Mama and Baby

Mama and baby moose after sunset one evening :)

Frozen Sea Shell

This clam shell was frozen under the light ice layer as the tide went out.

Mixed Emotions

Print available

Misty Skies

Every so often, the mountains across the Bay get this ethereal look to them. I always try to capture it when I see it. No exception on this day :)

Whoosh

Ever seen snow falling off of trees after a fluffy snowfall? I managed to shoot quite a bit of it recently. It looked so magical with the sun shining through it!

Lots of it! I'd hate to be underneath it! Brr!

I would love to do a photoshoot of someone with falling snow like that in the background. No idea if I will ever make it happen, but hopefully it would turn out spectacular!

Strange Mirror

Frozen slush at sunset

Fun Pen!

My mother in law was showing me this pen someone gave to here. Isn't it incredible? I would be so distracted while using it!

Attack!

This is my brother in law having fun while I took photos of the flowers....

Glowing Ice

Ice chunks on the beach at sunset. Again!

March 1 Aurora

On the evening of March 1, I shot the northern lights. This was the best I could get before I had to go to bed and stopped freezing, but it was worth it. I hope to see it again before winter is over, but we'll see!

So Windy I Couldn't Shoot

A couple days ago, I talked about how it was so windy that I only took a few photos. This day was much, much worse. The car was rocking back and forth, and I didn't have the guts to get out of it. Plus, I was sick with a cold and didn't want to subject myself to more cold...

The wind makes it quite difficult to shoot. This tree was moving around a ton, and I couldn't get the camera to focus well enough, whether manually or not to focus on the sun. Everytime I tried, the car shook enough that it was hopeless to try!

So I went home and hunkered down for the evening!

Mud Bay

Moose

Snacking after sunset.

I love moose :)

Pup

This little guy greeted me when I got my mail the other day. Kinda cute :)

Sad Snow

Melted and refrozen snow on the beach.

Starfish

This side of the Bay, I don't usually find many starfish. This one was pretty good sized, and I just had to capture him.

I took one of the youth group girls I know to the beach with me so we could both do some shooting. Unfortunately, it was another really windy day, and we didn't stay long :(

Intricate ice crystals :)

Frigid

There are days when the wind blows so hard that it just is not worth shooting, unless the sunset is just that good. This particular evening was not worth it. I took 5 shots, and then raced back to the car. I hate the wind that takes your breath away (in a bad way!)

The sunset itself was interesting, but not interesting enough!

Icy Parking Lot

Our significant snowfall in February produced a lot of slush when it warmed up and then froze. Interesting patterns from snow tires!!

Ice Blocks

I really love this composition, but not how dark the foreground is. But these ice blocks were just perfect for what I look for, as the chunks go.

I have gotten quite used to seeing frozen slush and ice chunks along the beach this winter, but I still love to capture them :) They can be a great interesting foreground element!

Moose Head

Moose have huge heads. I guess they are huge in general, so the heads are proportional to that, but they still seem really large to me. Kinda fun to see this face peeking in a window, eh?

Frozen Pools

 I left the house too late for the peak of this sunset, but I shaved off a couple minutes of time by stopping at the Beluga Slough. Loved the reflection on the ice from the sky.

23!

It's my birthday!! 23! Two more years until I can rent a car! :P In honor of my favorite color, I am posting a blue image :)

Frozen slush!

Here's to hoping there is no more snow this winter! (Ha! That's a joke!)

Brush Strokes

I tried to capture the huge waves in front of Augustine, but I was cold, and the light was fading fast. This was the best I got before I went back to get warm.

Us

A month late, but these are our Valentine's portraits that I forced C to take with me. C actually went on a business trip over Valentine's, so we celebrated after he came back. We went out to breakfast. :)

I had big intentions of a nice photoshoot...but it was quite chilly. I really like this one, so it's sufficient, I suppose :)

Door Frost

Frost is one of those things I have a love/hate relationship with. I hate scraping my car, but I otherwise love it. It looks so beautiful in early morning sunshine, and it makes such intricate patterns on different surfaces.

Rush

Long Exposures at the Beach

If you hadn't noticed, I love long exposures and the waves. This particular day, the waves were huge again, and the patterns left were quite interesting.

So ethereal :)

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February Photo Times

I am already a couple weeks late for this, but here is the recap of the time I spent shooting and editing in the month of February! January comparison here!

1. Shooting: 11 hours and 107.2 miles. Went shooting 16 times, but several of those were duds of sunsets.
2. Picasa: 5.25 hours
3. Photoshop: 28.5 hours
4. Fireworks: 3.75 hours. Spent more time in Fireworks this month, but that was the only one that was ahead of January. Could be accounted for in the shorter month, maybe.

Total editing time: 37.5 hours
Total time: 48.5 hours

So there you have it!

Snowy Beach

Fog and snow on the beach at sunset. There was over a foot of snow on the beach and people were still driving through it. *shakes head*

I love sunset light.

Snowy Trees

:)

Snow Scape 2

A second snowy image at sunset. Similar, but a tad different.
Print available.

Thoughts on the Japan Earthquake

Every time there is a sizable earthquake anywhere in the world, my heart stops for a second when I hear of it. The risk of it happening here seems to grow ever stronger with each quake elsewhere.

I'm sure that if I was ever caught in a flood, or a hurricane, or a tornado, I would panic. Those are dangers that I have no concept of, not really anyway. I have never been anywhere where that was a risk. Earthquakes are second nature to me, or at least I like to think so, but I think they are definitely one of the scarier disasters due to the sheer lack of control and warning there is.

There is a small part of me that has a sick tendency to be proud of the amount and strength of our Alaskan earthquakes. So what? A natural disaster is not something to be proud of!

I have pondered the best time for a huge earthquake here. The wintertime would be awful. Cold weather when heating systems and electricity may not work, as well the potential for people trapped under rubble is not a good combination. But in the summertime, there is such a huge influx of visitors to the state that that would be horrible as well. There is no ideal time for a disaster.

Last night, I wanted to go out and shoot the aurora from the beach. As soon as I saw news of the quake, it took precedence. I spent the next 4 hours pouring over charts, Twitter, and reading the same news pieces over and over again. I dug out my radio to listen for updates. The tsunami warning system went off at midnight. Even though a potential tsunami had hours before it reached my town, I still was not willing to risk it. I went to bed with a heavy heart for those hurting, concerned about friends and acquaintances in Japan, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

I slept poorly, waking up, subconsciously afraid of my house flooding, and woke up in the morning chiding myself for my worrying. The danger passed us by, as it usually does.

It was hard not to despair last night, thinking of how easily the entire planet can be shaken by these plates. But it is out of my control (of course!) and I have to give my fear over to God, otherwise I will be paralyzed by it. That's the only way to live.

I went to the beach this afternoon, at a friend's insistence. I was not eager to go, but the waves were calm and the tide was out. It's pointless to live paralyzed by "what ifs" when they may never materialize. I feel confident that we have enough food stored in the house that we could survive if we needed. But according to this emergency list, I am lacking a few things. This could lead into a discussion on politics, the collapse of the US dollar and/or economic system and other disaster preparedness, but I think I will try to prepare for what I can, and leave the rest up to tomorrow.

Northern Lights 3-9

The aurora was out again on March 9th! I saw a faint glow at 10:15, and sure enough it was out. This one was taken at 11:30. It got stronger and stronger, and then it just exploded.

It started visibly dancing. I have seen one other display better than this, but this one was pretty awesome.

So amazing.

I should have driven away from home, but it's a long story :) Last night, the lights were out again, and I saw them at about 9pm. I was surprised to see them that early, but decided to wait. They died down and were not very spectacular at all =/ I had plans to leave and everything. I was also concerned over the slight chance of us having a tsunami, so that plus getting updates on the quake in Japan took precedence. Maybe tonight?!