Photography and Photo Tours: Specializing in Alaska's Wild Lands & Wild Life
Finally made it to 100 posts. I’d like to thank the academy and my parents of course. Now where is my Kanye West moment?
I’ve covered a lot of things on this blog/journal and it has been fun to watch it grow and build momentum. I started slowly. The first post was back in February of 2008. It involved the Aurora Borealis and how to photograph it. Didn’t post anything for 4 months… not exactly how I’d recommend that you build a “steady” fan base. I’ve covered bear, moose, eagles, caribou, Dall sheep, whales, glaciers, rain forest, digital darkroom techniques. My move to Alaska and increased focus on my photography has been the greatest “risk” I have ever taken. And by far, the most rewarding.
Although I have greatly increased my post frequency, I don’t typically “schedule” a post for a particular day like some do. I wait until I have content ready. For me, it is more about quality over quantity.
To each their own. Horses for courses.
Yesterday, I made my way “down south” again to the Kenai Peninsula for sunrise photography. Another beautiful drive. Well, the way home it was anyways. Still very dark on the drive down. But the days are definitely getting longer now, the sun is actually rising before 10 AM! So much for my theory about sleeping in and still photographing sunrise… I left my place at 5:45 Am in anticipation for the nearly 3 hour drive. I met a very nice highway flag person, directing traffic through a construction zone just past Moose Pass. We talked for quite some time after I finished shooting. He’s been working the same area since Fall, so it was great hearing him describe how the quality of light and color has changed over the months. He’s seen lots of bald eagles, lynx, and moose in his 1/4 mile. Interesting guy.
Trail Lake & Andy Simons Mountain. Moose Pass, AK - Copyright 2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (70-200 @ 111mm, 5D mk 2, f/18, ISO 100 - 1/6
Unfortunately, the web cannot adequately display an image in such scale. The shrinking and compressing of such an image (the original, unflattened image was over 2.5 GB!) lessens the impact and introduces “viewing problems”. The right side of the image shows a poor transition from foreground detail to the sky – there is a “halo” like appearance surrounding the trees on the web version. Simply put, it’s not there in the original… it’s all a figment of your imagination:)
The new camera I’ve been using for the past couple weeks (Canon’s 5D mk 2) really produces high quality files… that’s when user error doesn’t generate cr@p of course. As I was piecing this pano together in Photoshop (it’s 16 vertical images, merged into one gigantic pano – 8 for ), I took the time to “look around” in the composition. There’s a TON of detail here. For instance, the partial peak just to the left of the center mountain has a small glacier on it. In the full version of the image, it’s easy to see the pale blue exposed portions, a few crevasses and seracs. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.
Kenai Mountains Panoramic, Seward Highway, Alaska - Copyright 2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 70-200 @ 160mm, Canon 5D mk 2, 1/125
What’s absolutely fascinating to me is “what lies beyond”. While researching this region on Google Earth (what? you don’t have that on your ‘puter? As soon as you are done here, click this link and download the program. Your welcome.) is the vast wilderness just beyond. Google Earth reveals so many photo ops, literally just over ridgelines and rivers, valleys and summits. Pristine lakes. Totally virgin photographic territory… oops, sorry… a little drool problem here. Surprised my laptop isn’t smoking. I may need to invest in flood insurance, but I’m not sure if that comes with a drool clause. Anyways…
Hopefully, the quality has been at least adequate for you, my readers. It is my goal to make sure that it only improves.
So. What does “lie beyond”? Simple, a massive personal project that I will be announcing here shortly. Well, the idea is simple… the actual tackling of said project, not so much.
Stay tuned…
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Good Morning, and Congratulations on your 100th post!! Very proud of your accomplishment, and stunning images as always! Quality over quantity is something I truly believe in myself, especially in the photography profession. No Kanye West moment here…you deserve this all for yourself! In reading your post, about the “halo”..I have to say that is so different to see, yet I know its NOT on the original. Interesting how the internet changes the perception of an image versus the original. Keep up the amazing work, and over time it just keeps getting better. Hope you have a great day, and we will talk soon!
100 POSTS! Congratulations Dave – the morning image of your mountain is the perfect “giveaway.” Well done!
M
Beautiful image for your 100th post, Dave – congrats! Looks like you’re putting the 5D Mk ii to good use!
- Jack
Happy 100th!!! Ooh..you sound so old.