CAPTURING ALASKA

with Wayde Carroll

 

 

 

In and Around Seward

 

 

 

   A few days ago I had a shoot in Seward for a local retirement home. With not much daylight these days I decided ti stay the night down there instead of driving the icy roads home in the dark. I was waffling a bit but the news of a fatal accident on the Seward Highway the day before helped make a wise choice.

   Besides, I love any opportunity to shoot stock on the Kenai Peninsula!

 

   I finished up work just before dusk so I rushed down town to see if there was anything interesting going on. It was the perfect time of day to blend the lights of the town with the beautiful dusk glow in the mountains. These two sources don't balance for long so I found three or four nice compositions before it got too dark.

   The next morning I forced myself to get up by sunrise- about 9:30a.m.!- and hit the road towards home looking for more photos. Everything was covered in a form fitting blanket of fresh snow-gorgeous! The big trick is to keep an eye on the histogram. There is so much white that I needed to open up my exposures one to two stops to have the snow actually register as white.

 

   Here are some of my faves' from the day.

 

 

 

With the camera on a tripod I was able to use a small aperture of F22. This gives me a good range of focus- which allows for the lights, building, and mountain to be sharp- and also gives the starburst effect to the lights.

 

 

 

 

When the ambient skylight exposure matches that of the town lights, it's a great time for photos!

 

 

 

 

I just loved the subtle gradations of the days last light.

 

 

 

 

I included the fence in the foreground to cover up a grubby looking road.

 

 

 

 

If I'm not mistaken this is some kind of coal conveyer that assists in the off-loading of the fossil fuel from a mine across Resurrection bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quintessential Alaska Cabin #1

 

 

 

 

Quintessential Alaska Cabin #2

 

 

 

 

I like the three dimensional quality of this photo. There is foreground, middle, and background subjects that take the eye through the photo.

 

 

 

 

I've always loved this Alaska Railroad Bridge. Usually I drive by and say " someday I'm going to stop and get that". I finally got out to photograph it!

 

 

 

This is  Salmon Creek. I'm standing on a small snow-covered railroad track that's crossing the creek here. I really liked the glow from the sky reflected on the water.