Ideas for Photo Opportunities in Anchorage Area

Scott_Quier

Hi All,

My wife and I will be visiting my brother and family in Anchorage, AK area for a couple of weeks in July. I am looking for ideas/inspiriation for photo opportunities.

We do have some plans:

• Russian River - my brother is into fishing and the Reds will be running while we are there. So, while he's fishing, I'll be hiking the Russian River. There is a falls up-stream of the camp ground, so that will be one stop.
• Thunderbird Falls (just north of Eagle River on the Glenn Highway). Plan right now is to hike to the bottom of the falls as the public over-look kind of sucks for photos
• There is some sort of animal park on the Whittier turn off along the Turnagain Arm highway. We will be visiting that.
• I'm toying with the idea of investing the two days required for the bus tour of Denali Park for the opportunity to shoot some wild-life. I just don't know if the return will be worth the investment of time. Opinions, anyone?

Some things I have to take into consideration:

• Not everyone in the family is gung-ho about spending a lot of time chasing down photo opportunities. I can push the issue a couple of times, but I have to consider other family members' priorities.
• Funds are kind of limited as well

Any help/advise is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

wxwax

Take your ND filter for the water shots.

Denali is definitely worth the trip. The mountain ranges are wonderful, especially if you get good light. It's one of the most beautiful parts of our country, well worth the effort. Don't count on getting a clear shot of Denali itself, it's often in clouds.

Take advantage of being in a location so rich with photo ops. If worst comes to worst, just hang out at the lake beside Anchorage airport, and get the floatplanes coming in. With a long lens, you can compress them against the mountains/cityscape and get a cool shot. Or get near where they touchdown and get a cool splash shot. Maybe slower shutter and get some blur?

PetersCreek

Howdy Scott—

I'm sure y'all are going to have a great time on your trip up here.

Thunderbird Falls gets my vote for a photo opp. It's close and it's a short hike so it won't take a lot of time out of your schedule...depending on how long you spend getting your shots. But then, I'm biased since it's so close to my house. There's a rail fence section at the end of the lower trail but the better shots of the falls are beyond that. It's not posted and it's easy to walk around. Be prepared to get your feet wet for the better shots...and to wipe your objective frequently. Wide lens suggested.

If you make your way down the Kenai Peninsula at all, you'll have no shortage of opportunities. Portage Valley is a nice detour, the Kenai River can be a beautiful shade of blue-green, a couple of nice overlooks of Skilak Lake can be found, and there are other vistas as well.

If you do make the drive to Denali, try to build some flexibility into your schedule for the numerous stops one can make to take in the scenery. There are the requisite scenic overlooks but there are also streams and other sights. Then there's Skinny Dick's Half-Way Inn. Not too scenic but it's definitely got character.

Give me a shout if you have some wiggle room in your itinerary for a meetup.

Scott_Quier

wxwax wrote:

Take your ND filter for the water shots.

Denali is definitely worth the trip. The mountain ranges are wonderful, especially if you get good light. It's one of the most beautiful parts of our country, well worth the effort. Don't count on getting a clear shot of Denali itself, it's often in clouds.

Take advantage of being in a location so rich with photo ops. If worst comes to worst, just hang out at the lake beside Anchorage airport, and get the floatplanes coming in. With a long lens, you can compress them against the mountains/cityscape and get a cool shot. Or get near where they touchdown and get a cool splash shot. Maybe slower shutter and get some blur?

wxwax, thanks for responding.

I just purchased and ND4 and ND8 for just that purpose. They are so new, I haven't even tried to mount them on a lens yet.

I was up there visiting my brother in 2003 and we were able to get a clear shot of the mountain from the hi-way (don't ask me where, I wasn't driving). Yeah, my sister-in-law told me we got really lucky.

Hadn't thought about Lake Hood for photo ops (I used to live on Elemendorf for about 6 years, so I am somewhat familar with the area - its been a long time so that's why I'm asking for ideas).

Scott_Quier

PetersCreek wrote:

Howdy Scott—

I'm sure y'all are going to have a great time on your trip up here.

Thunderbird Falls gets my vote for a photo opp. It's close and it's a short hike so it won't take a lot of time out of your schedule...depending on how long you spend getting your shots. But then, I'm biased since it's so close to my house. There's a rail fence section at the end of the lower trail but the better shots of the falls are beyond that. It's not posted and it's easy to walk around. Be prepared to get your feet wet for the better shots...and to wipe your objective frequently. Wide lens suggested.

If you make your way down the Kenai Peninsula at all, you'll have no shortage of opportunities. Portage Valley is a nice detour, the Kenai River can be a beautiful shade of blue-green, a couple of nice overlooks of Skilak Lake can be found, and there are other vistas as well.

If you do make the drive to Denali, try to build some flexibility into your schedule for the numerous stops one can make to take in the scenery. There are the requisite scenic overlooks but there are also streams and other sights. Then there's Skinny Dick's Half-Way Inn. Not too scenic but it's definitely got character.

Give me a shout if you have some wiggle room in your itinerary for a meetup.

Thanks for the offer - I know we will have wiggle room in the schedule - it's being built for exactly that purpose for the unexpected stuff. I'll PM you as the schedule firms up and we set something up. Looking forward to it.

I got the EF-S 10-22 on a 20D. I think that ought to be wide enough - I sure hope so. If not, I'll figure something out.

I know for sure that we will be going down the penisula. My brother will be chasing the Reds in the Russian River.

Be kind of cool to get a shot of the rip tide rushing up the Turnagain Arm as the tide comes back in - just thought of that, I remember seeing that when we were up there in 2003.

I'll check out the other ideas you offered up - really appreciate the ideas.

PetersCreek

I'm jealous of your 10-22mm! It's #2 on my wish list. My shot was taken with the 18-55mm kit lens on my 20D, so you're more than set on that count.

I completely forgot to second wxwax's recommendation of Lake Hood. It's the largest float plane base in the world and with the summer flyouts in full swing, July should present lots of opportunities. I work within earshot of Lake Hood and I'm always telling myself to get out there for a day's shooting but...

Speaking of the rip tide, I happened to watch one a few summers back while kickin' around the Alyeska Ski Resort. Took the cable tram up, sat on the side of the mountain, and watched it roll by way down below. The hanggliders and parasailors that launch at Alyeska might be worth a frame or two, as well.

Definitely PM me when your schedule shapes up.

DanielB

PetersCreek wrote:

Then there's Skinny Dick's Half-Way Inn. Not too scenic but it's definitely got character.

ScottMcLeod

Scott_Quier wrote:

I got the EF-S 10-22 on a 20D. I think that ought to be wide enough - I sure hope so. If not, I'll figure something out.

Stitching software is your friend ^_^ (Seriously. Shoot some panoramics. I'm addicted to 'em. Lets me take super-wide shots without distortion.)

Remember to try to keep the end of the lens roughly at the centre of your rotation.

wxwax

PetersCreek wrote:

I work within earshot of Lake Hood and I'm always telling myself to get out there for a day's shooting but...

The best I was able to get with the G3. The shutter lag absolutely killed me! When I was there, you could get really close to where the planes hit the water.