There is an old-ish saying that I first heard from Galen Rowell,

“The difference between a professional and an amateur photographer is that a professional takes more bad photographs.”

Over the past few years, I’ve been focusing more on my landscape photography. St. George Island gave me a very unique opportunity to shift my main focus to the incredible wildlife, albeit with a few distractions where I was forced to resort back to my landscape roots – as you will see below.

"Visions of the Bering Sea" St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 David Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D Mk 2, Tokina 16-28mm @ 16mm. 1.6" @ f/22, ISO 50)

The wildlife photography was stunning though, such a wide variety of subjects – most within close proximity. As we planned for this trip, I lamented not being able to pack a 600mm lens along with a teleconverter. I was concerned that I might not be able to get the images I desired with just a 400mm lens. We decided to go with what we had, and make the most of the situation.

When we arrived on the island, we were met by one of the very friendly and informative locals who drove us to our hotel – we hurriedly unpacked, grabbed our gear and headed out the door. We made a b-line for the cliffs at the edge of town. A two minute walk. As we neared the sea cliffs, I could hear the ragged snorts and bellows of the northern fur seals, and the cacophony of thousands of sea birds. Beyond the bellowing, snorting and screeching, the pounding surf of the Bering Sea reverberated against the basalt formations and rugged coastline.

Horned Puffin, St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 David Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm. 1/100" @ f9, ISO 640)

Dozens of  kittiwakes were circling above the ledge, and I knew there was a decent chance at finding other bird species on the cliff walls below. We approached the precipice slowly, worried we might cause the birds to scatter and fly away if they felt threatened. As I peered over the edge, the world fell away and the rocky coastline revealed itself. My eyes were instantly drawn away from the incredible boulder strewn beach to hundreds upon hundreds of birds perched on rocky outcroppings below my feet. Not just kittiwakes though. Horned puffins. Tufted puffins. Parakeet auklets. Least auklets. Common murres. These were not 600mm + a 1.4X teleconverter subjects. These were (often times) just a few feet away! A 70-200 would do well, but a 400mm lens was perfect. Within 20 seconds of standing upon those cliffs, my worries of ‘not having enough reach’ completely melted away.

Arctic Fox Pup, St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 David Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm. 1/200" @ f9, ISO 640)

More to come! Stay tuned…

Ps – I’m on Google+ now! If you are a member of Google+, please consider adding me to your circle(s).

No words to describe it. Poetry! They should’ve sent a poet.

"At World's End" St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D Mk 2, 24-105 mm @ 24mm. 2.5" @ f/18, ISO 50. B+W Polarizer)

Alaska has been kind to me. I’ve visited locations most photographers dream of & seen things most will never witness. But Alaska is always full of surprises.

I spent the past 4 days at a location that I’ve been dreaming of visiting for several years.

St. George Island sits just 45 miles to the east of the Continental Shelf. In this region, everything about the Earth’s crust is precipitous. If you were able to stand atop the ‘cliffs’ above the Continental Shelf, you’d already be in nearly 600 feet of water. But vanishing into the blackness below would be a drop off that would swallow the Grand Canyon whole. Twice. The sea floor drops over 11,000 feet, nearly straight down.

St. George Island rises out of the ocean to form a varied plateau. The island’s volcanic history is evident along every section of coastline. Basalt columns line and comprise the staggering sea cliffs that encompass the island, geometric patterns reminiscent of The Giant’s Causeway, in Ireland. The cliffs rise dramatically from the crashing Bering Sea, some are over 1,000 feet tall. Inland, the treeless landscape has a distinctly arctic feel, rolling plains and tussocks, interspersed with small ponds. At this time of year, you can’t walk 5 steps without being confronted with vast fields of wildflowers, most notably are the arctic lupine.

But the big draw, for me, was the island’s wildlife.

Arctic Fox Pup, St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm. 1/250" @ f/9, ISO 640)

Vast amounts of birds call this area home, between 2-4 million in all. I’m not a great birder, but in our all-too-short time on the island, we spotted several species that I’ve wanted to photograph for quite some time. Not only did we spot them, but they were in numbers. And at very close proximity. Horned and Tufted Puffins, Common Murres, Least Auklets, Murrelets, Red-legged & Black-legged Kittiwakes, Parakeet Auklets and Cormorants. It was utterly incredible.

We (including my good friend, Scott Slone – of Alaska HDTV & my collaborator on our new venture, AlaskaPhotoVideo.com) also had several great encounters with the island’s resident Arctic Fox population. One of the fox families we photographed had 8 very cute pups! Mom was quite busy making multiple runs a day to bring back enough food to sustain the large family. We watched her return to the den with a kittiwake, and saw her carrying a dead puffin another time. Good job, mom!

Parakeet Auklets, St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm. 1/500" @ f/7.1, ISO 640)

The people of St. George are very friendly, always offering to help or to tip us to yet another incredible location or situation.

One thing is certain about this location, I can’t adequately articulate the feelings we were overtaken with while on St. George Island. I don’t think it has fully set in yet, how lucky we both were to be able to witness a place so spectacular. I hope my photographs will do a better job at filling in the gaps my words can’t occupy.

In closing, I would like to thank the warm-hearted people of St. George Island. Thank you for welcoming us onto your beautiful island with such grace and helping make our trip such an absolute success. Also, a huge thank you to Pen Air, for providing our transportation to and from the island – the service was great and everyone on staff was fantastic to work with, from beginning to end. Finally, a big thank you to Tanaq Corporation, for all of the ‘on-island’ logistical help, lodging and rental vehicle.

As always, it is a pleasure to travel and work with Scott Slone of Alaska HDTV.

Tufted Puffin, St. George Island, Alaska. ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 360mm. 1/100" at F/7.1, ISO 640)

This was a true collaboration, in every sense of the word. Our success is due primarily to your generosity, hard work and vision. I can not wait to work with you again, and revisit St. George Island, in the future.

Some of you might be interested in knowing that I will be offering an exclusive photo tour to St. George Island, next year. I’m still working on the logistics, but I will announce the full details here as soon as possible. Again, to paraphrase “Contact”:

They still want photographers to go… Wanna take a ride?

I’ll have more images up soon, stay tuned…

One of the clients even cried.

“Wait. I thought you said you had an ‘excellent time’, Dave?”

My client (who shall go un-identified) was seated next to me during one of our aerial photography sessions. I turned towards them mid-flight and caught the glint of a tear rolling down their cheek. I asked if everything was ok. The reply was so poignant.

“It’s overwhelming…”

I couldn’t have said it any better. At the time we were in a gentle right turn in our Cessna 180, banking low over the Bering Glacier. We had just spent the previous day at Childs Glacier, spending much of the afternoon standing a mere .19 miles from the calving face. Childs Glacier is an amazing sight, even for me (a ‘seasoned’ glacier enthusiast). It stands several hundred feet tall, directly across the raging Copper River – which undercuts the face of the glacier when water levels run high in early summer. The ‘terminus’ runs just under 2.5 miles across, and crawls steadily forward from its source, nearly 8 miles up-valley. 200-foot tall blocks of ice plummet downward and crash into the surging Copper River.

Impressive, to say the least.

Childs Glacier & Copper River - ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D Mk 2, Tokina 16-28/2.8 @ 16mm. 1/5" @ f/22, ISO 50)

Compare that to the Bering Glacier, the source of my clients current fascination. The calving face we were passing over runs over 4 miles across. But this is just a small ‘lobe’ of the Bering Glacier, a ‘branch’ off the main ‘trunk’, if you will. The full mass of the glacier can not be represented in numbers, at least not in a way that carries the immensity in a respectful tone. It is 46 miles wide at it’s terminus, and runs 140 miles into the Bagley Icefield. Together with the Bagley Icefield, the Bering Glacier System covers most of the core of the Chugach Mountains and encompasses a staggering 1,900 square miles.

Overwhelming? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

One of my favorite photos from the trip was from our flight back to the comforts of the lodge. We had just spent several hours on a very remote beach; miles of powder-like sand, incredible sea-stack islands, dense lupine fields, dozens of bald eagles and several fresh bear tracks wandering the beach.

And a whole lot of a solitude.

We were paralleling the western side of the Ragged Mountains, heading north.

How’s that for a proper moniker?

“Ragged” Mountains. They were true to their name.

I glanced out the window to my right, scanning a bit more ‘fore’ than ‘aft’. Compositions happen quickly in aerial photography, so you have to be ready at a moments notice. A composition that looks brilliant, but caught too late, on the first pass might completely change with slight altitude adjustments, a shift in cloud coverage or turbulence might make a second ‘try’ impossible. So ‘visualizing’ an image from 1/2 mile away (or far less) can make the difference between a great shot and an ‘any way I can get a mulligan’. It’s rare that I use golf terms, so that should carry some weight;)

Just in front and to our right, a patchwork of incredible beauty stretched out to the base of the Ragged’s. I have never seen an area so lush and full of early summer. The varieties of green spanned every shade – truly a rainbow of green. Pockmarking the pools of grass were lines of gray and turquoise – the mighty Copper River Delta spending it’s last energy as it neared the Gulf of Alaska, and the open ocean beyond. Ponds dotted the landscape, taller willows and trees lining each section of water. Laid out like a carefully sculpted and manicured golf course – water hazards everywhere. So many channels and waterways, so much undiscovered beauty, a land bordered by mountains and the ocean, but owning too little elevation change of its own after glaciers plowed over the Delta in the past ice age.

A nearly flat, yet utterly dynamic environment.

"Into the Labyrinth" - Copper River Delta, Alaska ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D Mk 2, Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS @ 32mm. 1/640" @ f/6.3, ISO 640)

It is a zone in transition, first ground to a level plane by crushing ice and rock, then divided and sectioned by rushing silt-laden and near freezing waters, and finally being swallowed whole by the ever present tidal changes of the North Pacific Ocean.

It took my breath away.

So much so, that I’m not sure if I’ll ever catch it.

A New Day Dawns ©2011 Dave Taylor

“Photograph for yourself and satisfy your own sensibilities and aesthetics. True artists do not pander to a pre-selected audience. Instead, they carve an audience of their own from those who will encounter and be moved by their work.”

“The best way to use your imagination is simply to not stand in its way.”

I think he’s right. We have to shoot for ourselves first & let the cards fall where they may. If we consume ourselves with making $100,000 prints and worrying about getting the shot for someone else while shouting “It’s bloody ROARING!” on camera, we’ll die a slow, very public, artistic death.
Shoot for ourselves. Embrace our own passions. “The truth will out” & people will be drawn to our work because they will identify with something not seen within the frame, but felt within their hearts – if we’re lucky, they’ll identify with us. They’ll identify with something they haven’t seen before, because we showed them a new perspective. Ours.

“Discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
~ Marcel Proust

How is your creative vision?

edit: In responding to my good friend, Scott Slone’s comment below – I was reminded of a favorite quote, which posted below may not get the attention it deserves. So here you go:

One of my favorite quotes of all time, is by Stephen King, from his book “On Writing” (which I cannot recommend enough!). Of course, he is referring to being an author – but this message can be easily bent to suit your own pursuits:

Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”

Here’s to life support via passion.

Print of the Month for May, 2011 – “The Glow of Spring – #002″
Every year, I return to Cordova, Alaska. Simply put, it is one of the most spectacular locations on our planet – for photography and for escaping city life. The variety available in this region staggers me; ocean, rain forest, glaciers, mountains, ponds, lakes, marshes, meadows, streams and rivers. Then there is the wildlife! Moose, bear, wolverine, sea otters, bald eagles, trumpeter swans and so much more. My photo tour also coincides with the massive wildflower bloom in mid-late June. Fields of lupine, dotted with buttercup, columbine, bunchberry, yellow pond-lillies, and many other varieties.
The brilliant yellow of the buttercup in this image contrasts nicely with the deep blue-purple of the out of focus lupine. I wanted to really emphasize the range of color in the scene, and simplify the composition by focusing on a very specific, and beautiful, ‘vein’ detail on a single flower petal. For me, these incredible details are the essence of Alaska – gorgeous color surrounded by stunning vistas. I remember the day this image was made as if it was yesterday. A crisp morning and very light mist greeted me as I opened the door to the porch in front of our lodge; gentle waves lapped at the shores of Orca Inlet, just a few feet below the wood railing in front of me. I could smell the ocean and surrounding rain forest, a wonderfully fresh smell. I could almost hear the ancient trees behind our lodge creaking their invitation to me, so I took an early morning hike along on old game trail. I half expected to see a black bear wondering amongst the thick timbers, but it was only my feet that fell on the moss-cushioned forest floor. Every now and then, the trees would creak again in the soft breaze or a bald eagle would shreak overhead. They beckoned me onward. Before long, it was nearing lunch, so I headed back to the lodge and had a light meal. Then I headed out along the Copper River Highway, towards the Delta. Lining the roadside were thick patches of wildflowers. I tried several compositions, many of them were uncompelling. There was still a slight breeze, so as I set up this shot I had to wait for the wind to die in order to get a sharp image. The wait was worth it – it allowed me to ‘settle’ into the landscape even more, becoming more aware of what it was that attracted me to this location.
Rich, contrasting color and the simple form of a beautiful specimen of Pacific Buttercup set against thousands of Arctic Lupine.

Bring a piece of Alaska into your home or office.
I’m offering this print as the first of my new Print of the Month Collectors Edition. Each print is custom made by the master printers at West Coast Imaging and measures 20″ x 30″. The image is printed on a vibrant ‘super gloss’ paper, then sandwiched between a flame polished acrylic sheet and a dibond backing. This mounting method is extremely rigid and is supported by a unique ‘french cleat’. This design allows the print to seemingly float in front of your wall. There is no additional framing needed, and the print is delivered to your doorstep ready to hang. This 20″ x 30″ print is being made available for a special introductory price of only $375, that is $125 off! This is a beautiful print; rich in color, depth and detail. It will literally leap off the wall at you and help you think of summer in Alaska, year round.
Print orders will be sent to the printer around June 1st, and will ship direct from the printer shortly thereafter. If you are interested in purchasing this (or any other image) as a premium print, please email me.

Never heard of Cordova? You’re not the only one! I first visited Cordova 4 years ago, and have since gone back every year to make up for lost time. It is quite literally my favorite place in ALL of Alaska – quite probably the entire world. Yeah, it’s that extraordinary. But what sets it apart?

Photographer in lupine field, Sheridan Glacier, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 105mm, 1/200" @ f7.1, ISO 400)

Cordova could easily be called “Hidden, Alaska”. It is tucked back in Orca Inlet, on the eastern edge of Prince William Sound. It is remote, yet logistically fairly simple to get to. It’s just far enough ‘off the beaten track’ so that only the adventurous travelers get to experience its wonders. But we won’t be roughing it while on tour – oh no! We’re staying at one of the best adventure lodges in all of Alaska. In fact, our rooms sit just above the rocky shores of the Inlet. Very comfortable beds, outstanding meals prepared in “The Cantina”, deep history and the pristine location make this an extraordinary place to call home for the 7-day/6-night tour. Warm showers, electricity and wifi – all the comforts of home – just without those pesky neighbors or traffic! A waterfall tumbles off the mountains and through the rain forest, just to the north of our lodge. The lodge itself is an old cannery, and old dock pilings still jut out a bit into the Inlet. It is common to see bald eagles perched right outside our windows, and sea otters or harbor seals patrolling the waters.

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We will use a small skiff to access the protected waters in search of the numerous sea otters nearby. By ‘numerous’ I mean… hundreds! It is not unheard of to see ‘rafts’ of sea otters numbering in the 50′s. On one trip to this area, I saw a raft of sea otters that likely numbered several hundred! Inland, we will walk through the world’s northern most rainforest – The Chugach – and photograph the ancient trees, dripping mosses, and rushing streams of fresh glacial and snow melt as they course towards the ocean. In Alaska, it seems that you are always surrounded by the mountains – Cordova is no different, and they make for a very dramatic backdrop for our photography.

We will also visit 2 glaciers. The first we will actually be able to walk on (safe conditions permitting, of course). It’s leading edge is surrounded by beautiful and dense lupine flowers. It truly is an amazing location, glacier, ice, morraine, flowers, and surrounding peaks. We could probably spend the entire tour here, and never get bored! But Child’s Glacier beckons to us from near the end of the Copper River Highway. It’s face is several hundred feet tall and is usually in a very active ‘calving’ phase this time of year. We will spend several hours photographing this immense glacier from just .19 miles away.

So, just to recap just some of what Cordova has to offer:

Moose, black bear, bald eagles, sea otters, harbor seals, jellyfish, waterfalls, rain forest, glacial streams/rivers/lakes/ponds, glaciers, mountains, the largest river delta on the west coast, trumpeter swans, waterfowl, and immense emptiness! And likely, not another photo tour group in the region. Please check out the dedicated Cordova Tour Description page for more info, and please contact me with any questions or to sign up for the amazing and very unique photo tour. The last few seats are filling quickly!

Here’s to this past year, and a New Year ahead!

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And one “sh!tty” photograph…

Looking for an amazing way to spend 2011? Consider joining me on a unique Alaskan Photo Tour! Amazing destinations, incredible wildlife, fantastic landscapes. 3 photo tours. 1 amazing state.

Alaska Photo AdvenTours.

Check out The Best Photos of 2009 list on Jim Goldstein’s website.

Wild Lands & Wild Life: Cordova – Alaska photo tour description.

Update – only 4 spots available!

Lupine Field & Glacier

What can I say? I’ve got talented friends.

We met shortly after 8 last night and drove the 1/2 hour to my “Back yard”. Yes, it’s a 1/2 hour away, but I can see it from my bedroom window. Hence, it’s my back yard. My logic is undeniable. Anyway… It seems as though I have just started seeing this area with new eyes. And the possibilities are endless.

Ever since I moved here, Hatcher Pass has been my backyard. My first evening here, my best friend Tim drove us the 4 minutes from my new home to the entry to Hatcher Pass. Here, the Little Susitna’s (Lil’ Su) turquoise waters rush over beautiful gray and white rocks. The river looks like a soft blue milk, with a hint of gray – one of my favorite colors on the planet.

Summit Glow, Hatcher Pass, Alaska ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 24mm. 2.5" @ f/16, ISO 200, B+W CPL filter.)

These mountains are some of the oldest in Alaska. On the westernmost edge of the Talkeetna Range, they have eroded peaks and ridges, not sharp and defined like newer ones. But just a few miles to the east the range shifts dramatically; precarious spires and razor sharp ridge lines arc throughout the skyline. The valleys are home to hundreds of moose, and the alpine slopes to countless marmot and birds. There are fox and wolf in the area, although I have only seen the “sign” and not the actual critter.

In the summer months, this area is lush with plants and wild flowers. There are verdant green valleys that run for dozens of miles in all directions, small streams coursing their way and nourishing the wilderness. Old and abandoned mines dot the landscape, skeletons of a history not so long ago yet so very different present day Alaska.

Summit View, Hatcher Pass, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 24mm. 13" at f/16, ISO 200. B+W CPL filter)

There is one road, Willow Fishhook, that cuts through the western reaches of this range. It is a rough unpaved road, but the views can be extraordinary. Atop the pass (above Independence Mine), the road cuts next to Summit Lake. This was where we parked and began the slow trek high into the surrounding mountains. Our time was cut short, but our views were not. Despite the steadily approaching storm and driving rains, we could easily see the city lights of Palmer 13 miles away. To the north, we could see the lower ramparts of Denali at sunset. We climbed to about 4800 feet, then traced the ridge as it ran east-southeast, then slightly north, finally turning west and descending to my vehicle. It was only 4 hours, I could have spent a much longer time on the ridge, but it was very exposed and the weather hit us right after we summited. Scott and I are already planning our next trip up, a multi-day backpacking/filming trip. Should be spectacular.

Slope Life, Hatcher Pass, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 24mm. 3.2" at f/16 base exposure @ ISO 100. 1/4" at f/16 flower exposure @ ISO 1600. B+W CPL filter.)

For the photographers out there – here’s a brief breakdown of how I created the last image in today’s post.

In the Field

The wind was gusting pretty strong, but inconsistently. Because of the vast scene I knew that I needed to maximize my depth of field by using a wide angle lens and a small aperture (in this case, f/16). Of course, the problem is the wind. At f/16 I was getting a shutter speed of 3.2 seconds at ISO 100. Far too long of an exposure to stop the motion of the foreground flowers. The option was to boost my ISO up so my shutter speed would be high enough to stop their motion, but this meant an ISO of 1600. Higher ISOs like this mean noise. Noise is bad (…usually). I don’t own a tilt/shift lens, so I was kind of stuck.

Or… was I? (it helps if you say this while turning your head slightly sideways with a serious look on your face.)

My solution was to shoot the shot twice, once at a low ISO to capture the scene without noise and to focus on the middle and back ground. The second shot would be to focus on the flowers at a higher ISO to stop their motion. The exposures turned out like this: flowers = f/16 @ 1/4″, ISO 1600, with focus set on the flowers. Everything besides the flowers = f/16 @ 3.2″, ISO 100, with focus set on the rock outcropping in the upper left third of the frame.

Post Production

Once I had imported all of my shots into Lightroom, I did minor adjustments to the colors/saturation/contrast/etc. Then I exported both images into Photoshop as separate files. Now, here’s where it gets top-secret tip kinda zone… If you tell anyone how I did this, I’m telling your mother on you. With both files open in Photoshop, I selected FILE:AUTOMATE:PHOTOMERGE.

“But Dave, that is a program for making panoramics! You can’t use it that way, you’ll be arrested!”

Yes, I know. You are being way too dramatic. The problem with shooting two images of the same scene with slightly different focal points is the scenes don’t overlap perfectly. There is a slight misalignment. Don’t believe me? Try it out. Back? Ok… let’s continue. The great thing about Photomerge is not only its ability to merge side by side images into a stitched pano, but also to correct for misalignments in Blended Images. In essence, what you are doing is creating an image with much more depth of field. So, I selected the “Auto” feature and sat back. In a few seconds, it was done. Two images of the same scene, focused on different areas, overlaid and matched perfectly. I selected the layer that was the image taken at a higher ISO and positioned it as the bottom layer. The image with the low ISO (and no noise) was set as the top layer and I added a layer mask to it. At this point, the image looks nice. No noise, but flowers are blurred because of the focal point change and the motion caused by the wind. So I selected the layer mask I just created and “cut through” the top layer (blurred flowers) to the higher ISO layer below, but only where the flowers and immediately surrounding area was.

Presto Bango… an image with great depth of field (sharp from foreground to background), razor sharp flowers, and a clean sky with no noise visible anywhere. Yes, there is some noise in the flowers. But the sharpness of the detail overcomes that, plus the noise appears to be texture on the flowers. The noise is only visible at very large magnifications on my monitor – it will not be evident on even a very large size print.

One additional note, this is the supreme law of digital photography. If you can only take one photo and have no chance of blending an image (an example would be a wildlife shot), ALWAYS boost the ISO to stop the action. I would rather have a sharp noisy image than a completely clean blurry image.

I hope this technique inspires you to try some new comps, next time you’re in the field.

Stay tuned.

The downside to this whole switchover? Well… I must assume the blame here. When I created my first website, I organized things poorly. Not the layout per se, but the backend structure. The folder system was not as friendly as it should have been. Hopefully, my new system will prove a more intelligent choice. Fingers crossed… But, because of the choices I made early on, I have to manually repopulate previous posts… yeah.

Now THAT sounds like fun. Errr… not. I also lose my tracking statistics. That is more of an ego thing, as I had just passed 30,000 unique visitors to the site. Oh well… *update* – Apparently, the stats were NOT lost in the transition. The plugin gave me the option to bring them forward during the installation process. One button press and presto-chango all is right with the world!

Waterfall Above Lower Reed Lake, Hatcher Pass, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 24mm. 4/5

So, not all of my original posts will be available in the long run & I’ll add old ones as time allows. Probably, a “Greatest Hits” collection, if you will. This new website will be focused on SEO (that’s Search Engine Optimization). So, we’ll see how that works out as well. My plan is to continue with the blog/journal writing I’ve been doing now for roughly 2 years, but also add a stock photography site for image buyers, as well as update the galleries more frequently.

Waterfall Above Lower Reed Lake, Hatcher Pass, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 28mm. 1.3

Enough with the boring site news… on to the images! I spent Friday with a solo tour client hiking in Hatcher Pass along Reed Lakes Trail. Jim Casteel is a talented young photographer from Colorado. He’s also an avid and experienced backcountry user, and I really had to work to keep up with him. Youngsters…

Waterfall Above Lower Reed Lake, Hatcher Pass, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D mk 2, 24-105 @ 24mm. 1/2

It never did rain on our hike, but it looked like it could at any moment. We hiked approximately 12 miles, and at the top of the trail we found that we were wading through the clouds. Not a beautiful day for hiking, but quite comfortable. This particular waterfall separates Upper from Lower Reed Lake, and plummets approximately 75 feet to a narrow ravine that flows into the lake below. It’s a very beautiful location, but also VERY slick. Jim slipped on a wet rock and smacked his Nikon D700 against a rock. His hotshoe “broke his fall”, and is badly dented – but as a testament to his Nikon equipment, it still functioned perfectly the rest of the trip. Thank goodness for insurance policies…

Jim Casteel, Photographer, Reed Lakes Trail, Alaska. ©2010 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D, 24-105 @ 24mm. 1/25

I hope you enjoy a few of the pics I brought back as well as the new format. Stay tuned…