Scott Dickerson

Tag: Alaska

Thankful for. . .

I’m not much into the holidays. I remember my distaste for them starting when I was young. Life was going along so merrily then suddenly there was an interruption, an intrusion, a holiday. It was Christmas, I couldn’t just spend the whole day doing whatever I liked. .no this was a ‘special day’ meaning that there were certain things that HAD to be done and most likely my friends HAD to be somewhere doing something as well.

This holiday feels different. I’ve spent the last 4 hours alone in my house working on the computer and thinking about life, especially the photography part of it. I’m working through what could be called a growth phase, spending lots of time trying to define what I want most out of this photography obsession. I’ll post more about this soon. But now I’m just reminded how great it is that the obstacles I’m working to overcome are things like trying to decide whether I love to shoot aerials or outdoor adventure photos better.

Today is thanksgiving. I have a LOT to be thankful for. Here’s a few things that come to mind: Good, no make that great, health. Ability to pursue my photography passion not just for fun, but for a living. That stuff you might have heard about it being a bad idea to make your hobby your job, my experience has been the opposite, go for it! This last summer was dreamy, traveling around Alaska shooting photos without a schedule. Surf trip to Yakutat, Alaska in October. Financial security, I’m not wealthy per se, but I don’t have any real money worries. Each day I wake up whenever feels right, and see what the day brings. My office is 20ft from my bed, and the kitchen is nearby. Today’s visual thanks goes out to surf, and my surfing buddies, two special parts of my life. Yesterday we had some good waves, and great times. For thanksgiving dinner I’m heading over to a surfer friends.

I’ve heard that being grateful for something brings more of that into your life. So, if that mysterious power is listening: I am thankful for every wave and if there are waves tomorrow I’ll be thankful for those too.

Hope you are well. Here are a few recent surfing photos from one particularly enjoyable day in early November 2008.

A little self portrait, a little distorted but it still brings back some good memories.

November 27, 2008
Photo in Patagonia winter catalog

Two weeks before I actually saw it myself, I started to hear about this photo which came out in the Patagonia winter catalog. It’s been fun hearing from friends, both close and distant, who were excited to stumble across the photo.

For those unfamiliar with the Patagonia catalog legacy I’ll tell you a little about it. Basically, it’s a product catalog for an outdoor adventure apparel manufacturer. But instead of just filling the pages with photos of the products, the focus is on portraying the lifestyle that the products are created for. Drawing from adventure photographers worldwide, the editors are consistently able to produce catalogs with such inspiring images that many of us keep old copies in our shelves right alongside favorite magazines. In a recent email one of the editors at Patagonia told me they filter through over 80,000 photos each year!

The skiier, Erika Klaar, is a friend from Homer out on our local Baycrest trails last winter. If you look closely you’ll see the trees near Erika are blurred from motion. This image was one of just a couple out of several hundred that actually came out well, Erika is sharp, but the trees are blurring as she races by.Â The effect was achieved by chasing her on skis while shooting photos wildly hoping that with some good fortune I’d come home with one good frame.Â We are both excited the image made the cut and I’m looking forward to trying this technique again. Photo shoots are my favorite exercise.

Keep an eye out for the Heart of Winter catalog from Patagonia, rumor has it the Alaska surfing scene might be set to make an appearance there.

Below are a few other photos from this shoot:

November 22, 2008
Bristol Bay photos on ad truck

The annual Alaska Federation of Natives Convention recently took place in Anchorage, Alaska. This event brings Alaskan natives from all over the state to Anchorage for a weekend. The non-profit Renewable Resources Coalition wanted to share a few messages with the attendees.

Kevin Co of Frontier Media Arts was tasked with developing the campaign just days before the event. The project in his own words :

“We decided that this would be a great time to use non-traditional media, so I called up the folks at Mobile Ad Alaska to see if we could rent out their truck. What we ended up with what can best be described as a mobile 10 sided billboard that could be moved around to target different flows of people throughout the event.”

I was excited that Kevin chose to work with my Bristol Bay photos on this project. Unfortunately, I was busy at home the weekend of the convention, but Kevin spent some time in Anchorage and captured a nice video showing the finals steps of the project.

Mobile Ad Truck Overview Video from Kevin Co on Vimeo.

Below are the graphics. Think seven feet tall! Awsome.

Back of truck panel #1

Back of truck panel #2

Back of truck panel #3

Left Side #1

Left Side #2

Left Side #3

Right Side #1

Right Side #2

Right Side #3

November 13, 2008
Photo in Surfer’s Journal magazine

This month has broght more than just the beginning of our real surf season in Alaska it appears – Alaskan waves are hitting the magazine racks as well. Within days of Alaska Magazine releasing their issue with the cover photo of Mike McCune surfing on a particularly cold day last winter, I received a copy of volume seventeen, Number Five of The Surfer’s Journal magazine containing an article about cold weather surfing: Baby, It’s Cold – Surfing in the age of neoprene, written by Sam George and illustrated by a handful of photographers including yours truly. If you are interested in surfing and haven’t seen a copy of The Surfer’s Journal, I highly recommend getting your hands on one. It’s an incredibly beautiful magazine with an amazing print job and very very little advertising to filter through.

The photo above has been getting a lot of attention so I thought it would be fun to share a few other images from that same day, March 6th, 2007.Â A day to remember.Â One of 2007’s best surf sessions combined with a stunning winter day, beautiful green water, nice winter backlighting, ice covered beach foreground and a snow covered mountain backdrop. I can’t wait.

That wasn’t exactly what we had at the beach today, thought I did manage to catch a few nice waves in the four hours I was paddling around in the storm surf.

You can see more Alaskan surfing photos here. And if you want more, I have a couple hundred alaska surf photos online in my stock archive.

October 12, 2008
Surfing photos in Alaska Magazine

Hot off the press. This post will be quick since my bags are packed and I’m heading out the door for a week long photography and surfing trip to Yakutat, Alaska. But, I wanted to share this exciting news for Scott Dickerson Photography – The October issue of Alaska Magazine just hit the racks with a cover photo of Mike McCune surfing our local break and inside are two double page spreads, a full page, and a couple smaller photos of our surf scene. The story was written by freelance writer Jody Ellis-Knapp.

Most of the photos are from last year when the temps were unusually low and the surf was good. Lots of ice chunks and slush in the breaks. Yakutat will be warm by comparison this week so we are all planning on making the most of that before the winter surf season really gets started at home in Homer.

If you missed it, earlier this year the ‘Surfer’s Path’ ran AlaskaFolio -Alaska surf portfolio.

A big thank you to my Alaskan surfing buddies who not only endure the cold, but also put up with this photographer, all with a smile.

September 26, 2008