Visit Alaska for Photography!

Saturday, 30 October, 2010 06:51 Written by Eric 0 Comments

There are few places in the world that get me as excited to go as Alaska does. Sure there are endless places to vacation around the globe, but I when it comes to really SEEING a place, Alaska has everything one would need. The great thing about Alaska is that unlike many travel destinations, you can go to Alaska with 3000 people and still feel like you are completely alone.

One of the top highlights of a visit to Alaska is when you are staring at the face of 400 foot tall Hubbard Glacier, you get a real appreciation for your minuscule place in time and space. Here you are, face to face with a six-mile wide field of ice that is over 400 years old, it has traveled over 80 miles in a monolithic river of ice, and it stands on the precipice of the abyss. The ice you stare has lived through every moment of American history, going back to well before the New World was “discovered”. The ice you stare at absorbs all the colors of the spectrum, save one. The brilliant blue that is reflected, even more so on a cloudy day, is a color that draws you in. You have to look at it. The blue coupled with the staggering size of the glacier is something that leaves an impression on you.

And then you hear it. .. a thundering crack. The natives call it “White Thunder”. If you are lucky, you will see the whole thing…a piece of ice, as tall as the Statue of Liberty, simply falls off the face of the glacier and impacts the surface of the water with the energy of a large bomb. The resulting explosion would be a catastrophic event were one to be standing under it. Thankfully you are safe aboard an ocean going vessel, that is not even half the height of the glacier, and you have a cup of hot chocolate in your hand. Welcome to 21st Century travel!

An Alaskan cruise tour is one of the best ways to see Alaska. Most of Alaska is inaccessible by road. You cannot even drive to the capital city of Juneau. There is one north-south road in the main interior of Alaska. A cruise tour lets you see the maximum amount in a convenient and comfortable way. Cruise out of Vancouver and head north, ending up in Seward or Whittier.

In Seward, arrange a kayak trip, or whale watching, or even fishing. There are amazing islands to explore by kayak. There are truly few places in the world that match the beauty of this area. From here, take the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage, or even up to Denali. The train is the preferred way to travel. Motor coaches can be crowded, they do not get to see the same scenery as they follow the road, and you simply cannot get up and walk around like you can on the train.

If you land in Whittier, make sure and walk straight off the pier and over to the folks at Philips 26 Glacier cruise. This fantastic day trip is a great way to get an even closer look at a glacier. Surprise Glacier is the highlight of this trip, and with the small (relative to the cruise ship) boat, you can get much, much closer to the face of the glaciers, for beautiful photo opportunities.

From either Whittier or Seward you can get to Denali National Park. The Alaska Railroad will get you there in style and comfort. Denali is truly a marvel of the world. Standing over 20,000 feet tall, the peak of Mount McKinley creates its own weather systems. If you get truly lucky and catch the mountain on a clear day, you will be treated to an unparalleled site. Once in the park, the abundant wildlife and soaring landscapes are something to behold.

When people ask me, what is your favorite place you’ve traveled to, my answer is always the same. Alaska. I have found many places I enjoy going, but I’ve not ever found a place that sticks in my heart like Alaska does. For me, the glaciers are the biggest attraction, but you will find your own reason for falling in love with Alaska!

Eric Jacky is a freelance photographer living in Eagle. His first Alaska Photo Cruise workshop takes place in the summer of 2011.

Announcing Alaska Photography Cruise Workshop!

Thursday, 19 August, 2010 07:23 Written by Eric 0 Comments

Well, this has been in the works for quite a while and now I can finally officially announce that on September 3, 2011, the beautiful Holland America Line ms Westerdam will set sail from Seattle, bound for Alaska, and will serve as host to my first photography workshop at sea. This workshop is aimed at beginning to intermediate photographers, who want to learn more about their Digital SLR systems, how to edit and manage the images they create, and how to share their images with friends and family.

We will be conducting hands on shooting, featuring a stop at America’s largest tidewater glacier, Hubbard Glacier. Participants will be able to use their gear, or try gear provided by the workshop to shoot images of this magnificent work of nature.

We will be visiting Juneau (with an optional helicopter trip to Mendenhal Glacier), Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC. There will be opportunities to photograph whales and Bald Eagles who are always near by.

Enjoy a Bon Voyage party as we leave Seattle and head north, followed by a first class diner with your new friends!

More information is available now at www.alaskaphotocruise.com. Space is available on a first come first served basis, and is very limited.

Shooting in Challenging Light

Wednesday, 23 June, 2010 12:36 Written by Eric 0 Comments

This image shows the challenge of light vs. dark with no where to run!

Photographing High Contrast Situations

On Tuesday morning I did a short shoot for Concordia University who was doing a ground breaking ceremony for a new law school they are building in Boise. I had met with the principals a few weeks back to go over the layout of things and get an idea of what and who was going to be where, etc. An important thing was that we met at about the same time as the event was going to take place. This was important because it gave me an idea of what challenges I was going to face with regards to lighting position. Shooting an indoor event is one thing, shooting outdoors, while not always harder, does present its own set of obstacles. In this case, I was dealing with a North to South facing event, and a 10:00 start time, which meant the sun was going to be coming in at exactly 90 degrees(ish) to my subjects. Ouch.

The second challenge came in that the Sun was peeking around the side of a building, so while the subject may have been speaking, everything behind him was in shade.

Third challenge, video crew. Video crews were there to capture the entire event, which means now my area of movement is somewhat restricted. If you’ve ever shot an event featuring a single focal point, you know that EVERYONE wants to be in that center spot. Video crews usually win that battle because, well, because they are stationary and can’t be as nimble as someone with a DSLR. So where I wanted to stand was off limits, because no one wants to see the back of my noggin on screen, so I actually had to stand back by the vid, just below the lens, and use my 80-200 f/2.8 telephoto to zoom in. Not a major deal, just something you have to think about when shooting events.

So, the trick really became trying to light everything properly and make it look ok, even in what are normally unrecommended shooting hours. (No golden hour, early morning, late evening light here, just straight up sun and harsh shadows!). I pack a Nikon SB800 strobe which helps at closer range, I metered for the shadows and cranked the flash up to +3 for most of the shots that I could get close enough to use it, but for the longer distance stuff, just had to work with my ISO and shutter speeds to get it to work.

In the end, it became a balancing act of high ISO range (640-800 for most of it), and relatively slower shutter speeds at those ISO ranges so I could pull out the details in the darker areas, while not blowing out the data bathed in bright sun light.

The Moment Of Truth

So, three morals to this story, 1) Light happens, and you just have to deal with it. Sadly, we can’t hoist lighting condition requirements upon our clients (and you know we would if we could), so we are forced to take what cards are dealt and sort it out. 2) Flexibility is the key, be nimble, bring everything you think you will need (extra batteries, etc). And moral number 3? Assault is a crime, so when someone stands right in front of your carefully crafted and long anticipated climax shot (in this case, the actual breaking of the ground with the ceremonial shovels), try to resist the urge to bash them about the head with your monopod. Pivot as little as possible without completely destroying the integrity of your shot and get what you can. Happy event shooting!

The result of an audience member who stands up right at the critical moment can have ill consequences for your critical shot. In this case, I had to jump to my left, throwing off the symmetry and balance I had lined up. I had exactly a fraction of second to adapt and get what I could.

Adobe Lightroom 3 (Hooray!)

Wednesday, 16 June, 2010 10:01 Written by Eric 1 Comment

Well, after a lengthy wait, the long anticipated jump to Lightroom 3 finally arrived. Download and upgrade took a matter of minutes on my Mac, have heard reports of it taking much longer on PC’s with similar catalog sizes, (in my case over 40,000 images). First thing noticed was that some of my favorite plugin’s ceased to work, including a watermarking plugin and my Zenfolio plugin, all of which were remedied quickly.

The new import process is going to take some time to get used to. I’m sure over time it will prove to be better than the old, however I’ve yet to experience that, so will be patient. Now that things are setup, going to dive into it and see what all it has to offer!

When to put the camera down

Thursday, 06 May, 2010 09:25 Written by Eric 1 Comment

This is going to probably sound weird coming from a travel photographer. However, after a recent trip to Disneyland, I realized it’s an important photography topic and not one many people may think about very often.

We have all been there and we have all seen someone doing the same thing…the persistent camera stuck to someone’s face while their kid is having their first go at the tea cups. There is mom or dad, watching the whole thing through a 2 inch lcd display while little Billy has a great time.

I would argue that this is not a good way to live! Take a photo, but then put the camera down and enjoy the scene for Pete’s sake! Living the memory is part of what makes the trip so special. On this recent trip, either it was bugging me, or it really did seem out of control, the number of parents who witnessed their kids entire experience through the lens. It is ok to not capture every waking second of a trip on camera, really!