Haines tourism director Rebecca Hylton said she first discovered this year’s guest photographer Mark Bouldoukian on Instagram and was awed.
“His work is absolutely amazing,” said Hylton.
The California-based photographer’s wildlife photos are often intimate face shots that capture moody expressions of eagles, bears and other animals from his travels on the West Coast of the U.S., Alaska and as far away as Iceland.
Bouldaukian is no stranger to Haines. The Lebanon-born photographer learned the trade from his father. About eight years ago, he settled in Fresno, California and immersed himself in capturing the images of the natural world nearby.
His images have been featured on National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, Canon’s Instagram account and others.
In 2020, he came to Haines after hearing about the resident brown bears and the annual bald eagle congregation on the Chilkat River. He organized a for-fun trip with a few friends.
“I see eagles here in California, but the amount we saw in Haines was unreal,” he said. “It was like a Disneyland thing.”
The experience got him hooked. He’s returned three times since then as a photography tour guide, leading small workshops of four or five amateur photographers.
He said one of his favorite things to photograph is moments in which the eagles are fighting one another in the air. “Those are the great moments,” he said.
He remembered several individual photos from his time in Haines, including one taken from some chairs on the side of the highway that included an eagle with its inner eyelid halfway shut (photo above). He said the shot came together when an eagle perched just 10 feet away from him.
Bouldaukian will be presenting at 6 p.m. Saturday evening at the Chilkat Center.