Denali

Chester The Sled Dog

August 2, 2011 by Justin Balog 0 Comments

Chester is a retired sled dog at the end of the Denali Hwy. I’m guessing he still gets to go run around Wonder Lake every now and again. He was surely more interested in slipping into a harness than posing for my camera. I had always pictured sled dogs as the classic blue eyed Siberia Husky. Not the case. They are all different, but most of them just seemed to be lanky mutts. Basically, everyone was a living underdog story. I think that’s kind of cool!

Tip: When photographing animals, shoot from a distance and make several images. They are usually so expressive and the emotion they convey changes from moment to moment. Oh yeah, if the owner will allow it, give them a treat!

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

On Otter’s Wings II

March 1, 2011 by Justin Balog 12 Comments

This is image was made during our flight around the summit of Mt. McKinley. You can find the complete story (and movie from the flight) in my 5 part series ‘Approaching Denali’. I was lucky enough to ride copilot on the first part of the flight. I gave up my seat on the second part. No way did I want to ruin my good fortune by capitalizing on the photo karma. The flight itself is about 2 hours and includes a glacier landing. Before you actually circle the summit, you spend a bit of time checking out the glaciers that lead to the mountain herself. These glaciers are massive sidewalks, cut through 10,000ft peaks, over the millions of years. I believe this one is the Ruth Glacier, and it’s close to 1.5 miles wide. Experiences like this redefine your perspective of time and place in the universe.

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Filed Under: Alaska, Denali, HDR, Mt. Mckinley, Nik Software, Nikon 17-35 2.8 AFS, Nikon D700, Processing Notes, Travel

Such Stuff As Dreams

January 25, 2011 by Justin Balog 4 Comments

After a long and bumpy ride through Denali National Park, we hoped to be greeted by the awe of Mt. Mckinley standing nearly twice as tall as the snow capped peaks you see here. We were on the footsteps of the greatest mountain in North America and just a short hike from where Ansel Adams made his historic image of Wonder Lake. Today was not to be the day. That was alright, simply standing there surrounded by the dreams of what lies beyond was enough.

Tip: You don’t always have to match your white balance to the conditions at hand. To create the mood in this image, I set my white balance to sodium vapor lamps. It cooled things down and gave the image a mysterious purple hue.

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Filed Under: Alaska, Denali, Nikon 80-200 D 2.8, Nikon D700, One Click, Processing Notes, Tips, Travel

The Valley

January 11, 2011 by Justin Balog 10 Comments

This might be the most beautiful ‘scenic overlook’ I have ever visited. The overlook lies just north of Talkeetna Alaska. I’m not kidding, all you do is park your car, walk about 100ft, and there you are looking over this valley. So, say you want to go here. This is what you do:

1) Watch airfare on Air Alaska. I have seen some pretty reasonable prices on the net. $150 one way.
2) Fly into Anchorage.
3) Rent a car and drive north, through Sarah Palin’s hometown, for about 2 hours.

Alaska is far more accessible than I thought and it is absolutely worth the visit. If you do go, make sure to give yourself enough time to stop by the Talkeetna Roadhouse for their world famous cinnamon rolls. Heck, we’ll head back to Alaska just to get one. It doesn’t hurt that places like this are right along the highway.

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Filed Under: Alaska, Denali, Gitzo Traveler, HDR, Landscape, Nik Software, Nikon 70-300 VR, Nikon D700, Photomatix, Processing Notes, Software, Travel

From A Distance

October 3, 2010 by Justin Balog 5 Comments

Mt. Mckinley as seen from the south side, just north of the small town of Talkeetna. Alaska is far more accessible than I had ever thought it was. All you need to do is catch a flight to Anchorage (watch Alaska Air because they have some really inexpensive last minute specials), rent a car, drive an hour and a half north, take a photo with a ‘Levi for Mayor’ sign in Wasilla, wave at the Russians, and bingo you would be standing on the exact spot I shot this.

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