Alaska Photography

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Alaska Photography

Robert Nelson

Alaska Photography

Chris Adkins

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Alaska Photography

Alaska Photography

Kirk Barnum

Sebastian Schuelle

Martin Buser

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Martin Buser

Kristy Berington, Kasilof, Alaska

Kristy Berington, Kasilof, Alaska

Alaska Photography

Jim Lanier, Chugiak, Alaska

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Alaska Photography

Sonny Lindner

Alaska Photography

Hank Debruin

Alaska Photography

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Zack Steer

Lance Mackey

Lance Mackey

Aliy Zirkle

Alaska Photography

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Ken Anderson

Emil Churchin

Alaska Photography

Allen Moore

Alaska Photography

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Hugh Neff

The Iditarod Restart was in Willow, Alaska yesterday. My wife and I had a great time enjoying all the festivities.  We Alaskans have our own way of tail gating. Crowds were not as bad as I have seen in past years, but still stretched across the entire lake.

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Iditarod Restart

Iditarod Restart

Iditarod Restart

Martin Buser

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Iditarod Restart

Iditarod Restart

Iditarod Restart

Newton Marshall from Jamaica

Newton Marshall

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Iditarod Restart

Martin Buser

Kristy Berington

Lance Mackey

Newton Marshall

Zoya DeNure

My beautiful wife..incognito

The real athletes

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Wattie McDonald from Scotland

Zoya Denure

Jessie Royer

Iditarod Restart

John Baker

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Iditarod Restart

Justin Savidis

Justin Savidis

Blake Freking

Blake Freking

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Blake Freking

Blake Freking

Scott White

Newton Marshall

Jeff King

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Hans Gatt

Jane Faulkner

Karin Hendrickson

Warren Palfrey

Iditarod Restart

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Quinn Iten

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta

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Alaska Photography

Michael Suprenant

Second set of photos from the 2010 Iditarod Ceremonial Start held in Anchorage, Alaska. The Iditarod restart is today in Willow, I’ll be there.

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Art Church, Wasilla

Ryan Redington, Wasilla

Tamara Rose, Fairbanks

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Quinn Iten, Kotzebue, Alaska

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta Canada

Michael Suprenant, Chugiak, Alaska

Dee Dee Jonrowe, Willow, Alaska

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Robert Nelson, Kotzebue, Alaska

Chris Adkins, Sand Coulee, Montana

Kirk Barmum, Seeley Lake, Montana

Sebastian Schnuelle, Whitehorse, Yukon

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Michelle Phillips, Tagish, Yukon

Martain Buser, Big Lake, Alaska

Kristy Berington, Kasilof, Alaska

Cindy Gallea, Seeley Lake, Montana

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William Pinkham, Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Here are my photos of the first 20 mushers in the 2010 Iditarod. These are from the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage.

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Linwood Fiedler, Willow Alaska

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Cim Smyth, Big Lake

Wattie McDonald, Stonehaven, Scotland

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Zoya DeNure, Gakona

Jessie Royer, Fairbanks

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Paul Gebhardt, Kasilof

John Baker, Kotzebue

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Ray Redington Jr., Wasilla

Justin Savidis, Willow

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Blake Freking, Finland, Minn.

Mat Hayashida, Willow

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Scott White, Woodinville, Washington

Newton Marshall, St. Anne, Jamaica

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Jeff King, Denali

Pat Moon, Chicago, Ilinois

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Mitch Seavey, Seward

Hans Gat, Whitehorse, Yukon

The 2010 Iditarod ceremonial start was today. Every year the mushers go through Anchorage for a ceremonial start for the crowds. The real start takes place tomorrow in Willow. I thought I would share some of the photos I took prior to the start.

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Alaska State Trooper Sled

Dee Dee Jonrowe

The eyes have it.

What's going on out there?

Jeff King's Sled

Jeff King from Denali, Alaska

Newton Marshall from Jamaica

Mitch Seavey

Aliy Zirkle with her usual big smile.

Karen Ramstead with one of her siberians

Cat in the Hat

Is that a bobcat?

Part of the Wattie McDonald crew from Scotland

The crowd lining 4th Ave in Anchorage

Went to pick up my press pass for the Iditarod today. The ceremonial start is on Saturday in Anchorage and the restart is on Sunday in Willow. Got to meet the Teacher on the Trail Herb Brambley from Breezewood, PA.
http://iditarodblogs.com/tott/meet-the-teachers/meet-herb-brambley-2010/

Last year I supplied several schools across the US with photos as they followed their favorite mushers. In April I received thank-you cards from each of the kids in the classroom and my wife put them in a scrapbook with the photos…Very Nice.
Be sure to follow the Iditarod Insider for news from the trail. It should be a great race this year.
http://www.iditarod.com/

Here is a photo of last years champ Lance Mackey:

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http://www.akphotograph.com

I love photographing dogs. I wanted to photograph the 2010 Fur Rondy Dog Races, but did not want to fight the downtown crowds where they start. The race winds through Anchorage’s trail system for 25 miles so I hiked down to a spot on the trail and set up. Fortunately, I had all my arctic gear on or I would have froze. Photographing snow can be challenging depending on the lighting conditions.

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Michael Goosen Team from Wasilla, Alaska

Jason Dunlap from Salcha, Alaska

JP Norris from Willow, Alaska

Randy Dekuiper's team

Nathan Sterling from Chugiak, Alaska

Nathan Sterling from Chugiak, Alaska

Jeff King from Denali, Alaska

Brent Beck from Yellowknife, NWT

Bill Kornmuller from Willow, Alaska

Nils Hahn from Talkeetna, Alaska

Traveled to Metlakatla, Alaska last week. Metlakatla is south of Ketchikan on Annette Island. We flew into Ketchikan then took the inter-island ferry down to Metlakatla.  Metlakatla’s population is about 1500 people and the roads are paved, very rare for villages I travel to. Had to spend 2 days there and got our work done quickly on the first day. The second day we spent hiking around the island while we waited for the afternoon ferry. The weather was fantastic, there is nothing like Southeast Alaska on a nice day. All photos are HDR tonemapped in Photomatix.

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Ferry headed south

Metlakatla Harbor

Relections from Annette Island HDR

Hiking HDR, does not look like Alaska.

The View HDR

Waterfall HDR Metlakatla Alaska

Ferry with Metlakatla in the background

A lot of people ask me how I can stand living through our Alaska winters. I tell them if you can get a couple winter outdoor hobbies it is easy. I love to cross-country ski and last year we adopted a Siberian Husky into our family. That makes it even more fun. My wife’s twin sister is a recreational dog musher and we enjoy outings with her and her dogs. On this excursion, we had 2 dog sleds, a pair of skis, 4 Siberians and a black lab.
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Donner waiting patiently

Donner waiting not so patiently

My wife(in the back) with her twin sister

My lovely wife with Blue

Found a pair of moose in our yard when we got home

This was my first time skijoring with two dogs. I borrowed Totem to help Donner pull…what fun.I included a one minute video from my point and shoot camera. You will see why I don’t carry my 5D outside of my backpack at the end.

Fun Alaska Style from Mike Criss on Vimeo.

This is one of my favorite moose images. I show these three moose coming out of the woods as I drove past them. I had not seen a car for miles so we were pretty alone. Fortunately, I had my camera with my 100-400mm lens right next to me in the truck. I jumped out and snapped several photos as they crossed the road. I was worried about the direction of the sun from behind them, but I like the back-lit effect of this photo.

You don’t have to go far to find a moose, but they can disappear in a hurry like these did. Other times, I will find a couple moose bedding down in my backyard…only in Alaska!

I just uploaded 20 moose images to my Zenfolio account here.
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