Life in the northern landscape
In the late 1700’s, the first recorded European to set foot on Alaska was George Steller, a naturalist on the Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering. Steller landed on a rugged prominence called Kayak Island, a 23 mile island directly exposed to the violent waters of the Gulf of Alaska. A great book on details…
On average, I do a handful of assignments a year for Alaska Magazine. One of those, featured in the May 2009 issue, is about the community of Delta Junction, just 90 miles south of Fairbanks. Delta has an interesting history, dating from Alaska’s pioneer days, but of recent development as well, including agriculture and military…
Yup’ik Miracle Drummers and DancersCanon 1Ds Mark III, 300mm f2.8L IS, 1/250 sec @ f2.8, ISO 1250 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.
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 70-200mm f2.8L, 1/160 sec @f2.8, ISO 1250 w/off camera flashInu–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…
Dogs race along the track at the Limited North American sprint dog race, Fairbanks, Alaska.Canon 1D Mark III, 500mm f4L IS, 1/800 sec @ f10, ISO 400 Sprint dog racing is in full swing in Fairbanks this time of year, even as the long distance mushers work their way towards Nome on the Iditarod. The…
I’ve been photographing the World Ice Sculpting Championships in Fairbanks for 15 years. Throughout this time, many amazing sculptures have been created by artists from all over the world. One in particular stands out to me, and the numerous fist place medals to his name attest to his talents. Fairbanks sculptor Vladimir Zhikhartsev, originally from…
The Multi-block ice sculpting event is in full swing, and will end on Friday, March, 6. During a few visits, I’ve attempted to capture some portraits of the sculptors at work. While it is not challenging to grab a few token shots, it is difficult to create light, spontaneously, as the sculptors are working. Medium…
Single block ice sculptures at the World Ice Art Championships, Fairbanks, Alaska. Single block ice sculptures at the World Ice Art Championships, Fairbanks, Alaska. These are comparison shots of the same ice sculpture. The first frame shows the work in progress and the second frame shows the detail enhanced when lit at night with colored…
Mongolian sculptors Rashaanjav Tuvshintur and Tserendash Batmunkh created an abstract single block sculpture titled “Evolution” for the 2009 World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. With the single block competition complete, the Multi-block competition begins March 1 and concludes on March 6, 2009. Four person teams will carve and sculpt massive ice sculptures to be…
I left the world of direct, on-camera flash some years ago, and its a needed step to take for creative and interesting lighting of subjects. In the past, I’ve used Canon’s ST-E2 Infrared Transmitter (Or a Canon 580 serves the same function when set as master), which would trigger off camera flashes through a infrared…