Camping in the Chugach National Forest near Seward. Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105 (24mm) 1/60 sec @ f/9, ISO 640.
If you are thinking… wow, if camping in the Chugach National Forest looks like that, I’d love to camp there! Then you are thinking exactly like me. I spent a few days hiking and photographing in southcentral Alaska, near Seward, and the sights and views were splendid. I trekked with friends and colleagues Ron and Janine Niebrugge, and we had a blast on all accounts. On this morning (5:30 a.m.) a sliver of clear sky let the rising sun blast a glow across the hillsides.
Ron did what I normally do in a situation like this–head for water and find a reflection to bring some of those clouds to the ground. But, I could not leave that beautiful hillside and committed myself to making a few pictures of the big landscape. We both knew the light would not last long (while I remained on the top of the hill, check out the awesome photo Ron was making lower on the hill).
All the action happened from about 5:15-5:45 a.m. and then the sun was gone for the day. Missing those sweet window moments are not affordable.
Shooting directly into the sunrise. I blended two images to create this scene. One was shot for the highlights, one for the shadows. You can see that the sun would be short lived. Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm f/4L IS (50mm), 1/500 sec @ f/8, ISO 640.
One of the pesky troubles not evident in the pictures above is the clouds of bugs that were a huge nuisance, largely because they got in the way of the lens, or crawled on the surface of the lens. The very light breeze was in the wrong direction and it created a wind shadow in the direction I was shooting, and the bugs hung out there, but what a spectacular place!
