Blustery Prince William Sound
Well my time in Alaska is winding down. I will miss the spunk of the locals, the beautiful vistas, the amazing wildlife to be found around every corner!! But truly it is time to get back home and see my wife and tend to the home for a while.
Did I mention that it is downright frigid here, with unseasonably cold weather. Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula have been experiencing a cold blast that brought temperatures below 0. The up shot is that I had relatively clear weather for my flight into Prince William Sound. Often the Sound is shrouded in fog this time of year, unless a cold, high-pressure system clears it out. I scored another bush flight by signing on to take school portraits at the small settlements of Tatitlek and Chenega Bay. I was rewarded with a flight over the Chugach Mountains, Turnagain Arm, Kenai Peninsula, and finally Prince William Sound. The school district chartered this flight to fly their principal, science camp consultant, P.E. coordinator, a teacher, supplies for the next couple of weeks, and my whole photography studio. The little Navajo was close to its weight capacity, so the pilot opted to follow Turnagain Arm and over a pass rather than fly straight over the mountains to Prince William Sound.
Sunrise over Turnagain Arm
Props to Prince William Sound
An Avalanche waiting to happen
I snapped away savoring the co-pilot seat as we made our way towards Prince William Sound. The only obstacle to good shots seemed to be the props on either side of the plane. A wonderland of glaciers, mountains and an early morning sky lit the landscapes beautifully. While I could rest now on the plane and enjoy the scenery, I knew that once I landed it would be wide open to setup, photograph the school, and pack up and be back to the landing strip at Tatitlek in less than two hours. The principal only seemed interested in making conversation with me around the fact that I must make haste. I told him not to worry, I would be the king of efficiency. The science consultant, Alan, and the P.E. coordinator, Kirstin both helped me organize the students or setup/pack-up my gear. Even with the speedy schedule I was able to do a nice group picture outside in the cold, with mountains and sound vignetted by trees in the background. The school loved the change of pace, usually they were photographed under their deck!
A "Clear" Prince William Sound
The second location, Chenega Bay according to the pilot was wiped off the map by a tsunami after the 1964 earthquake. The town was totally rebuilt in a new location further south in the sound, nestled between a few hills. Today heavy winds and low cloud ceiling threatened to keep us for the night. The pilot exclaimed: “we just made it.” I asked him if he meant we just made it over the hill or… he explained: “the cloud ceiling is dropping, and another half an hour and we wouldn’t have made it out”. I was a little worried because I overheard him relating to Kirstin how he had landed on this landing strip and his brakes wouldn’t respond. Apparently it was an ice rink. He was by himself carrying cargo only. Normally when this happens the pilot just takes of again. But he was past this window of opportunity and the end of the landing strip was fast approaching. In theory he could stop by spinning out like one of those BMW professional drivers on a closed course. Gunning one engine and putting the other in reverse (?), he could rudder like a canoe and turn around and face the other direction. He pulled the maneuver and flipped a bitch in a $300,000 twin-engine Navajo. The consequence of crashing it would be termination and most likely black-listing in AK. As landing strip end lights were passed the plane groaned to a halt. This story seemed to be working the necessary magic on Kirstin. Their flirting was in overdrive leading to a “walk” to show him around Chenega Bay, and an invitation for this Friday for another walk.
Kirstin describes how my packing of the wing compartment has caused us to fly with a sagging attitude, apparently a tag was poking out a little!
Tatitlek
By the second school, I had everybody working like a well-oiled machine. The principal wrote on the evaluation: “The most organized and efficient photographer we’ve had. I’ve been here for nine years”. We loaded the up the Navajo, a much easier job with less passengers and gear. An adult bald eagle flew over as we finished up and headed to the top of the runway. I took a few frames of the eagle as we took off, wondering as we wizzed by what he was thinking of the Navajo. The flight back afforded some of the best scenery to date. We flew right over the mountains as we made our way to Anchorage.
We landed in Anchorage without incident and my day was just halfway over. I still had to drop these jobs and some of my equipment at the office, then grab a background for my groups job tomorrow all the way back in Soldotna on the Kenai peninsula. I flew over the Kenai to get back to Anchorage!
The drive to Soldotna would bring me over some familiar ground as I had driven to Seward the first weekend after photographing the Lake and Peninsula School District. However, this time the roads would be slick with winter fully set in. Three hours later and no circulation to my fingers I pulled up to my reserved cabin in the woods. Awesome!!!
The next day I photographed “Wow! Groups” at Cook Inlet Academy, a Christian school in Soldotna. Their day began with a pledge to the “Christian Flag” as well as the American Flag. The staff and students enjoyed doing the more relaxed family-style group posing. The Senior group featured a guy dressed as a pirate and a few of the girls grabbed some pumpkins from their recent fall banquet. Inspired by the props and posing, the seniors relaxed and it showed more of the relationship and personality of this class. A very enjoyable picture day!!
Mt. Illiamna
Mt. Redoubt
I made a deal with the Anchorage territory to arrange to have the rental car for two extra days so that I could cruise the rest of the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. The drive was beautiful affording excellent views of the volcanoes: Mt. Illiamna and Mt. Redoubt. I made it to Homer just in time for sunset. I headed straight for the spit to see if there was any eagle activity. I was not let down. Well there was not the crowds of eagles that you would find in the summer I enjoyed following a pair around the spit getting closer each "sitting". The sky was bumping, inspiring me to take a few landscapes between eagle shots.
An immature Bald eagle flies over Homer Spit
Finally I could "rub" two eagles together in one photo at Homer Spit
Kachemak Bay and Homer Spit
Kachemak Bay
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