Written by Scott Dickerson for the Black Star Rising Blog, thanks to Scott Baradell for his advice and editing on this post.The Alaskan summer, all four months of it, has passed by once again in a flurry of magnificence. It’s the end of August, my favorite time to photograph here. The days have shortened enough to make it reasonable to shoot the sweet light of the mornings and evenings. It’s 9:30 p.m. as I type — and the sun has only now fallen beneath the tops of the glaciers and mountains outside my office window.
Alaska is in many ways an outdoor photographer’s wonderland, offering a lifetime of inspiring photo subjects. Should you find yourself here on assignment or vacation, I’ve assembled 10 tips you may find useful while visiting us in the last frontier.
Tags: Alaskan photography, travel photography, assignment photography, landscape photography, wildlife photography, outdoor photography, Scott Dickerson
1. Take note of sunrise/sunset times.
The daylight hours have a significant impact on how a photographer can work in Alaska. Use an online sunrise/sunset calendar and plan accordingly. You may find you have 24 hours of daylight — or as few as five hours — depending on the timing of your visit and your latitude.
2. Know the specific climate(s) of your shooting locations.
Alaska encompasses several radically different climates. Educate yourself on the specific locations you’ll be photographing so you can be prepared.
3. Make the most of cloudy weather.
Alaska may be known for its scenery, but more than a few visitors have spent their stay looking into the clouds for the mountains the locals insisted were “just right there.” Don’t sit around waiting for the weather to clear; instead, head for the nearest glacier and you’ll appreciate the overcast skies — which make the ice appear a richer blue.
4. Incorporate aerial photography.
With relatively very few roads, much of Alaska is only accessible by airplane. Thousands of small planes available for charter make it easy to photograph areas that are otherwise very difficult to reach. If you are visiting in summer, ask if you can charter in the late evening or early morning.
5. Know where the wildlife is.
Alaska is a huge place, and much of the wildlife is not easily found along the road system. If you are coming here to photograph certain animals, research beforehand to identify the best places for each species as well as the right season. The humpback whales of Southeast Alaska are a long ways away from the caribou herds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
6. Prepare for delays in air travel.
If you venture out of the big cities, especially north or west of Anchorage, be prepared for the airline to tell you that your flight has been delayed, and the next plane isn’t scheduled until tomorrow. A friend was recently stuck on an island serviced by large jets for over two weeks due to weather and mechanical delays. While that was an exception, multi-day delays are not uncommon.
7. Don’t expect to find a camera shop on the corner.
Don’t plan to buy professional camera equipment in any local camera shop, unless you are in Anchorage. Usually, the best you can do is overnight shipping with UPS or FedEx — and because Alaska is one hour behind California, you’ll need to order early in the day, and even then your delivery may still require an extra day.
8. Can you hear me now? Nope.
Don’t be surprised if your cell phone is quiet for most of your stay in Alaska. Unless you are on the main road system, it’s likely that you won’t have any service.
9. Keep your equipment warm.
If you find yourself photographing during an Alaskan winter, remember to keep spare batteries inside your coat pockets where they’ll stay warm. I’ve noticed the LCD displays are the first things to go as the camera freezes up. When you bring your cameras and lenses back indoors, let them slowly warm up inside your camera bags to prevent internal condensation.
10. Focus, focus, focus.
Alaska has a lot to offer — but can be logistically and financially challenging. If you are on a mission to shoot stock images here, I suggest keeping your focus on a few subjects and making sure you are well-prepared for these shoots. There is far too much to photograph in one visit (or one lifetime), so it’s better to do a couple of things well than become overwhelmed by the endless opportunities. That said, flexibility is paramount, since the weather and travel issues can often force a change of plans.
I hope these recommendations are helpful should you come up for a visit. A week of cloudy, rainy weather has just broken up in my area, so I better get my rest — lots of photo shoots to catch up on before the snow flies.
[Scott Dickerson, based in Homer, Alaska, is a professional photographer whose specialties include aerial, outdoor adventure, lifestyle, and wild Alaska subjects, offering assignment work for both commercial and editorial needs as well as stock photography. For more information, visit Scott’s blog.]
Comments
20 responses to “10 Tips for photographing in Alaska”
Great tidbits! One I might add to the cold weather and moving cameras in from cold and damp is to put camers and lenses into a ziplock and remove as much air from the bag as possible. Let the gear come to room temp before removing and this will eliminate fogging and moisture droplets from forming. Works for me.
Keep up the great work!
-Mark Anderson
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the addition here. I haven’t done that but before, but I can think of a couple times where it would have been helpful.
Scott, some great points. I don’t know how many times I have been asked if they can shoot moose, eagles, bears and whales in 1 day. Its like they think the wildlife have an itinery and are always at the same place and same time every day. I would also suggest, the plan an extra day, just in case. And also the DO NOT RUSH, its Alaska, so relax and enjoy!
Thanks and Love the work!
Kevin Patterson
great advice everyone!
i will be cruising the inner passage this july {12th-20th}
what camera gear would you absolutely suggest?
currently have…
nikon d300
18-200mm vr lens 3.5-5.6
50mm 1.4
10-20mm 4-5.6
10.5mm 2.8 fisheye
carbon fiber monopod
do you suggest
any other
must have lenses?
do i need a tripod?
thanks in advance
for your help!
…jesse!
Jesse:
I am headed out on a cruise as well and have essentially the same gear as you. What would you suggest now speaking from experience? I was going to leave my 70-200 2.8 home due to size and go with the following:
Nikon 18-200 1:3.5-5.6
Tokina 11-16 2.8
Nikon 50MM 1.4
Carbon tripod
Nikon SB400 Flash
Any help and insight would be appreciated.
@ Kevin – Thanks. It’s hard to understand how big Alaska is. Not only big, but really difficult/expensive to get around in a lot of it.
@Jesse – I’ve never done a ‘cruise’ so not sure if I’m the best to advise you, but as usual it depends on what type of photographs you are hoping to make, and what sort of opportunities you will have. One is up to your personal preference, the other depends on the boat you’ll be on and the adventures they’ll give you. Looking at you list the first thing that comes to mind is that you’ll probably want a fast telephoto. Maybe a 300 or 400 f/4 would make sense. Something that you could use to photograph marine wildlife from a moving boat which gives you the challenge of an unstable platform (need fast shutter) and not necessarily able to get very close (need telephoto). Looks like you are fully covered in the wide section. Monopod isn’t a must, especially on a boat. Depending on the boat, you might get vibrations from the boats engines or waves coming through your tripod which ‘could’ make the monopod worse than hand holding. On the beach is a different story.
Hope that helps.
Nice article I found the info useful as I am planing a trip Alaska in 2009.
Great, glad you found it helpful. Best wishes for your Alaska visit!
Scott, I will be going to Wasilla Ak in Mid April. I know most of Alaska is beautiful to photograph, but what would be the best in April?
Hi Margie,
Tough question! what is ‘best’ to photograph in April? Certainly I cannot answer this since it depends entirely on what you like to photograph. For me April is a good time for working with spring snow sports (snowboarding, snowkiting, skiing) as well as commercial herring fisheries happening in Bristol Bay. I’ve only driven through Wasilla, never spent anytime there, so I can’t help much in that area either. Best of luck to you.
Scott, Heading to AK Sept. 12-21. Will be on a train for a day @ Denali, and then a day in the McKinley area. Back to the boat for the inland passage trip to College Fjord, Ketichikan, Juneau, and Skagway. I love to shoot wildlife and landscapes. Shooting a D300 and D90 with 70-200 f2.8, and converter 18-35, 24 mm f2.8, 50 mm f1.8 and 105mm f2.8. Your article was great!! Any further tips?
Thanks Larry,
It looks like you have the photgoraphy gear well covered.
Have fun.
Excellent tips – very hard to find good Alaska photography information. Tip about ship vibration is something I never thought about! First trip to Alaska end of May 2009. Yes – we will go towards Denali – but only to the State Park (2 days) then toward Wrangler (2 days) on Glenn Highway. Then back to Kenai Pennisula (5 days) . It sounds like a landscape photographers dream location. I love to do immersive 360 degree panoramas – any locations that you would highly recommend to do a panorama in the Kenai Pennisula – or other locations on our trip? I usually bracket exposures but any other tips for shooting glaciers/snow. Thanks for you great info.
Richard – Thanks for the note. This is a land of landscapes for sure. Remember that the sweet light can last for hours and occurs very late and very early in the day. I think you’ll find plenty of places that inspire you for your panorama work. For photographing around snow I usually shoot as bright as I can without losing detail in the highlights. I depend on the ‘blinking highlights’ feature of my canon slr cameras. The newer cameras (especially the 5D mark II) actually retains detail a ways beyond what the lcd tells you is ‘blown out’ highlight, so even if it’s blinking I might still shoot at that exposure, depending on just how important that highlight, or the shadow I’m trying to capture is. Mood, intention, and the story is always more important than losing a few pixels obviously. Have fun!
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the tips, We are planning a fairly big trip in 2010 from Australia so I want to take best advantage of both fishing and photography. Seems August is the go. I am wondering when the colors of autumn come on. I would really like to incorporate that. I’ve also heard early September from a local, no tourists,etc or am I pushing my luck weather wise?
I usually focus on wildlife /landscapes.
Any money saving trip hints?
Cheers, Bren!
Thanks for all the info. I’m heading up next week and have a glacier cruise as well as an aerial tour planned. I especially liked the comment about cloudy days as it appears that will be the case for most of next week in the area I’m staying.
Regards,
Michael
Equipment:
– Canon 40d
– Canon XSi
– Sigma 10-20mm
– Tamron 18-250mm
– Canon 50mm
– Canon 300mm
Great tips above. I am going on an Alaskan cruise in mid May this year and then spend several days on the Kenai peninsula. We are taking a site seeing helicopter over the Mendenhall Glacier and also a plane over Misty Fjords. I only have my one DSLR and probably can’t change lenses on board. Would you suggest a 70-300mm zoom or an 18-70mm? I would love to capture wildlife if we see some, but at that altitude is that hoping for more than my zoom will handle? Maybe I should stick with landscape photos, which should be awesome anyway.
Some great tips.
We will be going in Aug. on a cruse and I have a quandry, bring the D700 full frame or the D300 cropped sensor. I would like to get super wide with the D700 and 16-35 but want the reach of the D300 and 70-200 with TC14
So i want to ask, do you tend to shoot more wide or more reach in Alaska?
I look at it this way, even on the D300 my 70-200 and TC14 doesn’t have that much reach if I want to shoot birds bears and wildlife.
So I will chill out and just have a great tine with whatever I bring.
We are going to Alaska in Sep 2013. I have a D3000, 18-55 VR, 60mm macro, old 80-200AF (which I have to use on manual), SB700 flash. I want to buy a new HD video camera or is a D3200 a better bet? Thinking of leaving these lenses at home and buying an 18-105mm and/or 70-300mm. Also is a polariser necessary here? Is September timing good for wildlife activity?
September is a really nice time of year to visit Alaska. The right gear to bring really depends a lot on what you will be wanting to photograph and from what vantage points and what your personal style is. Do you like to shoot wide scenics? Closeup wildlife? People and culture? All of these things would be best shot with different lenses. Remember that Alaska is HUGE. Saying you are visiting Alaska is like saying you will be visiting the western united states. It’s a big place with a lot of different subjects to photograph. My suggestion would be to keep track of what kind of focal length you find that you enjoy shooting with the most, then bring the best lens you can afford that covers that length. Chances are it will be fairly heavy and big so you’ll want to just bring something cheaper and lighter for the other standard focal lengths that you will also use occasionally.
Hope that helps some.