If you have never visited Alaska, here is your chance to get a glimpse of what part of the Alaska panhandle looks like: Ketchican, Juneau, Skagway…. plus Vancouver Island and Victoria, B.C. in Canada, and a glimpse of my hometown, Seattle.
Download the movie here, stored on my public Dropbox account: AlaskaPanhandle2012.mov
Note: Damned glitches. Just tried playing the linked file on my computer and noticed two nasties exposed themselves: The resolution of the streamed version is lousy. This is why I hate doing video on-line, too many freaking variables to account for. Also, when I tried playing the video the streaming version cut off part-way through the show – roughly half way through. Downloading the file (6.01 GB), then playing it should solve both problems. /gst
Photographing the panhandle was a challenge. To begin with, all shots were taken with either an iPhone 4 or Nikon S8000 point and shoot camera. I’m still trying to adapt, and not doing very well, to using viewer-less, compact, automatic cameras. Plus, the scenes in Alaska are enormous. It’s hard to to do justice to both the infinite variety of detail and big-picture grandeur that is everywhere one looks.
Even more challenging, we were mostly on either a cruise ship or shore excursions so I didn’t have time to to stalk scenes as I normally would. One has to make instant decisions and live with them. Toss in the constantly changing weather, which meant lighting conditions changed rapidly and… well, it was one big challenge to capture and do right. Some photos are slightly out of focus. Others aren’t but look like they are, because they were shot through a downpour of rain while holding the tail of my coat over the camera.
I also didn’t record as much audio as I typically do on trips. So instead I added recordings made of friends who are talented musicians (the last two songs are obviously commercially produced). A good set of speakers or headphones would be a bonus.**
Enough with the caveats, already. Enjoy the tour
P.S. Barb is the 60 year-old dark haired gal in the photos, her younger sister has the lighter brown hair. The clean shaven guy is Barb’s sisters husband, and I’m the scruffy, balding mess wearing glasses and hearing aids who is mercifully rarely seen.
** The piano songs are composed and performed by Kim Levy, the youngest daughter of our friend Kathy. Kim is a self-taught pianist whose skills were honed when she was accepted to a school in Los Angeles. Must be a pretty good school, as one of her classmates was the son of Stevie Wonder. Kim only recently learned to read music. She's one of those musicians who can nail a song, playing by ear, after listening to a song performed only a couple times.
Our friend, Steve Fain and his string bass, plays on the jazz tracks with the Charlie Pagani Trio, a local group of musicians who play at bars around the area. Steve also plays with other groups and at his church. He's not only a joy to listen to, but also to watch. Steve plays with enthusiasm that is obvious to the eye.
