AK-Day 2: Orientation for my expedition to the Lake and Penn School District and Flat Top Mountain Excursion

AK-Day 2: Orientation for my expedition to the Lake and Penn School District and Flat Top Mountain Excursion

The nights are long this time of year in Alaska, and the sun has to battle over the Chugach Mountains before it can send any photons into the breach and light up Anchorage. The weather pattern this time of year has a huge dollop of clouds rolled into the forecast most days and today was no exception. The sun finally poked its head out around 9am, by that time I had gotten up and showered, practiced some hatha-based yoga to get the kinks from the plane rides out, and eaten breakfast with the proprietor of Wildflower Inn B&B, Alan. Yummy scrambled eggs and granola-infused yogurt hit my plate and leaped right into my mouth as I hungrily ate my breakfast.

Gayle, the travel/operations staff guru for the AK Lifetouch Photography Territory swung by early to settle the check and give me a ride into the office.

At the office I finally met Al George, the AK Territory Manager and Debbie, their Operations “Princess”, (Her title is posted on her office wall). I worked on the final touches of my first blog entry while Al attended to the flurry of things on his plate.

Over instant coffee Al and I went over the itinerary for my first week in the bush, where I would be photographing the native villagers in the Lake and Peninsula region of the state. I would start in King Salmon, the largest town in the region, and the furthest point south for this expedition. An easy way to find the lake and penn district, Al noted, is to follow the Aleutian chain of islands back to the peninsula part of the mainland.

Al gave me a native perspective on picture day: it would not be an orderly procession of students and parents bringing their money envelope all filled out correctly. In fact I would not be on their radar screen for many in the community until I was there. Then, it would be time to think about picture day. The native people of this region and others largely lived in the present: if it was time to catch the kings running the river then that’s what they were doing, when the caribou reached a critical mass near the village then they were hunting the caribou to secure meat for their subsistence. Al recounted a time when a village near Illiamna Lake cancelled picture day and invited him to hunt the caribou near their village with him. He spent the day hunting with them and they took quite a few caribou to fill their stores for the winter.

If the weather permits the charter flight to run, and the community has their head in the idea of doing pictures then picture day goes something like this:

You will usually arrive in the village in the afternoon. Most villages have between 15 and 20 families in the village. Upon arriving at the school, unpack your equipment; make a radio announcement to the village that you are there and that you will be starting family portraits at whatever time. We usually do this between 6 and 8 PM. Your radio announcement will go something like “ Akutan Community this is Al George with Lifetouch Photography. I am at the school and will be starting family pictures at 6 PM. Please come down for a family portrait.” Almost all villages communicate this way. If there is not a radio you need to call each family and tell them the same thing. You only need to call if (1) there is not a radio for village communication or (2) the village is larger than 25 families.

After you photograph families the evening is yours. Most schools you will sleep in a sleeping bag on the gym or library floor. IN some schools I found a comfy classroom. Some schools will have guest quarters for you, but do not count on this. You will carry your food with you, as most villages do not have any restaurants. The schools will allow you to use their school kitchen for your food preparation.

In the morning you will want get up early enough so that you can shower, eat and get dressed before the staff shows up. Always ask when that will be the afternoon before. J You will want to call the charter company first thing to confirm your travel for the day. Confirm means to verify their arrival time and your projected ready time, as well as weather. Next call the school that you are going to and confirm with them your projected arrival time via the Charter Company. Check in at the office in Anchorage.

You will usually photograph the siblings and individuals next, followed by classroom groups. Schools will usually do an all school group as opposed to individual classes.

Always confirm with the principal or the head teacher that you can pack up. Get packed up, do your paperwork and load on the plane. Just before getting on the plane call your next school to let them know you are on your way. They will pick you up. Your flights are usually short and in some cases the runway is 10 minutes from the school. (excerpted from “Bush Travel Procedures”, Al George).

After the orientation of the route with Al, it was time to delve further into logistics. A clipboard with itinerary, photography schedule, flight info, and notes served as my logistical touchstone ran through the required hoops to make this expedition go off without a hitch.

It began with Kristen, one of their team leaders. She showed me how paperwork was done in the AK- “Don’t mess with Alaska baby!” After coaxing a few vignettes about bush travel experiences from Kristen and Jeremy, another AK photog, it was time to pull job bags. Jeremy’s talk of muddy water coming out of a village tap prompted me to make a note to secure some bottled water. Using my printed schedule we started pulling job bags with paperwork that filled a large box that would be shipped along with a whole Camera/Studio setup to King Salmon.

Mike McCrudden, the AK Photo Manager finally made it to the office after a full slate of morning fires to put out: photographer’s alarm didn’t go off, faulty equipment bailouts, and somebody forgot to go to one of their jobs. After introducing myself I started asking only the nitty-gritty questions knowing how valuable Mike’s time was.

A potentially perilous mistake was averted thanks to Kristen when she noted that we pulled the wrong job bags for my route, as it was decided that I would be doing another photographer’s bush route that had come down with the swine flu. Al had presented both routes during the orientation, and it wasn’t clear which one he had decided on, so when I was handed my schedule I just went off that info.

Post-potential crisis with my paperwork, I redoubled my efforts clutching my clipboard and writing down quick notes so that I wouldn’t forget anything as it would take a whole day to get to me if I needed something. Mike would pop in between my preparations and inquire about when I would be ready to load up and go to the airport as the deadline for shipping my equipment was 2:30 pm, and that time was quickly approaching as I scrambled to double check everything. I found myself getting distracted as Lucy, an office staff member who prepares all the job bags, wanted to relate stories and advice about the area. She had some first hand knowledge and advice to give me about the villagers and customs. I didn’t want to be rude and I was hungry for the knowledge she was going to give, so I slowed down and listened.

She confirmed what I had heard from Jeremy, about the muddy water, and recommended that I bring lots of water. She also touched on the effects of alcoholism on the native communities and how to secure my belongings with the help of school staff. She also said that I might be invited to a steam bath. If I was invited she told me to “put a wet wash cloth over my face and sit on the bottom seat, as they will try to really turn up the heat to see how it will affect the white guy”. I asked if they did the steam bath in the buck, thinking of my experience with Kohlstedt’s Finnish Sauna in Finland, MN She also said that “ traditionally the baths not co-ed, and if they do try to invite you to a co-ed one that they might be up to something and not to participate. Seemed like good advice, as I didn’t want to offend the elders in the community by breaking any of their rules.

Coming up against the clock, and feverishly writing down any requests that Mike made in regards to the air cargo shipment procedures, it was time to go… but it wouldn’t be with Mike. Mike had to go photograph another job and was having Julie, a first-year photographer, and her partner in crime, Samantha. We were off at a quick pace as Julie checked out about every guy on the highway, considering men outnumber women 2 to 1 that turned out to be a constant occupation.

At one point the median was fast approaching and Sam let out a bellowing “Jul-ie!!!” She quickly veered back on course and giggled as only an invincible twenty-something would.

Averting disaster we made it to Alaskan Air Cargo center and pulled up the ramp to unload. The guy greeted as he signaled for a forklift driver to come over. We loaded the palette and counted the pieces: 15!! “Where to”?, he asked. King Salmon, “King Spammin’ it is.” The fifteen pieces weighed a whooping 328 pounds and would cost just shy of $500 to ship to King Spammin’, whereas I would cost just $206 to make the jump.

My gear shipped by deadline, it was time to cruise up to Flat rock to find some moose. Julie and I made the windy journey up above Anchorage in search of rutting bull moose and views of the city.

Here’s what we found…