Journeys:
Misty Fiords with Don Paulson
June 10-18, 2010
The first photo trip of the Summer 2010 season was led by Don Paulson in the beautiful Misty Fiords National Monument near Ketchikan.
Upon arriving in Ketchikan for the start of the trip, lots of photo ops were present in town as the reflections along Creek Street and the "cool dogs" watching the tourist prove.
The trip got underway the morning of June 10 and boat and passengers were soon at the entrance to Misty Fiords. This spectacular area is accessible only by watercraft or floatplane, and with the "misty" weather during part of the trip, the lines between land and sea were blurred.
With a fair amount of rain falling in a relatively short time, waterfalls and cataracts were everywhere making for dramatic scenery and water images. The rain came down in buckets and turned the towering cliffs into braids of waterfalls. There were amazing photo ops everywhere, and everyone photographed from the shelter of the boat.
Tom Weiner, the chef for our early trips, thinks nothing of serving appetizers on the foredeck and his restaurant has the best view in the country!
Misty Fiords is like a drownded Yosemite with glacially carved granite walled fiords and water cascading everywhere.
Daily shore excursions in the skiff, here driven by Ronn Patterson, were part of the adventure.
Many trails in the Monument are extremely lush and extremely vertical.
If too wet and slippery, a shoreline meadow and wildflower hike made for an enjoyable alternative.
Since water in its many forms is a large part of Misty Fiords, here Don photographed the raindrops on the pilothouse window to nice effect.
One of these next photos shows our chef, Tom, deciding that fresh Alaska water was as important as fresh seafood and produce. We actually do have running water on the boat, but some chefs feel that only the "freshest" will do for his meals.
Sometimes it's just nice to watch the rain from a comfortable spot.
Composition is also where you find it, and this detail of shoreline with the streaked rocks was taken by Kathy Mahan. Since Don was instructing people in some of the finer points of photography, here Jon deArman patiently posed as a model (while getting soaked) while Don gave some pointers in composition.
Blue sky and a beautiful reflection greeted us at one of our last anchorages. Several times on this trip we had bears foraging in meadows and on beaches like this one.
After a wonderful week of photographing in Misty Fiords we returned to Ketchikan.
Don arranged for the local bird rehabilitation center to bring some of their animals to our B & B to be photographed, and Peanut the Western Screech Owl was the favorite. And so ended our trip in to this watery wilderness.
Photographers: Don Paulson, Kathy Mahan