Five

This row of trees seems to stand guard at the gap in the mountains at the nature center. In browsing through other photos of this area, I noticed everyone seems to take a photo of these same trees. They are somewhat ragtag and gawky looking, but there is just something about them!

At sunset, everything seemed to have a rosy glow.

20161125-mma_9911_melinda_anderson-edit

I did another edit in black and white, but couldn’t seem to get the effect I wanted. Then I added a teal color layer and a texture, which gives it a snowy look. Just playing!

20161125-mma_9911_melinda_anderson-edit-edit

MelindaLeave a comment

Alaska Drive-by

 

20161126-mma_0295_melinda_anderson-editThere is so much beautiful scenery in Alaska, and you can’t stop for every view- so you sometimes have to just keep clicking your shutter as you go down the freeway. In fact, my shutter jammed as I kept firing it in burst mode as we drove along (it did recover, thank goodness). I don’t know exactly where this was taken- somewhere between Palmer and Wasilla, I think.

Melinda2 Comments

Brrrr!

I think all my Alaska photos should be titled Brrrr– it was cold. We didn’t spend a lot of time outside, but I did accompany Justin and Caitlin- and Penny, the golden retriever, on a quick walk at the Eagle River Nature Center, at the Chugach State Park. I saw a very different scene from my visit in August!

20161125-mma_9868_melinda_anderson-edit

That’s ice on the trees; the only snow was on the mountains. I think this photo was taken around three- thirty.

Melinda2 Comments

Aurora!

We have just returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with our daughter’s family in Alaska- our first trip there in winter (I know it is technically fall, but it was WINTER there!). There was no snow, but the ground and many of the trees were covered with icy hoar frost. Daylight was limited, and the weather averaged in the low teens. Brrrr!

I was hoping to see the northern lights, but Caitlin had warned me that most nights had cloud covered skies, which blocked the view. I think it was the second morning we were there that she woke us up to  tell us that she could see the aurora from the front deck. We staggered sleepily outside (it was not really that early- 7 a.m.- but it was dark, of course), and, after a few minutes of allowing our eyes to be accustomed to the darkness, we were treated to the sight of a faint aurora dancing around the dark skies. I grabbed my camera and set up the tripod for a long exposure. I hadn’t prepared for this and didn’t think anything was showing up on the LCD monitor. Caitlin offered to drive us a few miles down the road toward the state park, where she thought we would be able to see more. We pulled over in a likely spot, but alas, we could only see stars. I set up the tripod anyway and took three 15 second exposures anyway, stopping when I kept hearing rustling in the bushes. It wasn’t until I looked at the images on the computer that I realized that there was indeed a very small part of the aurora visible. My images were underexposed at 15 seconds- perhaps I needed to increase ISO or use a longer exposure. Next time, I will be more prepared!

Below is my favorite view, although the aurora is mini. This was taken from a pullout on the road.

20161124-mma_9709_melinda_anderson-edit

 

Melinda5 Comments

Blast from the Past (well, August)

This is overlooking part of the town of Eagle River, outside Anchorage, Alaska, where our daughter’s family lives. In the distance you can see a bit of the Knik Arm- and an overcast sky, and in the foreground is fireweed, which was everywhere during our visit. We are returning to Alaska to spend Thanksgiving- and I’m sure it will look quite different!

20160805-mma_4807_melinda_anderson

MelindaLeave a comment

Thank you, You came Here

20160808-MMA_5139_melinda_anderson-Edit

Before we headed to Alaska last month, we looked at places we might visit during our short stay there. One of the places that caught my eye was the Eklutna Historical Park, near Eagle River, where our family lives. Advertised as  an “Alaska Native and Russian Orthodox cultural experience“,  the site includes two churches and an old cemetery, irresistible to this photographer/genealogist! As soon as we arrived, it started to rain, so we were only able to spend about a half hour there, but I managed to take a few photos while protecting my camera from the rain. The site is a blend of the Russian influence and the native Athabaskan tradition of building spirit houses over the graves of their family members.  The church above is the new church, built in 1962.

Below are some of the colorful spirit houses in the old graveyard, which is still used. The log church is the original Russian Orthodox Church, built by the Russians some time between 1830 and 1870 in Knik.  Around 1900, the building was moved to the old graveyard in Eklutna. The spirit houses show a blend of the Orthodox and native traditions, often decorated with the Orthodox cross.

Eklutna_triptych

20160808-MMA_5156_melinda_anderson-Edit

 

Melinda2 Comments

Moving Trees

I shot this photo in Eagle River, Alaska while out for a walk with the family. Yes, the blur was on purpose; I knew intentional camera movement was one of the upcoming topics for my photo club. I want to do more of this- the results are somewhat unpredictable, but fun!

20160805-MMA_4892_melinda_anderson-Edit

Melinda2 Comments

Off the Beaten Path

I decided on this restaurant for lunch even before we arrived in Alaska. It is in Hope, less than a half hour off the Seward highway, and it gets rave reviews for its food and atmosphere on Trip Advisor and in our guidebook.  Our daughter tried to discourage us, saying it was a long drive through nothing very interesting and that the food and atmosphere was nothing special. But having no other lunch destination in mind on the way to Seward, we decided to go anyway.  I was really excited to finally arrive- but then we discovered it was CLOSED for a wedding. And we were starving! Part of the reason for going there was for me to take photos (Lonnie was more interested in the food, as it was way past lunchtime)- so I snapped away for 10 minutes before heading back to the main highway and on to Seward.

20160803-MMA_3753_melinda_anderson-EditI actually spent a lot of time editing this photo, attempting to create sort of a Bleach Bypass look. The most time-consuming part of the edit was moving the couple closer to the foreground so they became part of the scene, instead of specks in the background.

The below image is a vertical crop of the above photo.  I took a vertical shot, but it wasn’t usable because of how much I had to crop off due to lens distortion with my 18-200 lens. Fortunately I had this version to play with.  After cropping and correcting the distortion (I love the new Transform Tool in Lightroom!), I used a preset in On1 Effects, which I modified a bit- and was done in five minutes.

20160803-MMA_3753_melinda_anderson-Edit-2

Melinda2 Comments