Time to move on from the tiny photos displayed here. I have a new blog, with much better presentation.
Stop on by : www.alaskaphotographyblog.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A WHOLE NEW BLOG !!
Posted by Patrick at 2:00 PM 0 comments
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Arrigetch Peaks, Brooks range, Gates of the Arctic National Park
I've long wanted to see and photograph the Arrigetch Peaks of the Brooks range, and a recent visit only increased my desire to return for a more thorough session. It's a good 2 hours plus one way trip in a small plane north from Fairbanks, with plenty of weather and terrain to navigate along the way. For those who are not familiar with this wonderful sight, the Arrigetch Peaks are rugged granite spires in the central Brooks Range.
The name means 'fingers of the outstretched hand' in the Inupiat (eskimo) language. I can only imagine that their appearance is under constant change with lighting and season, making them a truly dynamic subject. Hopefully this summer, I can make another attempt, and time it for optimal lighting. Lots of variables need to line up in order for that to happen.
Posted by Patrick at 11:01 AM 1 comments
Labels: Landscapes
Monday, April 20, 2009
Mountain views
Canon 5 D Mark II, 24-105mm L IS, (102mm) 1/800 sec @ f4.5, ISO 400
I've been doing some aerial photography recently, thanks to a friend and willing pilot, Hugh Rose. Do to low light we elected to not land on a glacier in the Alaska range, even though we were all packed with winter gear, ready to spend the night and do some hopeful aurora borealis photography. It's amazing how much gear one needs just to spend one night in the mountains! So, we did get great vistas on the flight to and from Fairbanks. In particular, Mt. Deborah, Hess and Hayes, are stunning peaks that highlight the Alaska range--the most prominent ones visible from Fairbanks. I included a similar shot that I posted last year, taken in autumn. It shows the contrast of seasons well.
Canon 5 D Mark II, 24-105mm L IS, (100mm) 1/320 sec @ f4.5, ISO 800
Posted by Patrick at 1:52 PM 6 comments
Labels: Landscapes
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The meltdown begins
The heat of the spring sun bears forcefully upon Alaska's winter landscape. Daylight increases at a rate of about 7 minutes per day, and while the snow is thick in many places, it can't resist the marching summer season. On a snow machine trek into the Alaska range a few days ago, the brilliance of a clear day not only revealed opening water in the mountain drainages, but a potent sunburn on the face as well. The grizzly bears that make their winter dens in the mountains are ending their long hibernation in accordance with natures amazing synchronicity.
Posted by Patrick at 1:51 PM 5 comments
Labels: Landscapes
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Caribou in the Brooks range mountains
Click on the image to see it larger.
Thanks to a generous friend, colleague, pilot, Hugh Rose, I spent an afternoon flying over the Brooks range looking at caribou along the mountain ridges. These are reportedly from the Porcupine caribou herd that migrates across the Brooks range and eventually reaches the calving grounds of Alaska's arctic north slope. Aggregations of 100 to 1000 animals could be seen feeding on the windswept mountain ridges where I presume access to food was a bit easier than the heavy snow-laden lowlands. The Brooks range is always an experience of immense wilderness. The mountains go on and on, with scarcely a node of human habitation. Conditions were far from optimal from almost every perspective but I grabbed a few photos that show how mobile and hardy this animal is, able to trek the high and low country and travel for miles. The vista of a large group of caribou migrating in a long line eluded us, although we saw many tracks revealing amazing photo ops if the timing was right.
Posted by Patrick at 1:42 PM 2 comments
Monday, April 6, 2009
Trucking on the Haul road
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f4L IS, 1/500 sec @ f8, ISO 400
The James Dalton Highway was built as an access road to the Arctic ocean during the days of the of the Trans Alaska Pipeline construction. It still serves the main purpose of supplying the oil fields of the arctic north slope coast. Its a rugged road, and passes through some formidable country, particularly in winter. I often hear weather alerts of road closures due to wind and snow, and flash floods in the summer months. Before travel, checking current road conditions is essential.
The truckers that navigate this route routinely (500 miles between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay) do so in all types of weather. There is often a dramatic scene of a trucker cruising the road, which helps depict the emptiness and ruggedness of this region. The highway traverses the Brooks range via Atigun pass, the highest road pass in Alaska.
Nearly every trip north for me results in a cracked windshield, and my last trip was no exception. Heavy snow and high winds can quickly obscure and diminish the road to one lane, or simply impassable. Snow drifts, once plowed, can rebuild in a matter of minutes. This was the case recently but I could find no place to pull over to position myself for good photography, and it was too dangerous, with limited visibility to just stop in the road. So, you don't see any of those cool-could-have-been-photos. Plus, it was minus 20 degrees and ripping wind.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 16-35mm f2.8L , 1/320 sec @ f18, ISO 200
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400 (220mm) mm f5.6L , 1/500 sec @ f18, ISO 400
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f5.6L (130mm) , 1/400 sec @ f7.1, ISO 200
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f5.6L , 1/640 sec @ f10, ISO 200
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f5.6L , 1/640 sec @f9, ISO 200
Posted by Patrick at 9:42 AM 1 comments
Labels: Arctic, Cold weather
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Weathering the weather
I just returned from a week of photography in Alaska's arctic. Surprisingly, late March and April still deliver significant sub zero temperatures in the far north, even as the sunlight rushes back at a rapid pace. I'm finding, as time goes by, that waiting out long periods of weather becomes increasingly more difficult. Mainly due to the boredom of waiting for light, which can be considerable in length of hours and days. This is when Podcasts on the IPhone become real valuable--no radio in that country.
I'm usually dressed in many layers, capped off with a big down parka and fur hat. On one excursion in very strong winds, I was hot from trudging around on snowshoes and pulled off my parka hood and hat for a second. That resulted in a light frost bite to my left ear. It only takes seconds in those conditions.
Below are a few photos from the venture. In 6 days, I took less than 1000 pictures, pretty slim shooting. But, I captured a few keepers, and actually photographed the aurora borealis, which has been an elusive subject this winter due to the absence of solar storms. This was also my first chance to test out Canon's new 24mm 1.4L II, which in quick summary, seems immensely improved over the previous version for sharpness. I'll explore that in a later post.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24mm f1.4L II, 15 min @ f8, ISO 800
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24mm f1.4L II, 20 sec @ f1.4, ISO 1000
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400mm f5.6L, 1/640 @ f9, ISO 250
Posted by Patrick at 6:42 PM 9 comments
Labels: Arctic, Aurora borealis, Birds, Cold weather, Landscapes, Wildlife
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Festival of Native Arts, Fairbanks
The Yup'ik Miracle Drummers and Dancers perform at the Festival of Native Arts in Fairbanks, Alaska. The group are tradition bearers from the Yup'ik culture and have been performing together since 1994, promoting drug and alcohol free communities.
Posted by Patrick at 7:36 AM 0 comments
Labels: Alaska Life
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Festival of Native Arts, Fairbanks
Inu-Yupiaq dancers at the 2009 Festival of Native Arts, Fairbanks, Alaska
The annual festival of native arts, which celebrates native culture, art and dance began last night in Fairbanks, and runs through Saturday evening. Each year, there is a representation of native groups from around the state that dance and sell artwork during the three day event. I'm partial to the Inupiaq and Yupik dancers, largely because of their facial interaction with the audience, their open body posture, and use of hand gestures. Their dances are story telling demonstrations with the body. The Inu-Yupiaq dance group is a blend of the Inupiaq and Yupik native dances. Photographing this event can be challenging because of the low light. I used an off camera fill flash triggered by an on camera signal, which let me add some light.
Posted by Patrick at 10:36 PM 1 comments
Labels: Alaska Life
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Website revisions
After lots of tweaking and coding, a number of revisions to my website are now live. It's a never-ending process, and these tweaks are largely visual. A new home page now is more photo-heavy, with a rotating image environment for those that want to linger and watch. Next will be some revisions of the galleries, with new slide shows. That will have to wait for a bit however. You can check out the changes at www.alaskaphotographics.com
Posted by Patrick at 8:00 AM 7 comments
Labels: Website Features