Tag Archives: Juneau

Photo of the Day — Glaciers

I recently dug into my 2007 archives and found some photos I really want to share.

Having spent three summers —about 10 months — of my life in Alaska, working in tourism, I had ample opportunity to explore the frontier. Many of the photos I came away with were at destinations I drove a bus to while on tour, but some were courtesy of the free (“comped”) helicopter rides I took in Juneau.

Taku Glacier, Juneau, Alaska

A view of the Taku Glacier from helicopter. The Taku is the largest glacier in the Juneau Icefield at more then 30 miles long and five miles wide at its terminus.

Glacier ice is blue because it is so dense that blue is the only color wavelength with enough energy to reflect out. The muddy look comes from rock that is groud up by the moving ice. It is actually called glacial silt and is as flour.

Glacier ice is blue because it is so dense that blue is the only color wavelength with enough energy to reflect out. The muddy look comes from rock that is groud up by the moving ice. It is actually called glacial silt and is as flour.

Norris Glacier, Alaska

A crevase runs deep from the surface of the Norris Glacier in the Juneau Icefield. This is one of a handful of glaciers to which helicopter companies run tours during the summer tourism season. Crevasses in the glacier can reach as deep as 180 feet here. The ice itself is around 1,100 feet deep in some areas.

Glacier Calving

Ice on the Mendenhall turns blue when chunks calve off, exposing it to oxygen.

Glacier Rock

Striations etched in the granite provide evidence of the past location of the Mendenhall Glacier.

Photo of the Day — Beads of Water

It’s the little things.

The great — and sometimes tiresome — thing about being a photographer is that you always have your gear with you. That is, if you have developed good habits. My camera-toting habit formed near the end of college, while working for the Bellingham Herald, under the supervision of a well-known photo editor — Russ Kendall.

He encouraged me to take my camera everywhere. After all, being a good photojournalist is more a lifestyle than a job. The first full day I carried my camera everywhere, a fire broke out in downtown Bellingham. I was the first one on the scene and the paper ran my photos online for the breaking news.  That advice — and subsequent affirming experience — led me to capture many a nice moment or obscure aspect of life.

Beads of water accumulate on a blade of grass during a rainy Juneau day.

Beads of water accumulate on a blade of grass during a rainy Juneau day.

This was one of those images I wasn’t really looking for, but because I had my gear with me as I rode my bike home from work on that rainy Juneau day, I captured water droplets accumulating on a thin blade of grass.

As my wife says often: “80 percent of life is just showing up.” Eighty percent of being a photographer is just having your camera with you, prepared for unexpected opportunities.

— C

Photo of the Day — Cuddly black bear

I spotted this young cinnamon black bear as he tried to snatch some freshly killed salmon near a creek near the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in Juneau, Alaska in 2007. A mother black bear was fishing and feeding with her two cubs and she proceeded to chase him up a tree, where he waited until she went back to her business.
A two-year-old cinnamon black bear lies in wait after being chased up a tree by a sow. The mother bear was fishing with her two one-year-old cubs when this one interfered near the Steep Creek Trail in Juneau.

A two-year-old cinnamon black bear lies in wait after being chased up a tree by a sow. The mother bear was fishing with her two one-year-old cubs when this one interfered near the Steep Creek Trail in Juneau.

As a tour guide there for the summer, I had the opportunity to observe the salmon run — and the subsequent bear feeding time — on an almost daily basis.

— Chris