Alaska

Denali National Park

June 3, 2013 by Justin Balog 6 Comments

This is about 1/2 way into Denali National Park. Something I’ve noticed about National Parks…you can’t go wrong. I’ve been to a bunch, and the folks that design these places make it really easy to see mind blowing kick butt stuff. That being said, in Denali, they need to do something about the weather. In those clouds somewhere is a Mt. McKinley and it would probably be about 3 times taller than the other mountains. Can you imagine what that would be like? Have you ever seen it? I’d love to hear about it.

Hope you had a great weekend and we will see you back here tomorrow!

Filed Under: Alaska, Denali, Nikon 80-200 D 2.8, Nikon D700, Travel

Into The Great Wide Open

May 28, 2013 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Juneau, AK

Filed Under: Alaska, Juneau, Nikon 28-300 VRII, Nikon D700, Travel

Mountain Majesty

May 28, 2013 by Justin Balog 3 Comments

IF you’ve ever visited Alaska, you know scenes like this are about as common as Starbucks. The place is amazing. I shot this photo while driving north of Anchorage or the way to Denali National Park. It really isn’t that hard to get to. After you fly in to Anchorage, rent a car and drive north along a really well maintained highway for about an hour. Next thing you know, you are starring at this. Crazy!

Photographer’s Note – This is a single image processed in Lightroom 4. To cool down the image a bit, I adjusted the white balance to the cooler side.

Filed Under: Alaska, Lightroom 4, Nikon 70-300 VR, Nikon D700, Processing Notes, Software, Travel

Buffets & Mountains

May 6, 2013 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Howdy! I hope you all had a great weekend. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I was a big cruise type of guy. However, when we took an Alaskan cruise to celebrate my folks 40th wedding anniversary, I was game. I had visions of spring breakers splashing around in a pool and 3000 people over-eating at the buffets. Boy was I wrong…well, the spring breakers part anyway. I saw quite a few folks get their grub on. But the Alaskan cruise is the way to go. This is the kind of scenery you just casually sail past. Crazy cool stuff! I’d go back in a heartbeat.

If you would like to see the before/after I posted it over in the Nik G+ Community (click here).

Filed Under: Alaska, Black & White, Landscape, Nik Software, Nikon 5100, Nikon 70-300 VR, Processing Notes, Software, Travel

Fisherman’s Son

April 11, 2013 by Justin Balog 0 Comments

If you aren’t listening to Port O’Brien, I recommend you do. They actually play a tune that inspired this image. The song, Fisherman’s Son, portrays the struggle between the you you’re born to be and what you dream of becoming. It does so by painting the picture of an Alaskan fisherman. Watching these boats head out through the fog into the vastness of the sea is something I will never understand. Romantic for sure, but in a haunting way. As much as I love the ocean, I have a slight phobia of cold endlessly deep water. I actually shot this image shortly after all the passengers on our cruise ship were briefed about sinking procedures…so that might have been why I was nervous.

Did you know you can click on all my photos on this site, then click the ‘X3′ above the image and save each photo as your daily desktop. I do it everyday…I thought you might like it as well.

Filed Under: Alaska, Lightroom 4, Nikon 28-300 VRII, Nikon D700