Rail Cars and Ash Fall
Crazy day shooting yesterday. Wind was all kicked up and keeping everything down on the ground but the ash. We saw more eagles on the ground than I have ever seen. I watched one for over a half hour sway back and forth in some wicked gusts; I think it was sleeping, or trying to. It never did move so I moved on. The ash was getting kicked up too (Redoubt) and smelling acrid, but hey it’s all good. Snowed last night and that laid it down. Anyway got a few pics in, I liked these rail cars sitting out in the Valley. The railroad is doing some work out on the Knik River Bridge and these cars were sitting for the weekend.
We got a light dusting during the night of the ash cloud that came from the late Saturday afternoon eruption but it turned out to not be too onerous. The snow was dirty but mostly just a trace.
400 Photographs
A great book of photos, a broad insight into the work of a great photographer, Ansel Adams 400 Photographs is a pleasure. Ansel felt his photographs as much as he saw them, he worked harder at printing them than making the image. He gave himself to every image and every print. He never had the consistency that we have now with the digital process and I am not sure that we haven’t lost something there. As an artist when you come back you see the work just a bit different each time. When I finish a print I could theoretically keep it exactly the same forever, I can save the file and print it exactly the same every time. We call it “reproducible results” but may its a little colder than the experience of creating and recreating the print for each viewer.
This is a real book not something to breeze through in an afternoon. Enjoy slowly and in smaller portions so pour a scotch or a glass of wine and unwind with the work of a master.
Eagle River Owling
Owwwwwling: Spent Sunday at The Eagle River Nature Center owling. Saturday I located a Great Horned Owl and I wanted to follow up with an attempt to find him/her in the daytime. It had snowed a couple of inches by the time we got there so it was beautiful. Hard to keep the dogs reeled in too with all of the foreign, uuuumm, smells. It wasn’t toooo cold, about 20 F.
The owls are out right now hooting for mates which makes it a little easier to find them. The GH I spotted was sitting silently on a branch and then started calling after I started making a racket with my camera (it was my first GH). So I got off a couple of shots on it but they were bad because the light was so very low, I started banging around with my tripod like a rookie and I’ll be darned if that owl didn’t turn around to me and tell me to shut up. I mean if he had actually said the words it wouldn’t have been more clear than him looking me right in the eye, leaning in, thrusting head out towards me and giving a scolding HOOOOO,……..HOOOOOO! I froze like a little boy and then started laughing, couldn’t help myself and with a disgusted look over his shoulder the wise old owl lit out. He came off his perch and dropped down right in front of me and I could not hear the wind in his wings, amazing. I would hate to be a critter having to watch out for those guys.
Seward Dry Dock
I LOVE going to the dry dock in Seward. We went down there a couple of weeks ago for some photos and had a fantastic time. I love boats to begin with and then I love old stuff so a bunch of beat up old fishing boats gets me going. We spent an evening and morning at the dock and got a ton of eagle photographs that day too. A lot of young eagles lacking the expected characteristic “bald” head were waiting out the weather in trees and light poles and stumps, whatever they could find. Mergansers were found quite easily and of course the ubiquitous gull was hamming it up just about everywhere. We saw a couple of other water fowl that I have to look up, don’t know their name, but they were beautiful birds. We stayed at Miller’s Landing by the way, if you are looking for a place to stay in the area one of these days. They are good people and their offering for accomodations is quite diverse and always clean.