“Capturing Alaska”
    with Wayde Carroll






Working It!


 
    
   We’ve been getting some decent snow here in Anchorage over the last few days and it looks like it’s finally going to stick. The kids have already built the sledding ramp in the front yard and I’m looking forward to getting out in it as well. I get a thrill downhill skiing and cross- country skiing but my number one winter activity is snowshoeing. I love snowshoeing because it is similar to hiking, my number one summer activity. Also, it allows me to keep my camera out, carry a tripod, and take time to actually look around. It’s great to be able to get off the trodden paths and get in between the birch and spruce, make first tracks.
   I haven’t gotten out yet this week but I was thinking back on a stock shooting outing I took last winter with my friend Curtis Smith. I wanted to get some snowshoeing photos for my stock files so we headed south, just past Turnagain Pass, on a glorious winter day last March. What I want to show here is what’s possible with a little planning in a short period of time.
   I knew I wanted to shoot in this area because I had driven by it a couple of weeks prior. I was able to convince Curtis to come out strictly as a model, which is great because instead of just grabbing photos when I saw something interesting, I had someone who was willing to be directed and repeat things over and over if necessary. But, we both have families and I was only able to steal him for about half a day.
   Because I had scouted the area I had several shots I knew I wanted to try. I sketched out several ideas and brought them along incase my creativity gene froze up in the cold! The images here were all taken within an hour (It’s about an hours’ drive from Anchorage so we didn’t have a ton of time to be in the spot!) of each other and within a half mile radius.
   The first thing I always look for is an interesting background to shoot the action in. After identifying several,I then talked to Curtis about my ideas and directed him this way and that. It’s great to have a model! When something is really working you are free to have them repeat it as many times as it takes to get several different versions or just nail the perfect one.
   In the image of Curtis stepping over the viewer I was lying in the snow and had him walk directly over me several times. Each time I had to immediately clean off my camera, snow would drop off the snowshoes into my lens- and face!
   In the image of him silhouetted against the low sun, I had him run across that ledge four or five times. He enjoyed the work out and just getting out and I was thrilled with the resulting images.
   By planning and “working” the scene I was able to get a number of saleable images in a short amount of time. I can’t wait for the next shoot!