We were only at our cabin on the MacDonald Spit for two nights, but I photographed this particular boat on more than one occasion as it floated on the still, dark waters of Kasitsna Bay. I think I was drawn not only to the boat itself but to its reflection. What a beautiful place!
This was taken during our stay at Between Beaches on the MacDonald Spit on Kachemak Bay in Alaska. We had beaches in front of and behind our cabin- Kachemak Bay in front, Kasitsna Bay behind. Watching the gulls fly low over the dark waters of Kasitsna Bay in the mornings and evenings gave me a perfect opportunity to practice intentional camera movement techniques to create impressionistic images.
I was happy to hear at my camera club’s online meeting last night that this image won second place in this month’s Open Subject competition. It’s always nice to hear when other people like your art.
I first titled this image the Sinking Sun or Drowning Sun- but I see it now as rising. I guess it depends on your point of view.
I’ve made a small website change- and plan to do more over the coming weeks. If you got this blog post by email and didn’t go to my website, you would have noticed nothing new. But if you went to my website directly to look at my latest post, you may have gotten lost! The landing page for melinda365.com is now a slideshow instead of my blog posts. To get to my blog, you have to go to the MENU. This change has been in my head for a couple years, but it has taken this long to make myself sit down and actually DO it. I plan to update my galleries page as well to reflect work I’ve done in the last couple years.
After the rains, Watson Lake looked like it might have before the dawn of man- except it’s a man-made lake (and that’s a cormorant, not a pteradactyl. . . )!
We hadn’t been out for a walk for almost a week, and we were eager to see how Watson Lake looked after this week’s huge storms. We hadn’t seen many herons or egrets since we returned from Alaska, so we weren’t surprised to see just cormorants, Canada geese, and ducks today.
My favorite photo of the day- look closely to see who is sharing the log!
Spending time photographing gulls swooping over the dark waters of Kasitsna Bay was one of the great pleasures of my Alaska trip.
Golden hour in Homer! I don’t remember what time it was- maybe 11pm?- but the rain had stopped and the golden light had lit up the clouds over Kachemak Bay and surrounding mountains.
When we were driving in Homer, I noticed lupines growing all along the bike path where the old wooden boats were displayed. I remember seeing them when I was photographing the wonderful boats several years ago, but it seemed like there were even more now in 2021- just a sea of violet blue! I kept saying we needed to stop so I could take some photos.
The evening before we left Homer, we parked across from where the bike path started and hustled across the street to take photos. It was raining, but well, it’s Alaska! I made quite a few shots, including some with intentional blur. This image is a composite of two images, identical except that one was blurred (intentional camera movement).
Vacation photos from Alaska aren’t complete without an eagle photo! They were everywhere- especially where we stayed on a beach on Kachemak Bay. This photo was taken on one of our excursions to Gull Island.
Another Alaska photo- from the Anchorage Botanical Garden- a Turk’s Cap Lily, the sign said. We had so much fun wandering around with the boys. We had been there before- last time we saw a bear!- but it was great to go back. Their plants and displays are beautiful and so different from the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. I’ll post more in the future- all taken with my Lensbaby.
I have been doing intentional camera movement (ICM) for many years off and on, but I have never enjoyed it as much as I have when photographing birds this summer. The image below is gulls over Alaska’s Kasitsna Bay near the cabin on the MacDonald Spit where we stayed for our fiftieth anniversary.
One of the highlights of our Alaska trip was a two hour boat trip to Gull Island in Kachemak Bay. We enjoyed it so much that we actually returned the next day!
Gull Island is the breeding ground for several types of sea birds who return every year to make (and reuse) their nests and lay their eggs. There seemed to be many more kittiwakes (the white gulls) than the other species, and you can see them flying around and dotting the cliff in their nests. There were also many common murres and some puffins. A few eagles were sitting on the tops of the cliffs. Otters played in the waters below.
Our first day and a half in Homer, Alaska were rainy. The surrounding peaks were mostly invisible behind clouds. But at the end of our first full day, the rain had mostly stopped and light was peeking through the clouds.
We returned yesterday from Alaska- arriving at 6:15am in Phoenix after a smooth but excruciating overnight flight from Anchorage. It was a smooth flight with the potential for a good night’s sleep in the darkened cabin, BUT. . . the lady behind us had brought her CAT which yowled continually the entire time! Sleep was beyond reach for me- I watched a movie and tried to calm my frazzled nerves by playing a meditation album on my iPhone and taking photos out the window. Lonnie actually managed to sleep for a few hours.
None of the above diminished the joy I felt from our wonderful reunion with our daughter and family and our 50th anniversary vacation within a vacation! It was perfect!
I’m posting an iconic Alaska photo first, because previously I had managed to travel to Alaska at least 5 times without capturing a moose image! It was raining lightly as we drove along the Seward highway as we were leaving Anchorage. We spotted a small group of moose, pulled over, and managed to get a shot of this young moose before he turned back to resume eating. The others had already disappeared into the brush. I love the look in his eye as he spotted us!
I don’t know what these wildflowers are called, but I was attracted to their wild shagginess.
Seen on our 2018 Alaska trip.
melinda anderson photography 