Well, I am now less than 2 weeks away from heading off on my first trip to Alaska. I surprise myself I haven’t mentioned it before here, but I have been so swamped with so many other things. I will be photographing for a few days just outside Denali National Park, and then down to Katmai National Park to photograph coastal brown bears. Both are places I have always wanted to go to, and yet I will also miss so many more places in Alaska that I wish I had time to visit. For the bear portion, I will be living on a boat for 6 days, which enables access to some of the more remote areas of the Katmai coastline.
Equipment packing is going to be interesting. I am just starting to gather things together to make sure I fall within the 75 lb weight limit I need to be at. It seems I have been making purchases of items I “think” I will need over the past few weeks. It is amazing how the expenses can start to add up with things you think you will need here and there. Weather I understand can be highly variable, wide ranges of temperatures possible, rain likely, and waders are a must for stream crossings and wet landings. It seems like 75 lbs should be doable, but when I start subtracting camera gear, laptop/hard drives and rain gear – it doesn’t leave a lot left for clothing or other extras.
But aside from the equipment aspect, what about the mental part? Do I know what I want as far as imagery? What are my goals? Is it possible to pre-visualize any compositions to look for, despite not being familiar with the region? Perhaps this is an equally important packing list to formulate. Of course so much will depend on conditions and reacting to them, but it doesn’t hurt to dream a bit. I have certainly seen a lot of pictures of Alaska, a lot of the bears at Katmai, and I hear you can see Russia from up there. :-) But what do I want to portray of my first experience here?
Bear Image of the Year
Sometimes I will make small sketches and keep them with me just as reminders in case the scenery and conditions look accommodating. Here is such a sketch. It is not defined by any images I have seen before, but something that I thought would make for a cool shot should the opportunity arise. (If someone has seen such an image – please don’t burst my bubble. :-) ) It could be entirely wishful thinking for a moment that could never happen. I think you can easily surmise why I am a photographer and not a sketch artist. Fortunately these do not weigh anything.
So posts will be scarce over the next 3 weeks or so. Hopefully some stories to tell, images to share, and matching sketches with what really happened when I return.
