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Denali National Park, Alaska | July 11-18, 2009
Mentors | Layne Kennedy & Bill Durrence
RECAP
In July 2009 several Mentor Series Trekkers began their adventure in Fairbanks, Alaska. On the first evening we met for the opening presentations, making new friends, and for some, renewing old friendships. Early the next morning we headed on to Denali National Park. Denali maintains it wild areas by keeping the visitors in the bus and on the park highway. As we traveled the 100 dusty miles, wonderful landscapes and wild animals (including bears, moose, dall sheep, fox, and caribou) gave us fantastic photo ops. We traveled the full length of the highway and stayed two nights at the Denali Wilderness Lodge in the Kantishna area. Hikes and flight seeing trips provided interesting scenes to photograph. In-depth reviews of our photos in the evening gave us insight on how to improve a photo when looking through the viewfinder or in the post processing stage, and how to compose and balance the color. The teaching occurred seamlessly on the bus, at the shoot or as we were hiking up or down a trail. Lessons included how to tie a camera strap, better ways to hold the camera, white balance, and when to use the auto setting on our cameras.
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We journeyed to Anchorage for a brief night, got great shots on the waterfront and of the seaplane base, and the next morning boarded a bus for three nights in Seward. This 3 hour trip included stops at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and some fantastic scenery. Once in Seward we visited the Sea Life Center for some up close and personal photos of sea lions, jelly fish, puffins, sea otters and an assortment of fish. The next day was a trip highlight for all, a boat trip into Kenai Fjord National Park. Sea life abounded: puffins, sea lions, sea otters and whales. All held their pose while each of us pounded the shutters for more photos than we would ever print. Bear Glacier showered ice into the surrounding sea, spraying water and adding excitement to the cold ride.
The next morning we hiked to Exit Glacier, and then headed next to dog sled rides. (Love those puppies!) Five hundred-pound all metal golf carts holding 9 people were pulled by 16 dogs that are in training for the annual Iditarod Dog Race. As you can see from the pictures, these dogs were built lean and strong.
The final evening in Seward brought us to the slide show of �the best of the best� and that evening impressed everyone. The quality of work was fantastic and we hated to see the trip ending - so much so that on the return trip to Anchorage, several of us spent the day together photographing the market, the buildings of Anchorage and the museum while we waited for our flights to all points home.
Paul Stephan
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