opposites. If you’ve had no money, you cannot appreciate finally getting some. If you’ve not slept on the ground, you can’t truly enjoy a hotel bed. If you don’t know hot, you won’t understand cold. Catch my drift? I’ve made several trips to the wilds of Alaska and this was the best one yet. Alaska Wilderness Charters is the perfect combo of luxury and wilderness! Daytime gets you eagles, whales, otters, sea lions, seals, black and brown bears, and wildflowers. The fishing boat towed behind the yacht makes possible Dungeness crab benedict with fresh baked biscuits, and baked halibut and king salmon with fresh veggies at the end of the day. Hiking wildflower-infused trails is the perfect complement to kayaking shorelines in search of grizzlies. What a life. It does not get any better than this for a hungry nature lover.
After dreaming of a trip to Alaska for 65+ years, I finally made it in 2017, and it was a dream come true. I had a wonderful experience on the Glacier Bear. What was not to like, with breathtaking scenery, close up experiences with whales, bears and other wildlife, wonderful food, and great companionship. In addition to the outstanding photo opportunities, we were able to fish for our food, and experience the uniqueness of the Inland Passage. While fishing, I was thrilled to catch my first halibut, how exciting! A highlight was learning to kayak and being able to get up close and personal for photographs of wild life and waterfalls. And taking photos of the commercial crab boat in Pybus Bay was a joy. I would go again in a heartbeat. In fact, I’ve been on the trip three times now, and would like to make it four.
John was very easy to work with. Judy and I described what we were primarily interested in seeing, and John took care of us. Our hike to the waterfall at Sanford Cove was incredible! We reveled in our days cruising on Glacier Bear, and enjoyed some tasty meals—thanks so much Katie! But the highlight of the trip had to be the breaching Orcas. What a magnificent afternoon! That was the most amazing presentation of orcas we have ever seen, and we're highly experienced whale-watchers.
A dark sky threatens A meadow of showy Asters near a sedge-filled Pond.
Licensed for use by Alaska Wilderness Charters
