Photography 101 in Alaska
Alaska had endured one its rainiest summers in a long time according to some of the locals I spoke with. My week in Katmai would not be any different and the cool, crisp and sunny days of the autumn I remember so well would have to wait for another year
While waiting for the right opportunity for the possible great shot, hours in the rain protecting camera gear has its downers for sure. And when the wind picks up, it really makes even the most prepared feel ill equipped for it all. Once the in climate weather sets in and the discomfort becomes a wet, windy, cold and constant companion it serves as a good indicator that this Southern Californian has become somewhat soft over time. With the right metal approach, it doesn't take too long to adjust. After all I am still in one of the most beautiful national parks and it was only September and nothing like what will unleash itself on this wilderness in the coming months.
The physical discomfort is minor in relation to the reason I am here in the first place; to take sharp, inspired and different photos of the bears. The reduced light and muted colors were something I was going to just have to work with best as possible as I wait for any hope of sun light on the horizons. I don't carry fast f2.8 big lenses that both bring me close to the action and allow me the light I need to shoot with. I depend on warm low light and slow moving subjects to bring home images that can be compared to the "big-timers." Thankfully with sensors on digital cameras getting better by the year, ISO speeds can be pushed in some case to 800 ASA giving me noise free images and more opportunity to shoot in reduced light. With my new Canon 5D and the 30D as a back up which does not offer the same range of options, I felt a much better about the prospects in low light. Up to this trip, have always depended on an array of slide film ranging in speed and color saturation and felt very free with the new found versatility at my finger tips, rain or sunshine.
As the 5D only gave me just under 2 days of full frame sensor exposure before it registered its last image and reduced me to my backup body and the one I did not plan to use at all. This is photography and this is Alaska. Be prepared, adapt and make the best of every situation. There is yet another lesson soon to be learned.
Sometimes in order to come up with different images that emote a completely differentemotional response, we need to take a second and longer look at what we are shooting. I began to think of all the bear frame filling faces that detail every possible thing in vividly-sharp perspective in all the nature magazines. After flipping through pages and pages and several publications over the years examining perfect close ups of these wonderful expressive animals, they have all of the sudden begun to look a bit sterile to me personally. I wanted something different and the rain, wind and less powerful back up camera was going ensure I found it.
I began to find stoic images in the reflections of newly formed puddles of mud.
In the early hours I waited for the first light to reveal images that may reveal a story as if being told in this very picture as one cub seems to be mesmerizing another with an amazing fish story.
The thick forest provide somewhat of a shelter for the rain and definitely the wind. In them another type of magic unfolds before my eyes and the camera shutter as this sleeping bear digs a hole under a tree and peacefully rest between fishing excursions.
The bears in the valley began to take on even more distinctive and unique personalities. And when the locked eyes with me, seem to look into parts of me that I did not know were there or have been long forgotten.
As I flew out of the park 6 days later, part of me stayed behind as it always does. This time however, it maybe more of an appreciation for the whole picture rather than many well lit and beautiful fragment clusters. Maybe this soft Southern Californian will come back one day again with a new sense of the soul of Alaska and be ready for it rain, shine , wind or snow. I will know in advance that with all dark clouds filled with rain, they eventually part and there is always a rainbow waiting for those of us who are looking for it.
Until then, I look forward to the next lesson that photography teaches me about the World around me and more importantly about myself.
Chris Perry
Katmai, Alaska
Sept, 2008