Iditarod Restart

March 8th, 2010 Mike Criss No comments

Iditarod Restart

March 8th, 2010 Mike Criss No comments

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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2010 Iditarod



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Martin Buser


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2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Newton Marshall from Jamaica



2010 Iditarod

Newton Marshall


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2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Martin Buser



2010 Iditarod

Kristy Berington



2010 Iditarod


2010 Iditarod


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2010 Iditarod

Lance Mackey



2010 Iditarod

Newton Marshall



2010 Iditarod

Zoya DeNure



2010 Iditarod

My beautiful wife..incognito



2010 Iditarod

The real athletes


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2010 Iditarod

Wattie McDonald from Scotland



2010

Zoya Denure



2010 Iditarod

Jessie Royer



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

John Baker


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2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart



2010 Iditarod

Justin Savidis



2010 Iditarod

Justin Savidis



2010 Iditarod

Blake Freking



2010 Iditarod

Blake Freking


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2010 Iditarod

Blake Freking



2010 Iditarod

Blake Freking



2010 Iditarod

Scott White



2010 Iditarod

Newton Marshall



2010 Iditarod

Jeff King


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2010 Iditarod

Hans Gatt



2010 Iditarod

Jane Faulkner



2010 Iditarod

Karin Hendrickson



2010 Iditarod

Warren Palfrey



2010 Iditarod

Iditarod Restart


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2010 Iditarod

Quinn Iten



2010 Iditarod

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta



2010 Iditarod

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta



2010 Iditarod

Karen Ramstead, Perryvale, Alberta



2010 Iditarod
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2010 Iditarod

Alaska Photography



2010 Iditarod

Michael Suprenant

2010 Iditarod

March 7th, 2010 Mike Criss No comments

2010 Iditarod

March 7th, 2010 Mike Criss No comments

Behind the scenes at Iditarod 38

March 6th, 2010 Mike Criss 1 comment

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

Iditarod 2010 is almost here!

March 3rd, 2010 Mike Criss No comments

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

2010 Fur Rondy Dog Races

February 27th, 2010 Mike Criss 2 comments

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

Metlakatla, Alaska in HDR

February 25th, 2010 Mike Criss 3 comments

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


Fun Alaska Style

February 14th, 2010 Mike Criss 4 comments

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.

Photographing Alaska Moose

February 11th, 2010 Mike Criss 3 comments

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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