09-16-13 Nice Ice

My wife explicitly warned me not to publish too many photos of glacier ice so I guess I'm defying her with this one, since I published another ice photo a few posts ago. But I can't help myself. How can you not be fascinated with the colors and textures of this ice. And how can you not think about the Titantic, when you hear the thumping of small chunks of ice against the hull of the Safari Endeavor? But our captain is much smarter about ice than Captain Edward Smith. :-)

Canon 5DIII 1/800s f/6.3 ISO400 200mm

09-15-13 Captain Jenna

There are many good things that I could say about Un Cruise Adventures, the company whose boat we cruised on in Alaska recently. But one of the great features was their "open bridge" policy. Passengers were encouraged to come on to the bridge to see boat operations from the pilot's point of view. On watch in this photo is the Captain, Jenna, who is expertly guiding us near Ford's Terror. With a name like "Ford's Terror," you'd expect the place to be intriguing. And it was. . . .

Canon 5DIII 1/100s f/4.5 ISO400 29mm

09-14-13 Morning Procession

I was anchored near the mouth of Mission Creek at Lake Oahe (Missouri River) a couple weeks ago when I noticed movement on the point of the far shore. Using my binoculars, I noticed that it was a group of deer walking slowly along the beach. A few minutes later, I saw them walk into the water and then start to swim to the south point of the bay I was in. I estimated that the swim was about 1/4 mile and was more than a little surprised since I didn't know deer could swim.

Eventually, they arrived on the near shore and, having checked me out, hurried up the hill and out of sight. Below you will find two other photos I took in the sequence, including one where the buck (who was last in the line) has stopped and is checking me out. Given that he didn't have his Speedos on, do I dare say that he was "buck naked?" (Sorry.)

Canon 5DIII 1/1600s f/8.0 ISO400 200mm

09-02-13 The Safari Endeavor at the Dawes Glacier

I'm about to be told to turn off my iPad on the plane that will take us on our first leg home today. But I selected this photo as my first Alaskan Un Cruise Adventures photo because it capture both the awesome landscape of SE Alaska and the nature of our amazing 7-day cruise on the Safari Endeavor. I'll have more to say about this place when I'm back online.

Later . . .

For the culminating activity on our Un Cruise, we motored up to within a few miles of the Dawes Glacier. Once there, small groups were motored out to within 1/4 mile of the glacier, which meant that we had to go through the ice field you see here. "Wow!" was generally the only word spoken (repeatedly) as Captain Jon S. took us through the chunks of ice. Jon spoke little during the two hours we were out. But he was constantly grinning. And so were we.

The culmination of the day was being served one of my favorite 12-year-old Scotches cooled by 500-year-old crystal clear glacier ice. Wow!

08-29-13 Reprise: Early

I’m off on a junket to Alaskan waters on an Un Cruise Adventure and will be off the grid for a while. And so I’m posting old stuff but I’m making it sound special by calling it “Reprise.” I’ll back back on September 3.

08-28-13 Reprise: He's Watching Us

I’m off on a junket to Alaskan waters on and Un Cruise Adventure and will be off the grid for a while. And so I’m posting old stuff but I’m making it sound special by calling it “Reprise.” I’ll back back on September 3.

08-27-13 Reprise: Classes Canceled

I’m off on a junket to Alaskan waters on and Un Cruise Adventure and will be off the grid for a while. And so I’m posting old stuff but I’m making it sound special by calling it “Reprise.” I’ll back back on September 3.

08-26-13 Reprise: Morning Light

I'm off on a junket to Alaskan waters on and Un Cruise Adventure and will be off the grid for a while. And so I'm posting old stuff but I'm making it sound special by calling it "Reprise." I'll back back on September 3.

08-25-13 Singled Out - Morning Light on Grass #3

This is the last of three macro photos that are intended to suggest that photographers have the potential to make common things interesting by finding the right framing, focus and light.

08-24-13 Singled Out - Morning Light on Grass #2

Second is a series of three.

08-23-13 Singled Out - Morning Light on Grass #1

This is the first in a series that I am calling "Singled Out." The series is an attempt to show you that photographers have the power to make the mundane interesting. All it takes is the right framing and the right light. All of the subjects in this series are considered weeds.

08-22-13 The Darkest Hour?

The saying is that "the darkest hour is just before dawn" and I was aware of that when I went quickly to my camera bag so I could get the moment pictured in this post. I'm not sure how one defines "dawn" but I concluded that the saying was a bit inaccurate even if it is more metaphorical than literal.

I'll have to admit that I've shot the sunrise from this same spot before. And as Monet no doubt felt good about painting the same haystacks over and over again, I can live with my redundancy: even though it's the same spot and the same old sun, this sunrise is unique in all of the 4.6 billion years of the Earth's existence. And I was there to capture it.

On a technical note, those who are inclined to study my photos closely might be inclined to say that part of my style is, as one student said recently, "crispness." Generally, because I shoot with a high resolution camera, use good lenses, generally use a a tripod and use fairly elaborate sharpening processes, they are clean and crisp. But this one is a little blurry. Was it premeditated? Not really. I was standing in a boat that was moving ever so slightly and I was hand-holding my camera with an impossible-to-hand-hold shutter speed of 1/3 of a second. I know that's a sin. But the blur actually adds to the impressionistic nature of this photo. I suspect that Monet might approve.

Canon 5DIII 0.3s f/4.0 ISO800 32mm