In the summer of 2002, my wife and I joined 150 adventure travelers on Society Expeditions' New World Discoverer as it became the first passenger ship to completely circle the Bering Sea. Departing and returning from Nome, Alaska, the cruise spent the first week exploring Alaska's Bering Sea Islands. (You can view pictures I made during our week in Alaskan waters in my worldisround.com article "Alaska images: in backcountry and beyond" at: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/12057/index.html)

The World Discoverer spent the next two weeks cruising through the bays and islands of Kamchatka and Chukotka. We saw spectacular Siberian scenery, viewed wildlife that can be seen in only a few places, and had fascinating encounters with native peoples, including the Chukchi and Koryak.

The expedition cruise experience on the New World Discoverer is quite different from ordinary cruises. The ship anchors at places that tourists seldom see, places with no roads, no air service, and often, no habitation of any kind. We always traveled between ship and shore on motorized Zodiac pontoon rafts. To disembark from the Zodiacs, we had to wear high boots and waterproof pants and wade through the surf. We were accompanied by anthropologists, biologists, historians, and botanists who offered insightful lectures on board and guidance in the field.

Because of the unpredictable Bering Sea weather, we often were unable to land at places we had hoped to see because of heavy fog or rough water. Expedition cruising requires flexibility, and we would simply move on. We had skilled Russian guides aboard, and they were always able to find suitable alternatives for us.

Making this adventure even more stimulating was an intensive three week nature photography workshop. Approximately 40 passengers, including myself, had an opportunity to work with two of the world's outstanding nature photographers -- Frans Lanting and Galen Rowell. Tragically, our workshop was Galen's final contribution to photography -- he and his wife Barbara were killed in a small plane crash while returning home. I dedicate both this article, as well as my worldisround.com article on the Alaskan portion of this expedition, to their memory. Both Frans and Galen gave us much knowledge and inspiration during their shipboard lectures and while shooting in the field. My own photographic vision was substantially changed, and as a photo workshop director myself, I am sure this workshop experience will have significant impact on my own teaching.

In this article, I am sharing 66 of my favorite Siberian images with you. In my pictures, I tried to interpret what I saw before me. I want to do more than just show you what Siberian wildlife, and people look like. I also hope that my pictures will help you understand more about what this unique place is all about.

During our two weeks in Russian waters, I shot about 1,500 hundred images -- about 100 pictures a day. I use a Canon G2 four megapixel digital camera, which gives me the chance to learn from every image. Most of my photographs were small steps along the road to my ultimate results. I chose to keep only ten per cent of what I shot, about 150 pictures. You will see just over 40 per cent of these in this article. All of my pictures were later enhanced in Photoshop. I do not manipulate my photos electronically, but I try to do whatever I can with Photoshop to make them clearer, sharper, and true to the colors I saw with my own eyes. You can view my pictures in three different sizes, including a large size that should fill your screen with all the details.

If you have any questions or comments, I'd appreciate it if you would share them with us here, or send them to me via an email message.

Thank you, and enjoy.

Phil Douglis, Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops, Phoenix, Arizona pnd1@cox.net