Alaska - The Places That Impacted Me Most
My first article on my first blog, this is exciting, it only took a pandemic for this blog to finally move to the top of the agenda. There are still shelves to assemble in my garage and I wonder what else is it going to take it for me to get them upright. A meteorite? Ok now to the subject at hand, the big question: Which places have have had the most around impact on me? It’s fair to say that my job as a commercial adventure photographer takes me to pretty cool places so I should know what I’m talking about right? Let’s just assume that you trust my judgement.
This is the first entry to the “Places That Impacted Me Most” series. Let’s take the time machine to… Alaska, circa 2014.
November 23, 2014, my first time in Alaska.
I landed in Anchorage on a dreary November night, picked up my bags, zipped to the Hertz counter, and was handed the keys to a massive Dodge Ram. Hello Alaska. The reason I was here? To shoot a campaign for Canon's new entry level DSLR dubbed the 'Rebel T6i', rowdy.
The next morning was no different than the night before, low grey clouds, and barely any light by 9am. So much so for our concept of shooting 'Epic Alaskan mountain landscapes' which is what I had sold Canon on.
Nevertheless, I headed down the lobby to meet my two fixers, Jovell and Young Kim. After some small talk and going over the rough planning of the day we hit the road, our destination: Eklutna Lake, a large reservoir up in the Chugach Mountains. The idea was to get there for first light, which in late fall in Anchorage is about 9:45am. Although Young Kim was already asleep snoring in the back of the car, the cloud ceiling was getting lower and lower revealing only about 1/3 of the mountains around us, I was slowly getting my mind blown by Alaska.
Still, seeing how socked in the valley was I was getting increasingly worried about our morning shoot. We left the freeway and started climbing on a narrow-ish road towards the village of Eklutna and by some kind of miracle, after passing the village, we popped out of the clouds and there was pure, clear, light blue sky. Not a cloud in sight above us. We pressed on to the lake which was only a few miles away, parked and started walking towards the shore.
The morning fog was still dissipating over the lake and ever so slowly Bold Peak started rising at the far end of the lake. Within minutes, the west side of the range above us started turning pink, then orange and bright yellow. Sunrise was happening, and I was on a cloud. During this 5 day long Alaskan jaunt, I saw peaks I could only dream of, photographed moose, elk, and saw the northern lights for the first time.
Alaska had a profound impact on me because for a euro kid who is used to domesticated mountains, this was totally different. Miles and miles of Wilderness without anyone in sight, it felt like the edge of the world, where the ocean meets the glaciers. One just has to pull up a map to understand the endless possibilities for adventure here.
— Alex
Moments before peaking through the clouds on our way to Eklutna Lake
10 seconds after we’re through, and our asses are saved.
Jovell and Young Kim, waiting for the fog to clear on Eklutna Lake
Jovell and Young Kim above the clouds once again at the Hatchers Pass abandoned mine.
Jovell and Young Kim convinced a dude to give us a night ride up the Girdwood cable car to shoot the stars
Musk Ox at the Nature Reserve near Portage Glacier
