Alaska Photography

I have been to Juneau dozens of times. The weather is always unpredictable and I end up packing rain gear, cold weather gear and dress in layers.

If you are lucky enough to be in Juneau while the weather is nice, there is no place like it. It is one of my favorite places to travel within the state. Apparently the cruise ship industry likes it also. There can be 3-5 ships in port at once. They even have to anchor a couple in the channel and ferry the passengers in.

This was shot last summer. The cruise industry brings a lot of visitors into Alaska.

One of the first things people do when they get here is shop. Downtown Juneau is full of jewelry stores and t-shirt shops. One of the second things they do is visit Mendenhall Glacier.

Mendenhall Glacier can be seen from the airport and is a must see when in Juneau. They have a nice visitors center and nicely maintained trails. This was taken last week.

Juneau has one main road out of town and it travels north 40 miles. I drove up it last week and had to stop along the way to take photos.

This is Auke Lake as the sun was rising.

The road dead ends at Echo Cove.

I hiked around Echo Cove for about 3 miles to get to Berners Bay. It was very peaceful, I was the only one in the parking lot. Just me and all the birds out there.

As I hike around a corner towards the bay, this is one of the views.

These mountains are a part of the range that surrounds Berners Bay.

Echo Cove finally gives way to Berners Bay.

I can’t tell you how peaceful this was. I could sit and enjoy this view for hours.

Thor thought he would enjoy the view!!

Mike Criss

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/

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A lot of Alaskans like to escape the cold once in a while. We are no different, and usually get away to a warm climate once a year. Last year we went to Mexico and this year we went to Hawaii. We would have probably gone back to Mexico, but my son decided to have his wedding on a beach in Hawaii.

We left the house and it was 13 degrees F. The next day my wife Meg was walking on a beach in 85 degree weather.

My main job while in Hawaii was to photograph my son’s wedding. It also allowed me to work on my night photography. For Alaskans, dark equals cold. After so many years here, it is a strange feeling to step into a dark night and be warm. It was sure comfortable to be able to set up and photograph in the warmth of a Hawaiian night.

I came across this police officier on his Waikiki Beach beat. I did not have my tripod so I set my camera on a post and exposed for 3 seconds.

I hiked down to the beach one night and captured some images.

It is almost impossible to find a secluded beach around Waikiki so I had to deal with a lot of people.

Because of all the people, we would get in our convertible and explore the island and scout out the wedding location for lighting.

We got up at 5am one morning to catch the sunrise on the east side of Oahu. This is a shot of Meg enjoying the ocean spray.

We spent a lot of time on the North Shore as well.

This is a shot of a North Shore sunset. It was incredible.

Of course I had to try some HDR with sunset shots and came up with this next photo.

I climbed a lifeguard tower to get this shot. A photographer then set up his tripod just below me, so I moved in front of him.

Hawaii is a great getaway, but Oahu has too many people for me. Next trip will be to one of the other islands.

BTW, I have a new daughter-in-law.

Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/

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