Another year come and gone! This year has been nothing short of life-changing. I graduated with my masters in Wildlife from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, moved from the Interior to the incredible Southeast Alaska, married the love of my life, and have a job I love! Life is great, and life has left me less time to blog recently (lack of time compounded by no internet at my house). However, that doesn’t mean that my camera has been sitting picking up dust in the corner. On the contrary I’ve been out photographing the wild beauty of Hoonah and Alaska all year. Some of these images from 2016 have made their way onto Facebook. You can “like ” my page for daily photo updates at www.facebook.com/ianlww. For other images this is the first time they’ve been shown off! Previous year-end recaps have been in different formats such as dividing by month in 2014 and dividing by topic in 2015. This year I’m just going to scrap the text and the give you the top shots 2016 from around Alaska. I hope you enjoy!

An American Dipper perches with a mouthfull of food that it just scavenged from the river’s bottom.

Sunset at Icy Strait Point

The city of Haines sits below jutting mountains.

Broad-leaf Gentians at 3,000 feet above Hoonah

The Milky Way and Aurora stretch over Port Frederick in Hoonah, Alaska

American Pine Marten on Chichagof Island near Hoonah, Alaska.

A mature humpback whale breaches in Hoonah, Alaska.

Master Carver Wayne Price wears the newly woven canoe shawl.

Milky Way at Twelvemile Summit, Steese Highway, Alaska

Macro shot of a beautifu

Each of the paddlers pulling their weight during the maiden voyage.

An incredible display of Aurora reflects of the ocean and highlights the islands outside of Sitka, Alaska.

A mature Bald Eagle takes a break from cleaning up a seal carcass at Icy Strait Point

The aurora borealis flares up over Castner Glacier, Delta Junction, Alaska