Alaska Photos 12 - Tundra HDR

[GB1]

How does this barren tundra HDR strike you............................................... ..?

This was taken near the Arctic Ocean. Not much traffic, so I didn't have to worry about being run over. It was about 10 or 11 at night. Facing south.

G

[arne saknussen]

I am totally mesmerized by this shot. I am trying to feel what it would be like experiencing the midnight sun and this shot gets me there.
Curious, just how close to the Arctic Circle is this?

[daq7]

The simplicity of the road is nice combined with the soft intensity of the sky colors. Scary shot given that I want to take a motorcycle to Prudhoe. This road looks like it wants to beguile to kill...

[GB1]

Arne, I made a mistake, it's actually way north of the arctic circle, right near the Arctic Ocean. This was taken at Deadhorse which is next to Prudhoe Bay (on the Arctic). Here is the Google maps link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...12,269.32,,0,9

or to be facing south, almost exactly where I was standing,

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...12,181.42,,0,3

Using another mapping site, its 8.3 miles to the ocean as a crow flies, and about 300 miles to the Arctic Circle marker.

Glad you think it makes an impact. I was unsure considering how plaint it was, but maybe that's the allure. I'll fix that typo on my post.

[daq7]

Well there you go. Inside of a couple years I will be taking motorcycle shots from this road if things go well...

[GB1]

The simplicity of the road is nice combined with the soft intensity of the sky colors. Scary shot given that I want to take a motorcycle to Prudhoe. This road looks like it wants to beguile to kill...

Daq - Thanks. I have several other variants for HDR expts. It is a scary shot, but you want to take a motorcycle to Prudhoe Bay ...? It's gravel most of the way between Fairbanks and the bay. The weather was acceptable for us but I think it can snow at any time, and it rains. It's barren, rough land; to give you an idea, do you know that wolves attack and eat smaller wolves there? Talk about dog eat dog (!)

[GB1]

Well there you go. Inside of a couple years I will be taking motorcycle shots from this road if things go well...

Keep a motorcycle diary

[daq7]

Yeah I worry about rain and grizzlies. The rain is a rational worry, because they put sodium chloride on the road, which apparently makes the mud hyper slick. But yeah, lots of people do it, and I would like to in a couple years.

[n8]

I really like the scene, but if it weren't for the title, I don't know if I could tell the difference between the tundra and Nebraska (aside from the mountain in the back). The hdr looks good, but you've got the travel of the clouds going. I wonder if it wouldn't be worth just using the middle image, at least just for the sky. On the other hand though, it does offer kind of a digital dreamy look.

[Frog]

I think I'm with n8 and don't know that hdr treatment is really necessary.
Can you post the mid-range one sometime?

Alaska is fascinating in its range of topography and your shot just makes me wonder what it would be to live/work in such a place.

Do you have your tripod with you? A several shot pano would really show the barreness.
How're you getting along with the mosquitoes.

Daq, what do motorcyclists do about gas with the distance between stations?
You can probably outrun a grizzly on your bike but not if the roads are slick, eh?

[GB1]

Daq, I doubt you need to worry about the bears ... only in very rare circumstances to you even see one, and there's very few "bad bears" at all. The bad ones are usually shot almost immediately after they misbehave (but of course, you don't want to be the one they misbehave on ). Like Frog says, running out of gas may be a bigger worry since it's a 450 mile drive, and I don't know if any place other than Coldfoot has gas for sale. I'm betting you could work something out with the folks at the Yukon river and at Wiseman, though.

N8, Frog - the middle shot is unimpressive, but I'll post it later for you to evaluate. You are right though: it looks like the flat lands of middle America.

Frog, I got back on Aug 21st. It's taken me weeks to edit all the images: I am starting to dislike PPing! I had a tripod but didn't use it as often as I would have liked, with all the rushing and confusion, but of course used it here with the HDR... The best way to do a real photo trip would be in your own vehicle, on your own schedule. The mosquitoes were somewhat bad in the woods but for the most part were a non-issue, as they were small and not in the cities, and we had a decent breeze most of my time there, which mosquitoes can't fly in.

As for what it's like living and working there ........... Errrr, I did ask myself at the end of this trip, Why are people here? It's very cold, very expensive, almost constant darkness in the winter ... it just seems that the positives such as the outdoors, peace and quiet, etc can all be obtained w/o the negatives in places like the Dakotas, Wyoming ... Maybe there's reasons I'm not seeing yet. And of course, there's important industries up there like fishing, mining, oil, trapping, the military ... But to choose to live there year round sounds more like an ultra-ultra marathon to me.

I went ahead and upped the contrast a bit, and it also looked too white to me today, so darkened it too.

[daq7]

I will carry extra fuel for the run. And yeah, in the 100 years that records have been kept, there have been just over 120 fatalities or something like that from bear attack. So I consider fear of bears irrational too. But I still have it. Whaddayagonnado?