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Back from the "Last Frontier"
As you've probably noticed I haven't been around for a while lately. If you haven't noticed this, just nod and say you have, it will make me feel better. Anyway, I have a pretty good excuse for my absence. I've been in Alaska for a little over a week seeing all that I could in such a short time. It has been great, but it is also nice to be on the way back home. That's right, "on the way" as I am still not completely back home. We are staying the weekend with family in Georgia before heading home. That means that it will be a little while till I can get the new pictures "developed" to see what I have.
The trip was great, and I learned quite a bit about the biggest state in the US. Hey, I thought Texas was the biggest.....nope! Alaska will stretch from one coast to the other of the continental United States when you count the Aleutian Islands. This means that seeing the entire state in one vacation (or possibly even an entire lifetime) is next to impossible. For our time there we stayed in two primary areas starting with Anchorage where we flew in. While we were there we were both amazed and disappointed with the area. The backdrop to this city is absolutely breathtaking with the snow covered mountains in just about any direction. However, the city itself reminded us too much of home and had a very hectic feel to it. There were some outlying areas that were pretty nice that we visited. One of which was Earthquake Park which was a nice trail around mud flats where the 1964 Good Friday earthquake took place. The weather was less than favorable for photography that day and it is likely that the pictures that I attempted will not turn out so well.
The next day, however, luck was with us. With some nice clouds in the sky, we found ourselves passing by Thunderbird Falls in the Chugach National Forest. You know me and waterfalls....a short hike later and I was setting up to make some pictures. I was able to use some of the frozen shore to get very close to the base of the falls where I got some fairly dramatic shots as long as the spray from the water didn't cloud the lens too bad. This was the first really successful shoot of the trip.
With our time in Anchorage coming to a close, we set off on the Seward Highway South to our main destination...Seward, AK. This is a very small fishing town (drinking town with a fishing problem if you believe the T-shirts), that is quite nice set alongside the Resurrection Bay. The harbor is completely surrounded by snowy mountains with a small open area that leads out to the ocean. I actually spent a good amount of time photographing from this area. Surprisingly, I tended to use my 70-200mm telezoom for much of the photographs that I created. I say this because until now, I have preferred wider angle photography when it comes to landscapes. However, with the subject I was working, I wanted to emphasize the dramatic mountains and only the longer lens would do that.
On our first full day in Seward, we took a day cruise with Major Marine which was about eight hours long and went from Resurrection Bay through the Kenai Fjords National Park ending at Alyeska Glacier. On this cruise we saw quite a bit of marine life such as Orcas, Porpoises, Sea Lions, and Harbor Seals. I'm not sure how these pictures have come out, but I do know with the rocking boat, I put the Image Stabilization to work on my 70-200mm. Tripods were not allowed on the cruise, although with the motion they would have been useless anyway. I had to rely on a high (to me at least) ISO to keep the shutter speed reasonably fast, using the IS for a buffer to help eliminate any camera shake in the pictures.
Even though Seward had just about everything that we were looking for as far as scenery, we decided to go on a day trip to Homer, AK by way of Kenai, Soldotna, and Moose Pass. This road trip took about 3.5 hours and ended us up in another fishing town that ended at Homer Spit. The spit is a very narrow strip of land that juts out into the ocean that houses the harbor and a lot of gift shops. The weather was less than favorable for photography, but quite frankly I didn't find this place all that photogenic to begin with. I did manage to work a couple of views on the beach that might turn out decent. It was my first use of the 10-22mm superwide lens that I had thought I would get so much use of in Alaska. Homer wasn't the picture paradise that I had hoped, but the trip there yielded some interesting shots of volcanoes and some glacial waters which are a light turquoise green. In fact, one of my favorite shots of the whole week might have occurred on this road trip. I'll have to wait till I get home to see.
With the trip to Homer a bit of a letdown, we woke up with new hopes for adventure. Just down the road from where we were staying was the Alaska Sea Life Center, which I'm sure you can guess is an aquarium. I have attempted taking pictures in an aquarium before, but never for any serious purpose other than memories. I decided to give it a try this time to see what I could get to add to the gallery. Armed with my now favorite 70-200mm Image Stabilized lens I cranked up the ISO to around 500, which will still yield noise free images with the Canon 40D, and went to clicking. Judging from my LCD I was able to capture some really nice and sharp images of some very colorful fish and other sea life. These I am really excited to see because they are so far and away different from anything I have done before.
As you probably know, I have been itching for some snow pictures since I have gotten started in photography. Living in NC just doesn't present may opportunities for snow in the winter. Who would have thought that my first "real" snow pictures would come in the middle to end of May!! However, in addition to the snow covered mountains, there were many areas that still had much snow on the ground. Case in point....Exit Glacier which is just North of Seward. The road was cleared, but only to a point. The last mile to mile and a half was still covered in snow. I don't mean a dusting, I don't even mean deep (by our standards). What I mean is the speed limit signs were at waist level. When my foot would manage to sink into the snow (needed snow shoes actually), it would easily go to knee deep without ever touching solid ground. Jennifer's foot went through at one point and her whole leg was swallowed by the snow. She never felt solid ground beneath her foot.
Unfortunately, the glacier was not blue as they normally are because it was still under a blanket of snow. However, the scenery more than made up for that, and I was able to get a few shots of the forest with the mountains behind. Of course, I also photographed the glacier as well. The sky was a deep blue that day that really should photograph well with the white snow.
The last road trip that we took was on the way back to Anchorage for our flight home. We took a side trip off of the Seward Highway to go and see Portage Glacier. Like the two glaciers before, this one was covered with snow as well keeping that wonderful blue color hidden. However, the lay of the land presented itself in such a way that several good photographs were available. Of course, I would have preferred better lighting at a different part of the day, but as I mentioned in my previsualization tutorial, sometimes you have to go with what you have and make the best of it. I think that I was able to set things up to take advantage of the lighting that I had.
That pretty much sums up the majority of the Photo Trek portion of this vacation. We traveled over 900 miles in ten days and saw some stunning sights. However, one of the highlights for me from the whole trip didn't even happen in Alaska, nor did it involve my camera. What????? You see, we were delayed in Utah on the return trip (don't get me started on that mess), and we were at the Salt Lake City Airport for about eight hours. It just so happens that one of my friends, who is also a client of Four Forty-Six Photography lives close by. Knowing that we would be landing in Utah on the return trip, I had told Myke that I would give her a call and let her know how long we would be there. As it turned out, everything worked out to where I could finally get to meet her in person. This was one of those times when I wished that security at the airports wasn't so bad as I would have loved to have spent more time visiting with her, and having Jennifer meet her as well. However, for the sake of our sanity, Jennifer stayed inside the airport with our carry-on luggage. Regardless, I was thrilled to have the chance to meet such a wonderful person after communicating with her by email and through the journal for the last few years.
Well, that about wraps up the overview of what happened on our trip. I will be doing at least one more entry, and probably several more about this trip in the near future after I get the photographs ready for the gallery. Speaking of the gallery, I am still on the fence as I don't know how many of the nearly 750 photos will be keepers, but I will likely be adding another room for Travel Photography. This will allow me to display many of the pictures that I take outside of North Carolina from time to time. There are a few "exotic" locations that are being thought about and planned that would also be a part of this room, and I just don't want to mix these "special" photos up with those in the current rooms which are changed often.
It is going to be a busy week for me, but I hope to be able to get the picture finished up and put on display by the middle of the week. My alerts for other journals will be turned back on when I get all caught up, so forgive my absence from those journals that I normally frequent. I will return to them as quick as I can.
You can view some of the pictures from this Trek in this entry.
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I really enjoyed this entry and reading all about your trip.
Blessings!~
Susan
http://journals.aol.com/Rjet33/CountryLivingSouthernStyle/ -
I remembered you were going to Alaska...it's good to have you back! It sounds like a magical vacation and how nice you had a chance to meet your client. I would love to go to Alaska some day.
Lisa -
oh, i've missed you alright...but remembering where you were going, i've been eagerly awaiting your return and anticipating the wonderful images you'll be sharing. sounds like you and jennifer had a wonderful trip. and how exciting to meet a new friend.
gina -
I cannot wait to see your new photos, in the new room of your gallery. I've never been to Alaska, so I'll be living it through your words and images. I want to feel like I was there! Safe travels home, Greg. bea
http://journals.aol.com/bgilmore725/Wanderer/
6/1/08 6:31 AM