Unthawed Alaskan

Bazaar Season

2011-11-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

It is Holiday Bazaar season in Haines, AK. It is a kick in the pants to sell my photographs and artwork in a bazaar setting. It is an ideal setting to get immediate feedback on your work. Most people say they like your work and move on, sometimes they don't say anything and move on. Sometimes people buy your stuff and move on.

One of the biggest challenges is trying to figure out the type of stuff people want to see and hopefully buy. While at a holiday market place in Santa Fe, it turns out people wanted to see images of Alaska. It turns out that people in Alaska also want to see images from Alaska. Specifically, people in Haines want to see images of Haines. My collection of images and greeting cards were certainly all over the board subject wise.

It turns out one of the crowd favorites was an image I printed of my beagle. I printed the image as a joke, really. It turns out that the image sold out immediately. Mojo might just earn his kibble this month.

Photographers Block

2011-11-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of busting a four-month-long case of photographer's block. Through the summer I have been distracted by commercial fishing and a whole bunch of other things. Put this on top of difficulties stemming from a transitioned from assignment work to a largely personal project based work.

For me, photography is a language. It is a way of communicating. If you don't use this language every day, you get rusty. The way I picked up a proficiency in photography was to practice every day. For a period of years I always had a camera slung on my shoulder. In the past few years I have fell out of that practice. This poses a problem for someone that bills himself as a street photographer. For me, street photography means capturing slice of light photographs of everyday activities.

The photo above was made from from having a camera on me when I was walking to the grocery store. This is the back side of a pair of refrigeration boxes on the back side of a local grocery store. The time to make a photo like this is when you see it. I am glad I shot this picture when I did. I drove by this scene today and it wasn't there anymore. The cables were not wrapped the same way and that spoiled the "face in object" of the photo.

Unthawed Indeed

2011-11-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

It is nice to be back in a place where six inches of snow do not shut down the town. It is nice the be back in a place where those same six inches melt off in a few days. Over the weekend Haines, AK saw its first snow fall, then the subsequent melt off. The snow was a nice change from the two straight weeks of rain that Haines was being soaked by.

Meg and I have decided to call Haines home for the Winter. Meg will be doing web work, writing and editing. I will be doing web work, design, photography and art.

One thing I was looking for was an inspiring space to work. Santa Fe, our previous home, was inspiring for the space, the quality of light and the scenery. It is an easy place to be inspired by because everyone claims to be inspired by the place (This is O'Keefe Country!!!). It is also easy to be inspired there because everyone is. Everyone in Santa Fe was an artist.

Haines is inspiring for its own reasons. Haines has dramatic light changes and weather changes that sort of ground me. It is easier to work in this isolating space because everything ISN'T inspiring and painted with magical light all the time. You have to hunt more for environmental inspirations from the Southeast Alaska. When you find it you know it. The fact that the scenery is often obscured also forces me to focus on a totally different inspiration: people.

Once again the double negative title of this blog is apt. Unthawed means unfrozen or refrozen. I am a lifelong Alaskan who escaped and returned to the great frozen north. After a period of time to warm up, I have returned to freeze.

Panoramic Fishing

2011-08-05T00:53:00.000-07:00

Blood of the Sun

2011-04-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

I was invited to participate in an exhibition opening up in two weeks titled, "Blood of the Sun: Artists Respond to the the Poetry of Suzan Shown Harjo." The show opens at Ahalenia Studios in Santa Fe.

The two pieces shown here are in response to the poem "Enemy Art," by Harjo. The poem looks at the dilemma of a person being asked for help by a member of an opposing tribe. These pieces are an exploration of the cultural differences I have felt while being so far from home. I am an Alaska Native and at a primarily Lower-48 American Indian school and am a minority within a minority academic environment.

I am responding to a simple sounding yet deeply complex issue of identity. For graduation it is customary for students of my college to gather and display a flag from their tribe. When I searched for an Aleut or an Inupiaq flag, I came up empty handed. There might be one for each group. If there is, it is not something known about or something many identify with.

To explore this, I set out to make my own flag. I wanted to incorporate the misconceptions and prejudgements that I have experienced being from Alaska and Alaska Native into these works. The pieces are titled, "Stranger Where I Am, Stranger Where I'm From #1 and #2." The red bordered piece is #1 and the mostly blue piece is #2. The source image for both of these pieces is an Alaska flag. The pieces are printed as archival pigment prints. Both incorporate pastel drawings, which have been digitally combined with a base photograph.

If you are in Santa Fe, come by Ahalenia Studios on Second Street in Santa Fe on May 13 to check out the show.

All Dressed Up

2011-04-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Meg and I after the opening Friday night. If there was a reason to get all dressed up, a BFA opening is it.

BFA Exhibition

2011-04-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

This Friday marked the opening of the Institute of American Indian Arts BFA exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. My piece Digital Totem showed as part of this show, titled "Memory, Texture and Time." The piece was a large vertical screen that I projected images of totem poles onto. A detail from my piece was used as a promo piece for the exhibition.

I projected five images of totem poles onto this screen. Each projected image was a composite, made up of more 300 separate images. This was partly to achieve a unique bit of perspective and to achieve a super high resolution. The final images are very similar to Gigapan images, where there is seemingly endless ability to zoom into detail. This high resolution is somewhat lost with projection. The images will most likely be carried over to another project.

Watching people interact with the piece was awesome. It is something I have not been able to do with any of my past work. This piece was not just a photograph hanging on a wall. It was one of two pieces in a gallery space.

Here is an image of what the screen looks like with the lights on. Meg and I had just finished attaching the screen. Photographed is Delana Joy Farley, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Native arts, and the one responsible for this exhibition.

More Cake Photos

2011-03-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

A couple of pictures from the event here. Not all cupcakes were subtle.
One of the many very graphic cakes. Most to the art shows at this gallery were patronized by children. This one was not.
Meg demonstrates a vibrating cupcake that she devised.
There was much giggling and photographing at this show.

Contest Season

2011-03-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

While working as a photographer, I accustomed myself to late winter and early Spring to be contest season. This contest season, I had a totally different format thrown my direction: erotic cake. Meg and I were invited to participate in an erotic cake contest held at a local art gallery in Santa Fe, NM called Ahalenia Studios.

After countless hours of preparation, research and shopping, Meg and I settled on our respective designs and themes. She devised a selection of sensual flavors and themes. I went for a graphical approach to render my design. I had reduced an image to a set of four color (in Photoshop) then printed several copies of the design. I then cut out each color to make a stencil to sift powdered sugar and spices through.

Meg made a collection of very tasty, sensual cupcakes. There was nothing left of her entry but crumbs. A cake patron even grabbed a small vibrator that was part of her display. Her cupcakes were well received by all. I won an award for best executed concept for my cake design.

Drive in the Country

2011-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

Meg and I recently picked up a Ford Escape. By recently, I mean this morning. We were not sure how Mojo would do in the back seat. He had a little bit of trouble adjusting to the leather seats, but quickly adapted.

Frankensalmon

2011-02-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

I was charged with creating a photo illustration for a graphic design class assignment. I wanted to illustrate the idea of genetically modified salmon. I chose to do this by creating a salmon with a boneless look and I wanted it to be fish stick ready. This fish is created from photographs I made of took different salmon. This piece needs a little more polish and will be added to a faux package when I have a little bit of time.

Oh Deer

2011-01-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

While hiking at Bandelier National Monument, Meg and I came across a pair of deer. This is a photo of a deer keeping an eye on another heard of hikers.

Kickstarter Campaign

2011-01-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

As part of a project that I tentatively call Digital Totem, I am running a small fund raising campaign. Digital Totem is my senior capstone project at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

I am photographing of totem poles in Haines, Alaska. Each pole will be photographed from many angles and heights. I will be combining these photographs to form a very large photograph of a totem pole. I am using these large digital totem images to print life sized or project on to life sized screens.

Here is a link to the Kickstarter campaign.

Mojo on the Hunt

2011-01-03T23:29:00.000-08:00

Typically Mojo is a little more sane than this video depicts. Occasionally he finds a very strong scent and the tracking hound kicks in. I can only speculate what is going on in his beagle brain. Mojo in tracking mode makes for an exciting walk.

Different Blog

2010-12-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

I just wrapped up one of the craziest semesters of my academic life. I subjected myself to 21 credits of upper level courses in order to get myself out of school on schedule. I am done for the semester, but will be tackling production of my senior project over the break. Tomorrow I leave to head north to Haines for a photography session. I have started a second blog dedicated to the project. Here is a link to the Digital Totem Pole blog. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Drawing Destruction

2010-11-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

As part of a Digital Fine Art class I and another student built out a movie. With my DSL I photographed the process of drawing over the photograph. When I was done, I took that series of photographs and ran them through Quicktime to make a short video.

The original photograph was a digital image of a fence, but was printed onto paper using an inkjet negative, printed with palladium and scanned again and printed again. The drawing was made with a set of Conti crayons.

Falling for You

2010-10-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Fall is in full swing in Northern New Mexico. In general Santa Fe is sage in color. If you know where to look you can get a good view of fall colors. Meg, Mojo and I headed to the hills to hike amongst the aspens in the ski basin north of town. Mojo mostly kept his nose to the ground and got his sniff on. We mostly looked up at the golden leaves against the blue sky.

Never easy getting a family with one member being only being a foot off the ground. All in all a nice break from the city and a solid dose of Vitamin D and fresh air. Happy Autumn!

Still Storming in Santa Fe

2010-08-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

There are still near nightly thunderstorms around the Santa Fe area. I have toned down my storm chasing. After getting myself lost in a rural residential area off of a county road just west of Santa Fe, I decided not to venture too far afield at night.

Camel Rock Lightning

2010-07-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

There is a little pull off north of Santa Fe, New Mexico that overlooks rock shaped like a camel (when you look at it right). It is called Camel Rock. I have headed out to shoot it and around it several times but have yet to make it happen. It is a feature that I thought needed to be shot at sunrise. Little did I know light from a nearby casino (called Camel Rock Casino) would do the trick nicely. A little bit of lighting in the distance added a little back light to the rock.

There was a thunderstorm in the area that I was trying to shoot. When I stopped, the storm was tracking down the road in my direction. I am new to shooting these crazy New Mexican storms, so I played it safe and stayed off of the hill with my tripod until the storm had passed. I would have chased the storm a little more, but figured I would stop and work the rock a bit.

Rodeo de Santa Fe

2010-06-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Meg and I went to the rodeo. We dressed for what we thought was going to be a 90F evening in Santa Fe. After leaving the house it became clear the it was not going to be clear. Despite a torrential downpour we decided to buy tickets and go inside. We did decide to upgrade to the covered grandstand. As we sat in our seats watching lightning strike and the rain fall, it became clear that the extra investment was worth it.

This being my first time at the rodeo I decided to get all of my western, jokes out of my system in the car. The "git along lil doggy," jokes produced a couple of eye rolls from Meg.

We were treated to a spectacle of cowboys doing their best to slog through the mud covered arena. Any rider that was thrown was immediately coated in mud. All riders seemed to be up to the challenge. The only thing that was not held was the mutton bustin'. "Those kids would need their water wings today," the announcer explained.

2010-05-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, Meg and I came home to find a cattle truck parked in front of our house. It was a pair of modern day cowboys that had gotten lost on their way to Las Vegas, NM and wanted to directions. My neighbor set them straight, but not before Mojo got really interested in some very fresh beef. When we took him for a walk hours after the truck had left, he attempted to track the car.
School semester is over for me now. All that is left for me to do is wait for grades and iron out a couple summer projects.

IAIA Pow Wow

2010-05-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

As classes wrap up for the Spring semester at the Institute of American Indian Arts, things have been hectic. It seems this semester all the classes are ended with projects and not with essays or exams. I have three projects in the bag and one to go. One break from the academic action was the IAIA Homecoming Pow Wow.
Having missed the Gathering of Nations, I was glad to get a chance to get a taste of a Pow Wow in Santa Fe. I am not up on my Aleut dances, so I did not participate. I participated by having a fry bread taco and taking in the show with Meg.
The highlight of the afternoon were the dance competitions. The dancers were getting their clothes in order before competition.

Walking the Dog in Santa Fe

2010-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

I walk my beagle basset Mojo most mornings. There are many people who walk their dogs around the same time. I have gotten to know just about everyone on my route. I know the names of the dogs but not the names of the people. I suspect it is the same for the other people I meet. My dog is memorable, I think partly because he reminds people of a dog they used to have.

My dog is usually pretty nice to most people. He doesn't bark at the ,ailman. He doesn't even bark at the UPS guy. He barks at the FedEx guy. I think he hates the sound of their trucks. Maybe he can still sense that I used to work there.

My dog does not get along with all of the dogs on the route. I know the dogs he likes and I know the ones that he would much rather bite than be friends with. I know my dog hates pit bulls and poodles. I think he hates chihuahuas and other yipping lap dogs partly, I think, because they look like prey.

When my dog doesn't get along with another dog, usually I can communicate with the other dog walkers. I usually don't say that my dog is a jerk. I usually say something diplomatic like, "my dog is still learning to be social."

There is one lady that refuses to say hello and whose poodle tests Mojo's social skills. I have seen her a dozen times with her poodle and she refuses to say a thing to me. My dog starts freaking out at her dog and she doesn't say a thing or make a move, she just lets her dog bark at my dog. Inaction is worse than any action. The least she could do is have the common courtesy to cuss at me.

Border Show

2010-04-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have a two photographs hanging in a show downtown in Santa Fe. The show opens on Saturday at the Lloyd Kiva New gallery at the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. The show is called, "I Didn't Cross the Border, the Border Crossed Me."

I also got a mention in an article about the show that was printed in Pasatiempo, a weekly magazine from the Santa Fe New Mexican. The article can be found here. This magazine site is a pay to view, so be warned.

The Pasatiempo article by Casey Sanchez mentions this about my photos. "Alaska Native photographer John Hagen documents the 1,500-mile-long clear-cut strip of forest that separates Alaska from the Canadian Yukon. His photos conjure the quiet absurdity of an arbitrary line drawn across nations."

This was a photograph that was taken during a May road trip that Meg and I took from Fairbanks, Alaska to Haines, Alaska.

Bison Harvest

2010-03-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I and a group of fellow students from the Institute of American Indian Arts students took part in a class called Bison Harvest. This class taught bison hunting in the Lakota tradition in the classroom and in the field.

I learned much from the classroom portion but was the most excited for the field portion. We cleaned and took apart a freshly killed bison on a hilly ranch outside of Santa Fe. The class did not kill the bison, it was taken care of by the rancher.

I come from fish people and have never cleaned an animal larger than a 50 pound king salmon. I bison is a bit bigger than an Arctic Hare, the largest four legged animal I have taken to date. I paid particular attention when it came time to put knife to hide. I was told by an instructor that if I wanted to earn an A, I would have to get my hands bloody. I certainly did that. Some of the folks that know there way around large animals and knives. Looking at all of the nicks and scratches on my hands it is best I didn't do more than I did.

I spent the better part of my Saturday pretending to be a butcher. We needed to carve up some of the meat for a feast on campus. It was a helluva lot of work but we pulled it off. After doing a little bit of meat carving I manned a gas grill where I helped to cook random bison parts. Folks just kept bringing stuff and I tossed it on the fire.
This is the sort of class that I am at IAIA for. It is different and unique. I am a hands on learner and there is no better way to learn about traditional ways of hunting than to get your hands bloody.

Take a Hike

2010-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

This past week was spring break for me. The list of things I wanted to do was a bit longer than the things I actually got done.

The weather for a better part of the break was nearly springy, but did not hold for the entire week. Friday weather took a turn for Winter and a half a foot of snow dropped.
Meg's mother Betsy and aunt Helen were in town for the sunny days and we were able to head to hills to hoof around. Meg and I took them on a hike that has turned into a favorite of our visitors, the Tsankawi section of Bandelier National Forest.

The hike is a relatively short one but is enough of a challenge to make it interesting.

Drawing on Experience

2010-03-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

The most most exciting and challenging class of the semester is my drawing class. I am a bit of a technology geek and the last thing I thought I would have talent in is drawing. It turns out it is something I can pick up with a little bit of practice. A drawing class is one of the requirements at IAIA.
The pencils did not come naturally at first but with a little bit of practice I was producing passable drawings.
I am wearing out a few of my pencils. I really enjoy getting black blacks in the drawings I have been making. At mid term I have burned through more than half of my B weight pencils.
Drawing will not replace photography for me, but it is very relaxing and may stick.

Showing Off

2010-02-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am pretty excited to have a couple photographs hanging in a show that is opening this Saturday. There are about nine other Native American photographers participating in the show at the Llyod Kiva New Gallery in the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in downtown Santa Fe. It is part of the Sovereign Image show.

It was a blast getting the photographs ready for the show. I had a couple of marathon printing sessions and a lengthy session to mat the images. I think there was a bump in the road at nearly every part of the project. There was missing printer ink, a missing section of frame and not being able to find parking when it came time to drop the final prints off.

I always feel a little funny seeing my photographs on the wall since so many of my images only saw the light of day on newsprint. It is an exciting evolution. I have always seen myself as a journalist and I have never really seen myself as an art photographer.

If you are in Santa Fe in the future come check out the show, it is up until April 11.

Wonderboy

2010-02-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

I ran into this fellow on Sunday when I went to grab some Kleenex and cold medicine. I would have figured it was a head cold induced hallucination if I didn't come back with a photograph of this.

This was a promotional tool giving away tiny loaves of Wonder bread. I was a bit excited, I am always a fan of kitsch. This sort of thing excites me a little more than it should because I have spent so much time off of the beaten path. This sort of thing just didn't end up in Haines, Alaska. It barely ended up in Fairbanks. It rarely seems to step off of the Interstate Highway system.

I took my tiny loaf of bread home and thought about what to do with it. I knew I wanted to eat it, but I didn't know how to. It was about the size of a hot dog bun in loaf shape. I thought about mini PB and J or bologna sandwiches, but didn't have either handy. I decided the best thing would be a mini grilled cheese sandwich, or rather several. I sliced the bread and the cheese and put it in a fry pan. In a few minutes, I had melted cheese goodness.

Alas, the Wonder bread did not have enough flavor for me. The fine cheese overpowered the toasted bread. A chunk of Kraft processed cheese would have been just perfect. If I only had ran into a man giving away tiny Kraft singles, my trip down culinary memory lane would have been complete.

Buffalo Student

2010-01-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

I am getting fired up about the new semester. A one month long winter break was a bit too long for my tastes. This semester is a little less about cleaning up classes that did not transfer over and more about diving deep into course requirements.

One exciting class that I will take that will apply towards my degree is a seminar class called "Bison Harvest." It is a weekend long seminar on the Lakota tradition of harvesting a bison. There will be some hands on portions of this class and the end result of the class will be a IAIA community feast. The space between the classroom lectures and the feast were a bit vague. I don't suspect there is any actual hunting in the class. It will probably be more about the care in taking apart a bison.

It doesn't feel particularly Alaskan to learn about hunting and caring for a bison in a classroom. I honestly have never taken anything on four legs larger than an rabbit. I suspect the theory on a larger scale is the same, but in practice it is... well it is comparing rabbits to buffalo.

Passing Time

2010-01-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

For more than a week I have been conquering childhood nemesis. My nemesis is not a bully but it did kick my ass as a youth. It was a Guilow's balsa wood plane.

While at Hobby Lobby Meg convinced me to buy a model. Though I was tempted by a military themed plastic model, the balsa struck a chord. I immediately remembered the maddening instructions, the splintered balsa wood and cursing that marked my first balsa plane. I thought my adulthood patience would help my efforts.

When I first tried to fly as a youngster, the plane crashed into a pile of sticks, paper and disappointment.

This time around, the construction was easier. I proved to have much more patience for the effort. I was no longer obsessed with the idea of finishing the plane as fast as I could. Instead I took my time. I used little dabs of glue and small cuts with a hobby knife.

The plane came together as well as expected. The balsa looked neat, but the tissue covering it was a little rough. Once I get her balanced she should go like hell.

Standin' On a Corner

2009-12-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Meg and I are back from a short Christmas break in Arizona. On our way back we cut through Winslow, Arizona. It is hard not to think of the Eagles song take it easy while driving past this place on I-40.

I am a fan of kitsch and always am looking for those thing that make you say, "What the heck?"

This is a place called Standing on the Corner Park. I believe that is a statue of Don Henley. There is a mural depicting a girl in a flatbed Ford. There is also a tiny eagle painted on the wall.

I decided that I should find a different corner in Winslow to be shot by. I had Meg part illegally for me as I ran out to shoot this picture.

Christmas Wrapping

2009-12-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

Meg and I were trying to make a Christmas picture with the two of us and Mojo. Things went awry when Mojo mistook the Santa hat we were trying to put on him for a richly colored squirrel. We were worried about him getting in out decorations, but the only thing he seems to have taken to is the Santa hat.

Breaking Christmas Style

2009-12-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

For the first time in a very long time I have been enjoying a Christmas break. It has been fun, though a week into it I am starting to get a little antsy. I am excited to see what the next semester holds.

The snow from last weeks snow storm has all but melted off. It is not my first snow less Christmas, but it is the first to be more sage colored than evergreen colored. The shopping is done. All there is to do is avoid any shopping areas like the plague. The couple times we have had to venture near sh0pping centers lately, they have been insane.

Here is a picture of what the Santa Fe holiday season has looked like so far. This is a Christmas tree set up on the side of a road and some snow covered ornaments from before the snow melted.

Snow Day

2009-12-08T12:38:00.001-08:00

Years ago when I was in high school, I would rejoice on a snow day. It would be a great excuse to wade chest deep around in snow, build snow caves and realize that the snow can be too deep to sled in.

While in college during finals week a snow days is not exactly what I needed. The two classes I have final exams in had scheduled test review days. The test reviews were canceled. At least I have an extra day to study.

My mother didn't believe that it could snow here. I would say it certainly can and will snow more if given a chance. It is around 7000 feet in elevation around here and will snow if given a chance. It is just nice because it has taken so long to fall and stick for a few. The sun has a little more kick up here. Everyone says, "sure it will snow, but it will be gone by the afternoon." This must be serious, because it is afternoon and the snow is still here.

Once the snow stops falling, Mojo just loves to run in the white stuff. It is easy for him because he has four-wheel-drive. It is not OK for the poor person running/slipping/falling/not getting up behind him. If Mojo were more into extremes, as in temps hot or cold, I would say he is a born sled dog. As it stands, if it is still snowing he does not like to go outside.

Brother's Visit

2009-12-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

My brother passed through Santa Fe for Thanksgiving. It made for a fun visit. We revisited White Rock for a nice afternoon hike. It was fortunate that Mike visited when he did. Shortly after he left, the weather took a turn for the Arctic.

Heck Week

2009-11-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hell Week is a term my brother Mike used to describe the
week before finals week. This is a family blog, so I will call it Heck Week. The past couple of weeks have been nuts with projects starting to ramp up and classes starting to come to a glorious end. It is like instructors assign stuff work not thinking about the fact that there are other instructor assigning the same amount of work. Once I get done studying my brains out, I will kick out another posting here. Until then, enjoy this picture of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. It was at a local grocery store. I nearly gave myself whiplash turning around to check it out. I would have been impressed if there was a sleeper section in the protruding rear wiener section, but it is just storage.

Outside Insider

2009-11-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

I just got a message from Governor Sean Parnell inviting me to order up a travel guide to the state of Alaska. I two weeks ago, I surrendered my Alaska drivers license and got my New Mexico one.

It has been a couple of years since I held an Alaska address, but I still consider myself Alaskan. I don't try and capitalize on it like certain recent political figures. I consider it more of a mindset than an asset. I don't bring it up too early in conversation these days because it inevitably turns the conversation to another Alaskan ex-pat, Palin. I don't mind a little political discussion but I miss the days when the first thing people brought up was igloos or The Deadliest Catch.

I am fascinated by the effort to get New Mexicans to visit Alaska. I don't recall an effort to get Washington state residents to head north. I see adds in New Mexican magazines. I have seen those sultry Alaska commercials (more catchy that the visit California commercials) and been sent some very official looking invites to the state of Alaska. Oddly though, the invite looks an awful lot like it was printed on the same machine they use to make moose tags.

If Alaska needs an ambassador down here, I would be more than happy to help. Send me a moose suit and I will see what I can do.

History Rocks

2009-11-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Meg and I checked out the Tsankawi section of Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos. The trail was a 1.5 mile walk along a mesa, viewing cavates, petroglyphs and the Ancestral Pueblo village of Tsankawi.

This was one of the petroglyphs that lined the rock face. In an art history class I learned that some of these are better seen at certain times of the day. The mid afternoon sun did not make it easy to spot the weather worn glyphs.

The hike itself was pretty crazy. Much of it was along a rock face, with about a 30 to 40 foot drop. There were several ladders to easily get up some of the rock faces. They were often near worn cut outs, originally used to climb the rock.

Meg is walking in one of the cut walk ways leading from one dwelling to another in the sandstone. Though the soft rock was worn more in recent history because of the hard soles of the shoes of us moderns.

The petroglyphs and pottery shards are some of artifacts that were mentioned in an art history class that are easily seen from ancient peoples. It was pretty awesome to see pieces outside of textbooks and not in a museum setting. Seeing artifacts the way it has been for hundreds of years, even though they were faded glyphs and shattered post, was stunning.

Buffalo Student

2009-11-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

While in my Native American Art History this week, a student announced that there was a group of students were trying to put together a class on how to hunt, harvest and take apart a buffalo. I don't know if it will just be a theory of class or if there will be a point where students in the class will head out where the buffalo roam with the intent to kill.

I guess before I commit to enrolling in this class, I need to know what sorts of prerequisites for this class are. I don't know if my pistol marksmanship class from University of Alaska Fairbanks transfered down here. If I were to enroll, I don't know if that would help me in anyway. I wonder if this class falls in the culinary arts program? Is just being from Alaska enough of qualification for anything that involving harvesting animals?

I personally don't know how comfortable I feel when it comes to trying to take down a beast that is about the size of fur covered Chevy LUV pickup. I know I could shoot a buffalo (or a moose for that matter). After fur hits the ground, it is touch and go. I have no problem working with any of God's creatures covered with feather or fin. It is just the large four legged variety that I have little experience dealing with. I have never actually taken a moose or been part of a successful moose hunting. At this point, if I need to learn about the innards of a large four legged mammals I may just have to take a class. Until then I will just have to eat store bought beef.

Rio Grande

2009-11-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Meg and I have a little pattern in our explorations. We usually head out to an area we have never been before, often on a whim, then we head back the next weekend and explore the area in depth.

Today we ventured out towards Los Alamos. It is a pretty chunk of the world, though there were one too many No Trespassing signs in a few places. The Rio Grand certainly carved a pretty canyon in the area.

There are a couple of nice hikes in the area, a nice bit of ruins and a pie place we need to check out in the area.

One thing I noticed about this area is that it is a little hard to spot wildlife. There are no moose or bears to be had. I was pretty stoked to see a road runner cruise..... on the road.

Label Mania

2009-11-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

After spending a semester playing with text, type and fonts on a computer it was strangely satisfying to play with a vinyl label maker. The uniquely tactile task of printing a label, preparing it to mount on a wall and then mounting it was very satisfying. The deep red wall was in the student gallery on campus. It is a teaching gallery so crazy colors are the norm. How can you tell if something will work if you don't throw it up on a wall and see if it works?

Day of the Dead

2009-11-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Meg and I work a bit too early in the morning to have really head out and party for Halloween. Which is O.K. All I had for costumes idea were Husky Sarah Palin or Harry Potter after the magic has gone.

We took a few to enjoy a Dia De Los Muertos gathering at the Museum of International Folk Art.

The line to decorate sugar skulls was a bit out of control. My skull had eyes and Meg's did not fare much better. It was fun to see the exhibits of this celebration.

There were also many other decorations to go around the skulls. It was a bit hard for us to shoe horn our way to these things too.

Also at the museum was an exhibit of shadow puppet called Dancing Shadows and Epic Tales. Meg enjoyed trying out one of the hands on displays.

Photographer's Playground

2009-10-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

I will admit that I really have not been to downtown Santa Fe much since my arrival more than two months ago. I equate it to another state capital, Juneau. Much like Juneau, Santa Fe has a very active tourist district in the historic downtown area. You can find much art for sale in both capitals and lots of people. The one major difference is that there are no tour boats spawning tens of thousands of tourist in Santa Fe.

I was surprised to learn that the place is ver photogenic. I will go as far to say that it is a photographers playground. I decided to poke around to see if I can do a little bit of street photography. Maybe I was fueled by actually seeing a Henri Cartier-Bresson print in a gallery.

I just love the brown adobe color and how it contrasts with the blue sky in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a place that people go to find themselves. It is a place where it is O.K. to throw on a bolo, a cowboy hat and a buck skin jacket.

Camel Rockin'

2009-10-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Meg and I were looking for a good place to watch a sunset Saturday night. I was looking for a roadside rock formation to enjoy along with the sunset. That sent us to a rock formation off of Interstate 285, in Cuyanmungue called Camel Rock. I guess the biggest thing to know about it, is that it is a sunrise subject rather than a sunset subject. It was heavily backlit in the evening light.

We headed out before the sun went down, simply because we showed up about an hour early for sundown.

Now With More Mojo

2009-10-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

On the weekends. Mojo wakes me from my weekend slumber to take him for his morning walks. Usually he comes into the room and flops his head. His ears flopping back and forth are the alarm clock for the day. The few days when this might not be enough to get me rolling, he jumps in my bed, sighs and starts licking.

Sunday I walked him past a stop light where a lady was stopped. I could see her point and clearly mouth out, "I my god that dog is so cute." Mojo has a fan club in any neighborhood he gets paraded out in. Most people want to know if he is a basset or a beagle. I like to call him a bagel, though my nephews disagree. He does have a cousin in town. We spied another bagel in the Lowes parking lot.

Falling

2009-10-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

Meg and I headed to a system of trails we enjoyed fall colors from a couple weekends ago. Alas, much of the fall foliage is now dropped. What a difference a couple of weeks makes.

Gone Fishin'

2009-10-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

By The Wife

If I could catch the Twins a win, I would. But I can't even catch a brown trout in a 20-foot wide river.

The river was nice, the Pecos just east of us in Santa Fe. It's in a National Forest that is currently sporting some nice fall colors. We ventured out on a Friday afternoon so the traffic was light and we only saw one other angler at the pull-out we stopped at. We found a nice rocky little shore with a shallow part where we could actually see some little trout trolling around and nipping flies and bugs off the water's surface. A few feet out, the river drooped into a hole against a sheer cliff that rose from the opposite side. I used a little spinning lure that didn't do any damage to the trout population. I saw a few trout actually chase after the shiny spinner like a dog chasing a cat down the street, but they were in no mood to bite, I guess. Maybe wearing my Salmon Killer sweatshirt was a jinx.

John practiced his fly casting into the deep end. Alas, still no bite, but as he said, actually catching a fish on this day might have broken the serene mood. After a while I put down the spinner and caught a cat nap under a golden Aspen while John continued his fly casting. Eventually we packed it up and tried a lake down the road. Lake is a mighty term for this particular man-made oval of water, about the size of two hockey rinks.

Really, the fishing was just a way to enjoy a crisp, cool autumn day near some of the few water features in this part. And on our drive back home, we topped off the afternoon with a treat from the most oddly - yet satisfying - placed Dairy Queens I have ever seen. It's the only Dairy Queen I've seen between here and Iowa.

We topped off the evening with some homemade salmon cakes and wa-laa; a perfect fall Friday.

On the Fence

2009-10-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

I found that some of the nicest shooting light happens while we are walking mojo around the country side. We always seem to be taking out walks in the morning or evening.

I call this photo Moon rise over Rancho Viejo. That is a housing development that I drive to on my way to and from the school.

FTC Ruling

2009-10-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

In accordance with a new FTC ruling, I need to disclose being paid to review stuff. I would have liked to receive payments for Cheese of the week. I would have settled for free cheese. Alas all I received was a slightly larger waist, slightly elevated levels of saturated fats and a bit of heartburn from time to time.

Falling For You

2009-10-03T12:51:00.001-07:00

On last weekend's drive into the hills left us with one thought. We need to come back next weekend to catch the developing fall colors. Things are a little more rugged in Santa Fe. There aren't many coniferous trees in town proper. At least not enough to give us a fall color show in the mass that we wanted to see.

I just love the contrast of fall colors to the blue sky. One of the first things I notice when I head into the hills around Santa Fe is how blue the sky looks.

The ground foliage was as spectacular as the aspens in the area.

We took a walk on what will be a ski trail in a month or two. The walk was awesome, though it never provided the awesome valley view that we were hoping for.

We were at this spot last week. The difference in the green aspens of last week and the autumn yellowed trees is obvious by these photos.

Weekend Drive

2009-09-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well we are finally settling into Santa Fe, NM. That means we have most of our stuff unpacked. That means we have a coffee shop where the workers know who we are. That means we need to figure out our surroundings. One thing we enjoy is trying to find some wilderness now and then. Every weekend in Mount Vernon, Wash., we seemed to be able to find a new and different place to walk, hike, picnic or just gaze at. We are not in dairy country, so it may be hard to revive cheese of the week. We have fallen in love with tamales at road side stands here, so I may do tamale of the week.

This was an odd little roadside pull off on the road to Los Cerrillos, NM. It bears a little investigation. Most of the spectacular formations are fenced off. I can see why. The soft sandstone is easily vandalized by lovers and other people seeking a record of immortality. There is a gate to the area, so I suspect there is a way to get in and run among the formations. It requires further investigation and I am sure that we will see it again.
This weekend we took a long drive and a hike. Junipers and cactus gave way to sun covered aspen trees near some ski slopes high up a mountain.
We drove up above the area where the first snow of the season still stuck to the ground. It was an 80 degree day every where else, but it was still cool enough to keep the snow on the ground in the shade.
Here is Meg and a cactus to contrast the snow just up the road.
Here is the New Mexico that we are now calling home - at least for a little while.

Dino Time

2009-09-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

I see this fellow on my commute to and from school. The house shop on Dinosaur Trail. It comes by as a bit of a 75-mile-an-hour-what-the-hell on the side of the freeway. The metal fabrication shop next door has a set of brontosauruses that I am awaiting a lightning storm to shoot. I try not to be a slave to road side attractions, but there are times when you have to give in.

Still Stormy

2009-09-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

I am still questing for a good lightning photograph. I am still hindered by my lack of knowledge of the area. There were great photos to be had in this most recent storm. I wasn't able to beat what I shot off of my porch. My knowledge of good foregrounds to throw in front of a good storm is limited. I am still looking for a great set of adobe looking homes to throw in front of a storm.

Campus Circle

2009-09-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

This is a panoramic view of the Institute of American Indian Arts Campus. It is a stitched image put together from four images.

Rio Grande

2009-08-31T21:08:00.001-07:00

I didn't think I would ever use the name Rio Grande in a post, but it seems as if we are in that neck of the woods. This is an image of the Rio Grande canyon by Taos, north of Santa Fe. The best view of it was from a litter strewn pullout on the side of a very busy highway. I bet Ansel Adams never had to worry about rolling his ankle on a Budweiser bottle while he was trying to take a picture.
The flats above the Rio Grande canyon were equally as spectacular. As we headed south, Meg snapped this picture of a storm moving south. We beat this to town by about an hour. By the time it made it to Santa Fe, it had heavy winds and a fair amount of electrical activity.

Lightning Storms

2009-08-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

One fun thing about Santa Fe has been the lightning storms. I am still trying to figure out what weather patterns bring these things. Every evening seems to bring another wave of thunder storms through the area. Unfortunately I don't know the area as well as I would want to go out and storm chase. On a rainy night is not the best time to figure out. I caught this image on my way out of an evening class.

Going South for the Winter

2009-08-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

I have flown South for the winter. I guess Meg and I have headed south for the next couple of winters. We have pulled up stakes from Mount Vernon, Washington and have now put down stakes in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I plan on finishing my bachelor of arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts. I will be studying in the New Media Arts Program.

The rest of the summer fishing season did a manic bounce between sedate and nuts. When fishing slowed, family and friends came to visit. When family left, fishing began to pick up again. Ultimately though I had to get off the fishing grounds in order to move into our rental before classes start.

Orca

2009-07-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

We passed a pod of killer whales on our most recent trip south to the fishing grounds. Fishing proved to be fairly slow and the fish that were there proved to be very close to the beach, no doubt because of these guys being in Lynn Canal.

Totem Pole

2009-07-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got word that a totem pole that my father helped to work on was nearing the completion. My father, John Hagen, works in the winter as a totem pole carver. He puts down his knives in the summer to head to the fishing grounds. It is really a fun time when a pole nears completion. Every artist in the community heads to the Alaska Indian Arts building to check the pole out.
The last thing to be done to the pole is painting it. I believe RustOleum is the official totem pole paint. Carver Greg Horner paints on the pole.

Lee Heinmiller chisels ceder out of the back of the pole to make room for brackets to help hang the pole. The fine carving on the pole is done, there is just the need for a few last minute adjustment.
Chris Nowicki is an American artist that lives and works in Poland. For the past few years, he has been traveling to Haines to create silk screen prints for other artists. When a totem pole gets finished near a deadline, all hands get a paint brush thrown into them and get thrown at the pole.

Fishing Photos

2009-07-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Every fishing opening, I go through the same routine of packing up my camera, a long lens and a telephoto into a waterproof hard case. I don't always get a chance to pull out the camera to shoot something when fishing is hot and heavy. Salt water and fish slime are not good for photo equipment. Here are a couple of image I have made in the past couple weeks.For a couple of weeks, wildfires up north of Haines put a haze over the fishing grounds. The best part is that they made for some nice sunsets and moon rises.
Smoke obscures the mountains around Lynn Canal.
Growing up about once a year the living room was taken over by a fishing net. A fishing net come in a large bale and needs to have floats attached to the top and a lead filled sinking lead line attached to the bottom. About 1200 knots attach the top and 1200 attach the bottom. We needed to build a summer and have the hard part of getting it built.

Kicking Back

2009-07-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is one of those old images I shot on black and white film that was dredged up to illustrate a story for a local paper in Haines, Alaska. The story was about how the group that owns this chunk of land overlooking the city of Haines is getting ready to sell it off.

Running Around

2009-07-05T02:40:00.000-07:00

Haines' answer to the Mount Marathon Run in Seward, Alaska is the Ripinsky Run. Runners start out in front of the American Legion hall and run up Mount Ripinsky a hill that looms over the city of Haines. Race winner Chandler Kemp is pictured as he scrambles down from the hill.

Gone Fishin'

2009-06-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

This gentleman is helping me unload an 800 pound brailer bag full of chum salmon. It is a small fraction of our load of fish for the week. The fish numbers were promising and numbers were strong through the week. I used the slow week to take care of small projects on the boat. It is amazing how many little things you can find to do on a boat. Even fisherman with nice new boats always seem to be puttering around working on this and that. We shall see how this next week goes, but now it looks like chum salmon season is in full swing.

Goin' Fishing

2009-06-21T01:02:00.001-07:00

For the past week I have been helping to get my father's fishing boat geared up and ready to go fishing. It is amazing how many little projects can stack up. The most important thing we had to do to get our boat ready was get a net aboard. For once, we did not procrastinate, and put the net on early in the week. My father then told me, "Once I hung a net in 24 hours on the day before a fishing opening." He had the net built and in the water in time for the opening that started at noon on Sunday.

Bike Time

2009-06-21T00:51:00.000-07:00

Haines has been converted into a bit of Sturgis only for road bicyclist. As I write this, the local bars are filled with partying bicyclists. Riders in the annual Kluane to Chilkat Bike relay rolled into the Haines, Alaska this Saturday. I shot a few riders as they completed the final leg of the race. Because of my salmon fishing commitments I was unable to chase the whole race. This picture sums up my day. It is bicycle riders passing a salmon counting fish wheel.
It was really hard to not make an image of riders passing by some of the scenery along the Chilkat River outside of Haines.
I do a little freelancing for the local paper in Haines. This was in the images I kicked to them. Unfortunately the paper is in black and white.

The Hurry up and Wait

2009-06-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest part about fishing is waiting to fish. I am currently in Haines, Alaska getting ready to go fishing. My father runs a drift gillnet fishing boat, and has done so for more than 30 year. For as many times I have hit the water to try and catch fish in bulk in the gillnet I still love to try and catch a fish on a hook and line. I decided to wash the diesel fuel off of my hands from my boat chores and pick up a rod. It was a great way to fill a little downtime before the coming opening.

I got a few nibbles but no fish. They weren't taking lures. But I plan to see if I can get one of the finning dolly varden to take a fly tomorrow.

Heaven on Bread

2009-06-07T11:09:00.001-07:00

It was the best sandwich ever. Salumi salami, Gorgonzola cheese, peppers, onion on olive oil bread with a special sauce. It was a sandwich so awesome I had to stop myself from inhaling the thing and saved a little for later.

Meg and I hit the Salumi salami shop up for a last thing to do in Seattle before hitting the road. It was worth shirking some packing duties and heading down and back for a few hours. If I have a chance I definitely be back. When Anthony Bourdain tells you to check something out, it is worth it.

Lots of Stuff and Lots of Places to Put It

2009-06-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

Rattle snakes, ticks, mosquitoes, Oh My! The road through Montana was fraught with peril.
Mojo explores the grass around Pompey's Pillar. We would have missed him, but the tip of his tail was wagging above the tip of the grass.

Mojo nearly blended in with the horse themed cabin in Columbus Montana.

If Alaskans ever wondered why tourists are a little unrealistic expectations involving Alaskan wildlife, it is probably because of billboards like this. This was on I-90 in Montana advertising a sort of bear interaction place. From what I could tell, it was a place that had a corral where you could play with bear. Meg and I did not stop at this road side location. Being Alaskans at heart, when we know there are bears in a spot, we tend to avoid that spot.

If there was one problem with our visit to Montana it was the heat. We just had to cut our camping short in Missoula and find an air conditioned hotel room.

After driving for about a week to get across America I have come to the conclusion that America has a lot of stuff and a lot of places to put it. The drive across the long part of Montana, lead me to the conclusion that Montana has lots of cows and a lot of places to put them.
As we cruised across Montana, the scenery slowly merged from sage to green rolling fields.

Travelin' Man

2009-06-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Meg and I have reached out destination. After about 2200 miles we pulled into Milwaukee. After thousands of miles of open freeway, we were greeted by rush hour traffic. I have a pile of picks to post, and will do that in the coming days.

Baked Montana

2009-05-30T13:46:00.001-07:00

Meg and I are on the road to summer fun. We packed our car as tight as we could early Friday morning. It was a busy hour and a half. We did the last little bit of cleaning. Finally, we let Mojo sniff 11th ave for the last time and hit the road. I took the coffee maker to Goodwill the day before in an effort to clear the apartment. I was a bit of a grump before we stopped to grab coffee. I will address my addiction to caffeine later.

It had been a crazy 36 hours. We decided to take highway 20 across northern Washington for a view of the state we haven't seen before. The scenery was awesome and it took us from coast to snow to sage. Once we dropped down from the snow, the temp climbed to the 90's. We had planned to camp in a place called Alta Lake, south of Twisp. Mojo didn't much care for the heat, but did much better once we plopped him down beside the lake to soak up the cool lake breeze.

We took off in the cool morning, blew through Idaho and lodged ourselves firmly in Missoula, MT. The drive has been fun, but a bit toasty. I enjoy the heat, but think that the next long drive will be in a car with AC. The forecast for the rest of the state of Montana in the next couple of days is in the mid 80's to low 90's.

Sunny Days

2009-05-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

All has been going well on the Western front. The pack went a heck of a lot smoother than we had planned. That has given us time to relax and enjoy the best of Western Washington. The weather has been spectacular so we have been doing what we can to hit up our favorite spots before we head east. There has been a lot of playing in the sun and not a lot of time inside for posting things to the blog.

A highlight of the past couple of days was getting a loaf of fresh baked bread and a bit of cheese having a picnic on the sandstone of Larrabee State Park. We plan on pulling up stakes and heading east on Friday.

Smooth Moving

2009-05-20T15:27:00.002-07:00

In about a week Meg and I hit the road and leave Mount Vernon. Most of the belongings that we don't need are Santa Fe bound having just been dropped off at a shipping company. It is very odd right now, all of what we are living with can be dropped off at a thrift store or put into the back of a Ford Focus.

It feels pretty good to get done this early. The past couple of moves have involved packing belongings and moving stuff around up until the day of departure. The biggest task now seems to be packing up recyclables and other trash.

From being in the newspaper business, both Meg and I have a considerable amount of newspaper in belongings. This was one of the largest tasks the both of us had to tackle was paring down our collection of clips. I did not need ten copies of a thirteen year old college paper when one or two would do.

We are relieved to have the big moving done and can really just relax for the next week.

Smooth Movin

2009-05-20T15:27:00.001-07:00

Cannonball Run

2009-05-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Meg and I packed up the car to head to the Oregon coast. This was something that we had been meaning to do since moving to Washington State. Our time is short here in Washington and we were unable spend the whole weekend there. Instead, we woke up at 6 a.m. for a round trip. It made for a six hundred mile 16 hour day, which comes back to about 37 miles an hour for the whole day.

We chose to take Mojo with us. If we would have let him go he would have run for miles on the endless Oregon coast. There were many other dogs and small children, so we figured this wasn't such a good idea. There was a bit of a Mother's Day crowd on the beach.
The menu for this adventure was about as impressive as anything else during the trip. It most certainly would make Meg's nutritionist mom cringe. The menu of the day included burgers, deep fried fresh asparagus, a world famous Voodoo donut bacon maple bar, albacore tuna fish and chips and the best chocolate shake that I ever had. Mojo even got to eat a can of Alpo, which he is still recovering from.

It was a crazy trip but we got to see little country we both hadn't seen in a very long time.

No Cupcake Left Behind

2009-05-08T08:56:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Meg and I got a dozen Cupcake Royale cupcakes. After sharing and eating the dozen cakes, Meg and I faced a minor problem. Should we recycle the crumby and frosting coated box or just throw it away? I blurted out to Meg, "you should take it to work with you and leave it in the lunch area so everyone would think that they just missed cupcakes." On face value it seemed like a funny prank. After a little thinking, it is one of the sickest pranks you could pull on someone.

After juggling the logistics of doing this prank at our respective workplaces we decided this was too mean of a prank to pull on someone.

Hello Cell

2009-05-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

When I got my first bit of wireless technology 10 years ago, it was a pager and a sack of quarters. It was issued to me during my first internship. When I received a page, I had to keep an eye out for the nearest pay phone. Often this was an affair that took a few if I happened to be in a dense residential area or deep in farm country. It was technology when a cell phone was a little cost prohibitive.

Wireless technology is a pain, but over the past 10 years I have become increasingly reliant on this technology. As a news photographer, you always have to be available. A pager and a search for a pay phone gave way to a pager and an cell phone then finally just a cell phone. I have always thought of a cell phone as a tool for work. I have always had a land phone line for personal call.

Meg and I will soon become a hip household that solely uses cell phones. When we head out and begin our summer long relocation to Santa Fe, we will be giving up our land line. It is a fun new world. We are slowly learning how to use our respective devices. Meg's is a sleek blue little phone that has a camera and a music player. I opted for the phone that was described as rugged I picked up the Samsung Rugby. It is a solid phone that is frankly the most comfortable cell phone I have used in 10 years.

2009-04-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy week. I have been pulling boxes out of our storage shed and discovering all of the fun stuff that I realized that I could live without. There is about a 10 boxes of stuff out there that we just never unpacked. A majority of those boxes are filled with paperwork. There are a bunch of books that were never unpacked. A good chunk of stuff will fuel a garage sale, be taken to good will or something else.

Two Places, Two Times

2009-04-21T22:03:00.001-07:00

One of the hardest assignments for me while taking photo classes was the series. I had trouble cultivating and idea and running with it. It is still a challenge I enjoy. Over the years of shooting, I run into photos that seem related to ones I took days, weeks, months or years ago. The shadow image is one I made at the Tacoma Glass Museum. The white image is one I made at the Milwaukee Art Museum, years ago.

Kicking Glass

2009-04-21T21:47:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday Meg and I took the show on the road. We headed south to check out the Tacoma Glass Museum. I can't think of a better way of spending a hot Sunday afternoon than enjoying the outdoor glass sculptures around the museum including this area at the Chihuly Glass Bridge. I guess when I heard that there was a glass bridge, I expected a bridge made of glass or something that involved me walking over glass. It was a bridge that was more of an open air gallery featuring glass pieces. It was nice seeing these pieces outside, shining in the sun.

The big draw of the museum was the Hot Shop, where you can watch glass artist create right in front of you. I can see this as an awesome place to enjoy a cold winter day. The large glass melting furnaces keep the large place toasty warm. Hanging around the Hot Shop on a hot day can be the sort of thing that can tease you with heat stroke. The Glass Museum was on our list of thing to enjoy before we head to the Southwest.

Daffy

2009-04-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

On Friday night, Meg and I decided to catch the sunset over the tulips. I would say that it was about a week early for the tulips. We were able to catch the daffodils. The daffodils are superior to the tulips partly because of the lack of crowds. I wish I could have told that to the thousands of people that caused a backup on Interstate 5 northbound. It looked like people people were backed up for about four miles or three exits before Mt. Vernon. The one trick I learned for catching the tulips is to wake up early and see it at sunrise. The only people out there are early morning commuters and photographers.

Funny Bunny

2009-04-11T23:13:00.001-07:00

I was walking through the Haggen grocery story today and was nearly gored by the whiskers on a large Easter bunny. I almost took down the bunny and the pastachio display that it was attached to. Abdominal injuries aside, I really do enjoy the secular bunny part of Easter. I was tempted to surprise Meg by putting Mojo in bunny ears. I came to my senses when I realized both Meg and Mojo would disapprove.

Hey Easter Bunny. Bwak bwak!

2009-04-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

BY the wife

In fear of embarrassing my ma, I gotta tell you, the best holidays we ever had was when (I found out later) we were the poorest. Like the Easter I was in first grade. During that year I mostly remember that dad was in law school, mom would fret over balancing the check-book and then dad would try to cheer her up by saying we could all just eat dog food (we bought a really fancy brand of dog food.) When spring came around, it never occurred to me that if my Easter basket lacked those neon green plastic strings of “grass” it would mean the Easter Bunny was scrimping. Instead, that year, I remember spending the whole Easter morning searching the barn, the apple trees, the cow pasture and under the porch for Easter eggs. The Easter Bunny had apparently spent an evening hunched over the typewriter conjuring up a treasure hunt to find all the eggs we'd dyed. Each egg was wrapped in a paper with a clue to the next egg. Great clues, too. Little ditty’s that rhymed and teased me and my sis to roam the property on Easter morning. While my sister already knew the true identity of the Bunny, she was game, mostly in her quest for the Cadbury Crème Eggs that awaited us in our Easter baskets at the end of the hunt.

While my sister and I have strong sisterly bond held together with genetically identical sweet tooths, the one thing we could never agree on is the Cadbury Crème Egg. We didn’t get much candy in our Easter Baskets, just some good choice chocolate. No crappy jelly beans or big-eared hollow rabbits. Our chocolate was pure, solid and quality. But those damn Cadbury Eggs. She would look forward to those things the same way she looked forward to the month of March just for the Shamrock Shakes at McDonalds. Come Easter season, our dad would occasionally buy us each an egg when he stopped for gas and then we’d get one or two in our Easter baskets. Big sis would take her Cadbury Egg and unwrap the red, blue and yellow foil wrapper with steely intent. She would try to get the foil to come off all in one piece and then she would iron the foil wrapper smooth with her fingernail as she savored the egg. Me, I hated those crème fillings. That sugary white filling and creepy yellow center. Ugh. I would try to scoop out the middle just to get to the chocolate.

But the Easter of the treasure hunt is I think the last time I believed in the Easter Bunny. I could tell my mom was reluctant to give up the act. As she was explaining the myths of the Bunny and Santa and the Tooth Fairy, she tried to convince me that they were not fake characters, but just a persona she would take on once a year. “Yes, I’m the one that hides the eggs, but I have a bunny suit and ears I wear on Easter morning before you get up!” I think I believed her for a few minutes.

And now, every Easter morning, even when I’m not with them I wake up envisioning my sis swiping a Cadbury Egg from each of her own kids Easter baskets. And I think of my mom getting out her bunny ears and cotton tail to wear while she bakes her Easter ham.

Hot Car for a Hot Day

2009-04-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

I guess if you were to find a Lamborghini in the small logging town of Darrington, it would be in front of a bar and grill called Skidder's. If you were to find a couple of boys in front of a car in Darrington it would not be in front of our Ford Focus, it would be one of a pair of exotic cars in a town where pickup trucks rule.

The weather in western Washington is trending towards the spring time. The trees are blossoming, the flowers are going nuts and every one has put away their ugly winter cars and are pulling out their awesome summer cars.

News Hound

2009-03-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Mojo the beagle must be narcoleptic. He seems to be able to fall asleep anyplace and at any chance he gets. Forgetting the squirrel that got him wound up a few minutes ago on his morning walk, he fell asleep in a nest made of the Sunday Seattle Times.

This week Meg and I decided to formally adopt Mojo. Up to this point we were fostering him because we were uncertain about what our housing situation will be in Santa Fe. We decided to commit to living in beagle friendly off campus housing.

Old Carving

2009-03-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is a Tlingit style carving of a frog that was parked out in front of the Alaska Indian Arts building in Haines, Alaska. It is an old carving that I saw hundreds of times growing up as a child. Once I got into photography in a serious fashion, I always thought about it heading back to this piece and other weathered carvings around Haines with a large format camera and black and white film. I never shot the piece with anything but Tri-X loaded in a Nikon FM-2.

I had always wondered about this piece. I always suspected it was a historic piece, but was surprised to learn that it was a piece that my father had worked on years ago, though it was never finished.

March Madness

2009-03-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

March is a time of crazy weather in Western Washington. Friday morning it was cloudy and blowing, by noon it was pouring rain and at 1 pm when I headed out to check the mail it was sunny as can be. Crazy days often lead to lazy days.

Queso Grande

2009-03-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

A while back I had ceased the cheese of the week feature I was writing on this blog. The momentum to share my experiences with cheese slowed when I left cheese fertile Western Washington to spend a summer fishing in Alaska. Haines, Alaska is not cheese country. I spent two months with Tillamook medium cheddar and Kraft singles, not the sorts of cheese that inspires great stories. It wasn't like I stopped eating good cheese once I got back to Washington. I just lost that spark of inspiration to write about the cheese I was eating. I had a bit of cheese writing block.

I recently found a group of cheeses that have challenged my cheese block: Mexican cheeses. In our fridge is a nice queso quesadilla. This was a cheese billed for its melting abilities. This skim milk based cheese tasted a bit like a Gouda. I enthusiastically melted this cheese on a slice of French bread and it was heavenly. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow to make a couple of quesadillas and finish putting this cheese through its paces.

Meg discovered a fully stocked cheese selection at a grocery store in the area called Food Pavilion. The store has a very large Mexican food selection (and a Dutch food selection too). We can't wait to work our way through the selection there and see what some of these new cheeses.

Back to School

2009-03-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

I wish I could say that I earned this mortarboard, unfortunately I had just borrowed it from a friend who was graduating from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I think there was a period of years where I was sent to photograph the UAF graduation as a sort of punishment for not finishing my photojournalism degree.

I am glad to say in the ten years since I stopped going to school that I have found a much more flattering haircut and set of eyeglass frames.
More important is that fact that I am heading back to school. I have been accepted to the New Media Arts program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. It will mean Meg and I will be moving a little farther south. This unthawed Alaskan is about to become much more thawed.

I am stoked to add to my journalistic tool box and perhaps grow beyond gathering news. I am stoked finish the bachelors degree that has eluded me to this point. Next time I don a mortarboard and a gown it will be because I earned it, and did not steal it from a student at a graduation ceremony.

Death of a Diner

2009-03-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

When I got the news about a fire at Sam's Sourdough Cafe, it was like someone just told me my kitchen table had been thrown in the fireplace. The Fairbanks, Alaska cafe was a staple of my early photographic career and responsible for many a square meal in the days when I lived in a cabin.

I would meet with a couple of other bachelors named John to feast on breakfast at dinner time. A chicken fried steak and eggs with a side of biscuits and gravy or a Sam's Omelette with a side of biscuits and gravy. Come to think of it, maybe they weren't exactly square meals.

I am glad I got a chance to take in a breakfast while I was in Fairbanks Photographing the Yukon Quest. It was a bit out of the way from where I was at downtown. It was so crowded on a Sunday morning, that we almost couldn't find a place to sit. We got a chance to sit at table that I remember oh so well, the one next to the back door that is insulated against the cold.

The old Sam's will be missed.

Slow Week

2009-03-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

It has honestly been a low key week. It has been a week filled with sitting in front of a computer dealing with photos, planning school and scholarships. Really the spare time has been filled with walking Mojo.

This is Mojo in his natural state, tail in the air and nose to the ground. Walking him can be a bit of a challenge at times. He wants to sniff anything and everything.

You never notice how many dogs are in your neighborhood until you try walking a dog around it. You never notice how many dogs, cats or squirrel infestations are in your neighborhood until you try walking a hound a couple of blocks. At times he jogs around the block on a mission, other times he spends 15 minutes and can't make it past a single corner.

Flashbacks to the Trail

2009-03-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Filing photos has been one of the things that has been soaking up my time post Quest. I thought I had a pretty good system in place for keeping track of photos. When put into the scale of 22 gigs of photos, a little keywording glitch here and there turns into a bit of a project.

I just can't get away from mushing. Now that the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race is in full swing, I keep hitting refresh on the race stats, hoping for a change. After hitting the Quest trail for a few years, there are many more familiar names and friends in the Iditarod and it is a little more interesting to follow. Reading stories on the ADN as the smell of the dog on my couch almost makes it feel like I am there, freezing my butt of on the side of the trail.

Mojo the Beagle is adjusting well to the pace of Meg and John. We are still trying to figure out what sort of toys he likes. We attempted to get him a smoked pigs ear to chew. He sniffed it then attempted to bury it in our carpet. Failing to dig a hole in the carpet he hid it in his bed. We noticed that it disappeared. A few days later I found that he hid it in the couch.

Beagley Goodness

2009-03-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

As I write this message there is a large beagle named Mojo resting on the floor next to the couch. Mojo is a bit on the large side and is currently on a weight control diet and must given regular walks.

We are currently fostering Mojo from a local animal shelter. We are doing everything we can do to help him get his weight down. He is fun to walk, as long as we don't run into his stereotypical nemesis, the cat. He loves to smell things though his nose can get the best of him. He almost seems to get into a sniffing trance.

The craziest thing we are dealing with now is the beagle burying instinct. Yesterday we gave him a smoked pigs ear as a treat. He sniffed it, licked it and then took the ear next to his bed and attempted to bury it. Our carpet is dirty, but not dirt. Not being able to get a hole in the carpet, he had to settle for hiding it under a blanket in his bed. He must not have liked this hiding spot, because he relocated it and we have no idea where it is.

Mojo is certainly a welcome addition to our home.

Tarma, Ptarmi, Ptara.... Chicken

2009-02-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

It is an odd day when you see a trio of ptarmigan in downtown Fairbanks. Even more so when you consider that there were dozens of people walking within ski pole distance of these fellows.

Being in Alaska you would expect these things to be flying around downtown Fairbanks like pigeons in any other part of the world.

The thought of a tasty organic dinner crossed my mind. I crept close for a couple of photographs and let that be that. These birds were a welcome distraction from shooting the Quest.

The Road is Long

2009-02-25T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Quest trail has been a bit long. The blog has certainly taken a back burner to the daily grind of shooting the Yukon Quest and posting images to the Quest website.

To get a better sense of what I have been doing: check out some of the work here. Not all of the photos are mine, but there is a pile of them on on the Quest web site. I will keep shooting and posting until the Quest banquet.

Trails and Tribulations

2009-02-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

I spent more than four hours yesterday standing on the side of a trail yesterday waiting for mushers to go by.

I usually find a place where I have two or three photos of the same musher going by. It gives me options and a backup plan. Waiting for two hours gives you time to plan, but it gives you time to over think things. A photo might not look so inspiring after staring at it for two hours. Light can change significantly in one hour.

By the time the musher passes by, I usually have packed down several large pads in the snow, attempted to build a small snow fort or tried my hand at snow art. When I am at a checkpoint, I can always find someone to have a conversation with. on the side of the trail, I am rarely standing next to another shooter. It doesn't make sense to stand right next to someone when there are hundreds of miles of river to have to yourself.

Basically it I try to stand at the prettiest spot on the face of the planet. The odds of that musher not passing through when you need them to are very high. Often you are waiting for that musher to show up, "any minute now." Usually the estimated time of arrival is based on some insane record from days gone by. Most of the time that best light ever with a hint of moody fog is long gone by the time the dogs go by.

Quest to the Finish

2009-02-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

Like that, the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is off, leaving Whitehorse to Fairbanks. As the first musher was called to the starting line and the countdown began, I was filled with a number of familiar emotions. Most of them frantic. As the number hit one then GO were called out, I was filled with calm and then I started clicking the shutter.

Photos have been uploaded to the website. If you want to see what I have been doing you can find it here on the Yukon Quest website.

In Dog

2009-02-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

I am now in Whitehorse preparing to chase the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. There are dog trucks everywhere. In the next couple of days I expect to be woken up in the middle of the night by sled dogs howling in the middle of the night.

It is -30C and sunny in the Yukon. I just put on my thermal bottoms and don't expect to take them off until I head back to Washington.

Friendly Skies

2009-02-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

A flight from Seattle Tacoma international airport to Anchorage or Fairbanks is different from any other flight in the airport. There are usually more camo backpacks as carryon items, there are more denim items and everything just seems more casual. It is a feeling I have never really had until today.

The flight from Vancouver International Airport to Whitehorse, Yukon felt the exact same way. The flight was just a little more friendly. In the preboard area, I saw a lade walk by in heels then one go by in mukluks. Though I did not see anyone I knew, everyone around me seemed to know everyone else. The flight attendant took twice as long as she should have going down the isle because she knew everyone.

The one difference in this flight over an Alaska bound flight, was food. There was an actual meal on the flight. Though it was an elf sized roast beef sandwich with a petit fors sized piece of carrot cake, it was a meal effort and it won me over. The anticipation over the meal actually sparked a conversation with gent next to me (he was a mining explosives expert with a stutter). The meal was almost enough to make me realize that I was practically sitting on my neighbors lap.

O' Canada.

Bag Packed

2009-02-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

I had my bags packed to head north to the Yukon and Alaska yesterday. I will not fly out of Vancouver until Tuesday. There is nothing worse than getting packed for what is amounts to an expedition hours or minutes before you depart. Between two large duffel bags, one camera bag and a computer bag I have more than 100 pounds of stuff.

I don't mind a good solid -40 winter day. After trying to heft my bag of winter gear, I really wish they had dog sled racing in the tropics.

I fly out of Vancouver Tuesday and the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race starts Saturday, Feb. 14.