Elevating your Alaska Photos with Photographer Carl Johnson

Long time Alaskan photographer Carl Johnson joins Jennie to share his decades of wisdom about capturing incredible photos on your trip to Alaska. 

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

 interested in taking some amazing photographs on your trip to Alaska? Or you just wanna hear about the life of an Alaskan photographer? Well, if so, you're in luck 'cause that's what we're talking about today.  My guest today is Carl Johnson. Carl is an award-winning professional photographer and long-term Alaskan.

He got his start as a photographer. In the Navy, and he's also worked as a canoe guide and guides photo tours, and takes classes and does all kinds of cool things. And he lives in Anchorage. So Carl, welcome to Alaska Uncovered. Thank you for being here. 

Well, thanks for hosting me. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, it's so, it's so fun to,  talk to you. I'm really excited about this. So, before we dive into our topic today, a little more. I would love to have you share with everyone, like I ask all my guests to do. How did you get to Alaska? 

Uh, actually I can blame it on Seattle. 

Ah, how fun. Okay. One of 

my good buddies from college, um, fresh out of school with a um, paper science degree worked at a pul paper mill, uh, pul and paper mill in Grays Harbor.

Aha. Yes. You visited him. Uh, while I was in all, all places, law school, and we went around and checked out the Olympic Peninsula, a little bit of Seattle, and I just fell in love with the idea of a city on the coast near mountains and wilderness. And growing up mostly in the prairie,  the coast really was appealing to me.

Yeah. But I had been living in the Twin Cities for a while and I'd lived in the LA area when I was in the Navy. I really wanted to go to a smaller city, so I set my sights on Anchorage. I sent cover letters to every judge in Anchorage. It's a common job post law school, about a third of all law school graduates.

Their first job is to clerk in the court system for at least a year. 

Yeah, yeah. 

So I interviewed over the phone, got offered of the job, and bought a one way ticket, and that was my first time even seeing Alaska. 

Love it. Okay, so what happened along the way? Because how did you go from clerking for a judge?

I know you had this background in photography from the Navy, but tell us a little bit about how that transition happened. 

Well, you know, it's, it's weird. I mean, your life can be shaped in so many different ways, and I, I never really had anybody telling me, you know, Carl, you can do photography as a career.

And so it was a hobby in high school. I got my first formal training and experience in the Navy. I took some classes in college.  I even, um, you know, after I'd been accepted to law school and post law school, got paid work as a portrait photographer doing sports action photography, and then guiding in the bounty waters in Minnesota.

Minnesota really got my, you know, under my skin for nature photography. But still, I didn't think it was something I could do to sing myself as a career. So I came up here with the law in mind, and the longer I stayed here, the more photography got under my skin. so that in, you know, 2010, I, I left the practice of law entirely.

That's really cool. Was it, was it scary to make that leap? Or by that point were you like, oh yeah, this is right. I am like here for it. 

Well, I was still in a transitional phase.  I left the practice of law, but I still had a day job. I worked as an analyst for the interior department and the Federal Subsistence Management Program for about seven years.

During which time I also spent five years working on my first book about the Bristol Bay region,  first photography book. So I got even more hardcore into photography.  Yes. And  that job allowed me to travel all over the state and I. So when the opportunity came in 2019 to purchase Alaska photo trucks, my wife and I decided it was, you know, time to leave behind the day job, so to speak.

Yeah. Focus on that entirely. 

Yeah, that's, that is awesome. Love it. Cool. Okay, so I know we're here to talk about photography, but. Since I know that you're also a reality TV star, a show in Alaska, I gotta ask you about that. I, I just have to hear, I am not a big fan of reality TV to tell you the honest truth, but I would love to hear about how.

You got into this and what the show was. Well, and what you did. So let, 

let's clarify though. I mean, I, I wouldn't call myself a reality TV star. I appeared in one episode. 

Yeah, I know. I was calling you a star. I know. It's okay. 

 Yeah. So one episode of Wild West Guns,  and out of the blue I get this call and because I, I had been on, that's back when Alaska had its, you know, film industry subsidy.

And yes, I, I was on a listserv. I signed up for. For you, you know, receiving information and inquiries from producers, and maybe that's how they found my name, but I get this call out of the blue. Asking if I would like to appear on an episode. But as a photographer now, if you know, the premise of this show, premise of the show is, you know, hi, we, we special order and we manufacture stuff on request guns.

We go through this process of make it your gun for you and then you get to, you know, test it out in the shooting range or whatever. And then we also have some other shenanigans going on with these side stories. But mine was, you know, I was like. You know what I could use, uh, because I'll, I'll admit I saw it in an episode of Northern Exposure.

Yes. The Bar of Holly Re had a rifle stock, he converted as a mount for a long lens. And I was like, you know what? That would be a great idea, particularly for shooting from a boat where you have a lot of instability. Yeah. And it would be nice to have that little extra stability you get from having that rifle stock that butt in your shoulder.

So I said, okay, this is what I want you to manufacture for me for the episode. 

That's awesome. Yeah. And they were like, sure we could do that. 

Sure. Absolutely. And then. You know, so I go through the, the scene where I go in and I make the request from them to make this thing for me. And, and then we, we actually go to the shooting range where I'm taking pictures of.

Somebody else shooting and blowing up stuff. And so I'm like using the telephoto to like blowing up watermelons. I can't remember what it was. Oh, and then for the, and then for the, using the gear in the field scene, we actually went out on a boat out in Prince Williamtown and I did some, you know, marine wildlife and marine bird photography using the Oh, cool.

The rifle stock mount from my lens, which of course I still have. And. I've used it,  in the field for things like shooting the Iditarod, for example. 

Yeah. I mean, it seems like it would be super, super convenient to have that. That's awesome. It is 

too. And, and I, I, I put my,  an IR trigger in where the trigger position is in the rifle stock so that I can use that trigger motion as if I were shooting to actually trigger my, my shutter on my camera.

Yes. I love that. That is so great. Love it. Okay, so now we know a little bit about how you got to Alaska and how you got into photography.  So let's go into photography a little more. 'cause of course, you know so many people are traveling and wanna get some amazing photos in Alaska, and we'll get to some specific types of photos in a few minutes.

But I'm wondering what advice you have, like people in general who are.  Into photography, either as professionals or as as a hobby.  What advice do you have for folks when they're planning their trip? 

So this is gonna seem really unconventional, but 

love it. 

I'm gonna say minimize your research as much as possible.

Don't search and Google for blog posts as say, top 10 Sunset locations, or top 10 Northern Lights locations, or top 10 wildlife viewing locations. I really suggest that you kind of go there and explore the place for yourself. 

Yeah, 

give yourself plenty of time. Don't try to do fjords, Denali Lake, Clark Katmai, and Wrangel Saint Elias in five days.

Pick one. Yeah. And spend five days there. 

Yep. 

 Give yourself a lot of time to be out in the field, to discover, to be there at all times of the day. Good weather, crappy weather, and, and let the space reveal itself to you to create photos. And I'll tell you, you're gonna get better photos than you ever have.

I, I follow this approach. I've, I've kind of,  accidentally done this over the years, but I made a deliberate, uh, effort to do this. I had a residency at Shenandoah National Park in fall of 22. Mm-hmm. And I didn't do any advanced research on photo locations at all. In fact, in, in kind of planning my trip, I talked with,  the park staff that I was coordinating with to say, okay, what are the places people go to the least in the park?

And, um, kind of talked about those areas and that was my primary emphasis for a lot of my trip. 

Yep. And 

after that three weeks, I probably came away with my best body of work that I ever have at any single location because I followed this approach. So that's really my number one recommendation. And Alaska really has a lot of land that you can discover and make for yourself.

Yeah. That's really true. I love that, Carl, because I feel like that's actually really a good advice for anyone, even if they're not a photographer, is just to slow down a little bit and like Sure. You know, you need to know where you're gonna stay and that's important, you know, but like, just building in that like serendipity to, to just kind of discover things.

I think that is amazing. And I have, yeah. 

That's definitely a great general approach for travel. Absolutely. 

Yeah. And even though I'm not a professional photographer like you are, I can imagine how just having that time to just be for a long time, um, really gives you great photography opportunities that you'd miss otherwise.

Yep. Cool. Okay. Well. General question I have for you is,  just about light. So I'm curious if you found, either for your clients or when you first moved to Alaska, just thinking about the importance of light for photographers and knowing things about like golden hour and blue hour. And so I'm just wondering if given Alaska's latitude and.

Long days and long nights, depending on what time of year, what things you'd recommend people keep in mind about that,  when they're thinking about their photography and their trip. 

All right, so I'm gonna back up just a little bit to my photo intro class I took in college and one of our early assignments really helped to understand light.

And we, we were tasked to photograph the exact same scene in the same composition three different times during the day. 

Oh, that's cool. 

And that really, I had never really kind of had a concept for how much light changes a subject. And the thing that I also didn't really think about a lot when moving to Alaska.

How, because of our latitude, how different the light looks here. Yeah. And also how long the light is. 

Yes. 

I've got a buddy who lives in Hawaii and he's got a gallery there and, and of course if you're in Hawaii and you're chasing the sunset, you've got this very narrow window of time where you've gotta be on location.

The sunsets, you've got some lingering color, then boom, it gets dark. Whereas here, between golden hour. Dusk and twilight, no matter what time of year it is, you're gonna talk in something that's gonna be like a three, four hour event. 

Yeah. 

And additionally, we never have direct overhead sunlight. Even in the middle of the summer, the sun is always at an angle of some kind.

Yep. 

So even the, what we normally associate is the really bad cool blue midday light isn't quite as harsh in Alaska, even in the summertime. So. There are the conventions of yes, you know, the quality of light is better, definitely when it's warmer, but also how the light, how cool the light is, is different.

Uh, the other thing I've come to realize too is that when it comes to, and particularly wildlife photography, you're not gonna be really as picky about the light if your goal is to photograph animal behavior. And you're like, well, you know, this isn't nice golden light, so I'm just going to skip this opportunity to watch a lynx, you know, photograph the lynx hunting a snowshoe here.

Um, that doesn't matter as much. Yeah. So I, I think really, um, again, with my, my first response, allow yourself time to be on location and really explore how much that light. Kind of lingers on for a long period of time, and certainly do not put down your camera after the sunsets. Yeah, I've seen sunset colors light up the cloud as late as an hour after official sunset at locations.

Yep. 

So you've gotta be prepared to like put in for the long haul for that, that both golden hour and blue light, blue hour combination. 

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I, I think that is something that does really throw people about Alaska. It's not just that it's, if it's summer, like it's daylight all the time, but also like the quality and the elements of the light are just so different.

And, uh, yeah, I love that. And, and it gets 

even more different the farther north you go. You know, the first time I went into the Arctic, I was the artist in residence for, uh, gates of the Arctic National Park in 2000. Yeah. And I had never even been as far north as Fairbanks at that point. So getting exposed to true Arctic light, it's very otherworldly.

It's kind of like, you know, watching a sci-fi movie like Pitch Black, where they change the, the tone of the light and it looks like you're on a different planet. Yes. That's kind of how it looked to me for the first time when I was in Arctic Light and seeing Arctic Light at low light. Yeah, and it was just really surreal.

Yes. My, my husband, Jay, who is the occasional co-host of this podcast, he, um, he's an archeologist and he worked in Gates for several seasons. Oh, cool. And yeah, I actually, I, it was a bummer that it didn't work out for him to. Be on this episode with us, because that would've been really cool. But, um, yeah, I, that is something that I really noticed and I was living in Fairbanks then, you know, and, and like going up to Gates, it's like, wow.

It really changed a ton, even from Fairbanks. And I don't know if you felt this way, Carl, but like, I felt like the way of the sun just kind of. Goes, and Jay has said this to you, goes kind of around and around is quite disorienting if you're not 

used to it. It, it is. And I I, and while I've been to Gates of the Arctic a few times prior to this last summer, I had never stayed, done a backcountry, overnight excursion, four hour light until last summer.

I was there in late June. And it was the first time I'd ever gone, um, you know, camping, wearing a blindfold when I went to sleep. 

Yes, 

yes. But you know, as a photographer though, it was, it was fantastic. 'cause like there's no limit for when I can stop or start shooting. I can just, you know, keep going. We had this one brief break of about.

Two and a half, three hours where the one, the sun went behind a ridge line and then it came back out from behind the ridge line again. Yes, and that was, that was our quote unquote sunset, but the sun was still in the sky. It was just blocks from our view. Right. 

Yeah. So it was more like you were in a shadow really, more than Exactly that.

It was, yeah. It was 

considered cloudy for those three hours and then that was it. Yes. 

Yes. Oh, that's so cool. How long was the trip that you did. Uh, 

five nights. Uh, we base camped, uh, in an area, um, along a series of lakes and, and some valleys that come together that were clearly part of the winter migratory route of caribou.

'cause there were, yeah, shed caribou antlers everywhere. 

Oh wow. That's amazing. Love it. Okay, we are gonna take a short break and when we come back we're gonna get in depth about some of Alaska's most popular photography subjects. 



 📍 Hi everyone. I hope you're enjoying the episode so far. Just a reminder that you can get 10% off in my online shop with the code podcast and the shop is@shop.ordinary-adventures.com. It's also in the show notes. All right, let's get back to the show.

 

Carl, I would love to get your thoughts on for, you know, since you are a guide and you have a photo tour company called Alaska Photo Treks,  I'd love to know your thoughts about what type of traveler.

Should consider a photography tour and kind of under what circumstances? Like how do, how would people, would be a good way for people to make that decision if that's a good fit for them? 

Well, first things first, I, I wanna make a clarification on the definition of what is a photography tour. Because a lot of companies brand themselves as providing photo tours.

But what they're doing really is they're taking their guests to locations that are beautiful scenery or have great wildlife or whatever, and they're dropping 'em off and they're saying, okay, go take pictures. 

That's not a photography tour. 

Mm. 

Photography tour is gonna have a. Expert guides who are photographers who have lived in that location for a long time, who shoot those areas, you know, the best times of day, best locations, et cetera. They're gonna be small group itineraries so everybody can get specialized attention. They're gonna be adaptive to conditions and adjusting at what's going on at different times of day, at different seasons, and aren't very many companies that actually do that. So let's, let's frame what we're talking about when we're talking about a photo tour.

Yeah. So that's type 

of traveler. Oh. So go ahead. 

Oh, I just think that's helpful, right? As like, you know, going to great places is cool, but like knowing if you're, if you're really looking for a photography tour, like what you're talking about, how important that is. Yeah. 

And, and then it leads to what type of traveler should do a photo tour?

Every traveler should do a photo tour because. Everybody, despite how you might frame the word photographer, everybody is a photographer. If you own a smartphone and you've ever used your camera to take photos, you're a photographer. There's a lot of misconceptions about who it is to be a photographer.

Yeah, that may make more sense in the film days when there was definitely a dividing line between people who may have had a Canon, a E one, or a, you know, A, a Nikon F five. Who were the photographers versus people just using a point and shoot like an old Kodak Instamatic X 15. 

Yep. 

Then digital came along.

It really expanded the field, and then smartphones added cameras, and those cameras kept getting better and better. So everybody's a photographer. Everybody loves to take photos for whatever reason they do. So why not when you're traveling, take a photo tour so you can learn some new tips. And I suggest doing that tour at the beginning of your trip.

Learn some new tips that you can apply every single day during your vacation. We, learn by repetition, so the more you do it and apply those tips, the better you're gonna get. And then you're gonna go home with much better vacation photos, not only from your Alaska trip, but when you get back home, when you're going on your hikes or your bike rides or whatever you do at home, and then your next trip after that.

Yeah. So, and then the way we do it is not just photography tips. We use it as an opportunity to teach people to slow down and observe and make more connections to nature. Using the camera as a tool. 

Yep. 

And people end up noticing things and seeing things that really kind of amaze them and you get these aha moments where like, wow, I didn't know my smartphone could do that.

Or, wow, I didn't know how cool be to photograph. You know, this subject that I normally would just hike on by as I'm going from point A to point B. 

Yep. Yeah, I love that and I'm so glad you talked about smartphones. 'cause I think, I think sometimes people have the idea that like, oh, I couldn't do a photo tour if I don't have, you know, a manual camera or.

Well, you can have a manual camera with a smartphone if you get the app, but you know. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I think it's cool that you embrace all kinds of photographers, including people with smartphones and that having quote just. A smartphone,   

And we'll frequently have, you know, couples during our tours where one spouse has a, you know, a digital camera and the other one has a smartphone.

Yeah. And 

one of the smartphones just along to support the other spouse, but they don't really expect to get anything out of it. 

Uhhuh. And 

then they're really surprised and we take them aside and go, no, we're gonna show you some things too. 

Yeah. 

And then they get really engaged and they're really taking a lot of photos and they're having fun.

While their spouse, who was supposed to be the, the primary beneficiary of the tour is also having fun. 

I really wanted to ask you about some of Alaska's, like challenging photography subjects or ones that people maybe have a lot of questions about.

And we talked about wildlife and northern lights. So let's start with wildlife.  What, so you've already gave given some great advice about having a lot of time,  and I, man, I totally agree with that. So. While we're sticking with photography and of course this, or with wildlife, I know this covers just so many topics.

What are some of your best,  wildlife photography tips? 

Well, this is where giving yourself time really matters the most. 

Yeah. 

When it comes to wildlife photography, nothing matters more than patience. When it comes to executing a good photo, obviously there's a research you need to do. You need to know your animal.

You need to know their habitat and their habits. You need to know their seasons, what they're doing at different times of the year, where they're gonna be at different times of year. This is definitely where advanced research is key, or else you're just gonna have a completely failed experience coming to Alaska for photography.

Yep. 

 You've gotta know, for example. That if you wanna do a, a know brown bear, fly out, for example, from Anchorage out to Lake Clark or something, you need to know when the flying companies end their seasons. 

Yep. 

If you're thinking you're gonna come here in October to go do Brown Bear viewing, you're, you're not gonna have any success.

Yep. 

 You need to know when the moose are in Rutt and in different locations, you know, they rutt at a different time in Denali compared to Anchorage. Yep. You'd need to know where those locations are. Moose typically, Rutt. In the same areas year after year. You can't just wander around looking for moose during the rut expecting to find them unless you know where they're running.

 Then you also have to have, you know, the right gear in order to take a photo of the animal in a way that isn't gonna cause it stress. So if you don't have a lens that's big enough. To photograph them from a distance where they're comfortable, then you shouldn't be pursuing that subject particularly times a year when they really are stressed.

Like when you're photographing moose during the rut, they've got enough problems as it is right now with their hormones being jacked and the the calories they're expending and the mating process. 

Yep. They don't 

need to be stressed out by a human who's getting too close to them. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, and then lastly

I think you also, you have to know the light,  because some locations are gonna be better at different times of day. Not necessarily based on the animal's behavior, but where the light is coming from. For example, if I'm photographing the Moose Rut in, you know, Chugach State Park and the Chugach front range behind Anchorage.

That is best in the evening compared to the morning because by the time,  the light gets over the mountains in the morning, we're getting more to midday light. If you want that low angle light, then you have to go in the evening. 

Yep. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What do you, what do you feel like is the most challenging animal in Alaska to photograph 

collared pica?

That was really specific. 

Yes.  And came 

to you very quickly. Why is it so challenging? 

Okay. It's actually a tie between a collared, pika and ermine and Oh man. For much the same reason. They do not stand still for more than a split second. 

Yeah. They're, 

they're constantly moving around and Iman are bouncing around from one place to the next colored pica.

Their habitat is, you know, you're looking, if you see  a landslide with a bunch of rocks that's been there for a long time, that's colored pca, pica habitat, and they're hopping in and around those rocks underneath them, threw them on top of them. You'll hear them chirp in one direction. You look, and then they disappear and then they pop up in another place.

Yeah. So 

you really have to, once you find their habitat and where they're hanging out, you've gotta spend a lot of time just sitting there and waiting and, and basically letting them get used to you so they'll get closer to you and that's gonna be your best chance to photograph 'em. Yeah. And the same thing with Iman.

You have to know where they're hanging out. They like,  you know, wood piles and, and wood slash piles and things like that. So you have to.  You know, look for things that are the type of habitat that they're gonna hang out in and or know what they're hunting and when they're hunting them. And then just a lot of, you know, as they say, spray and pray.

Yes.  It comes to getting the shot. 'cause they're exceedingly challenging to photograph. They're small, they're fast, and they're constantly moving. Both of them. 

Yes. So you're gonna come away with like 2000 photos of rocks and one of a pika, or 

Yeah. Or you know, I mean,  or to use another analogy,  shoot in short control bursts.

Hmm.  So. Once you get it framed, yeah. Start shooting. But you're not gonna get a lot of opportunities to, to click that shutter much because they're not gonna be standing still for very long. And they're certainly not gonna be running in a, a straight line, you know, like a bird coming in, a tundra swan coming in for a landing.

You can track those and follow 'em as they're coming in 'cause they're going in a nice straight line. Pica and Erman do not move in a straight line anytime, anywhere. 

Yeah. That's a really good point. Yeah. Love it. Okay, Carl, how about the Northern Lights, those elusive amazing moments? What advice do you have?

And again, we're talking specifically about photography here. Mm-hmm. But those of you listening, you may be already be very tired of hearing me say this, but I'll say it again. There's like no substitute for just being out If you wanna just see them. There's no substitute for just like going out and looking like.

Looking when it's dark, right? There's lots of data, there's all this stuff. But like ultimately, kind of going back to a theme here that you've raised, Carl is having time and just being there. So I just wanted to mention that before we get into the photography.  But what, what are your photography tips for Northern Lights?

First of all, you really do have to know the science, much like wildlife photography. You have to become a, um, an amateur biologist to be a good wildlife photographer. 

Yep. 

You've gotta know the science of Northern Lights. You gotta know what affects viewing the Northern Lights. 

Yep. 

So, for example, if, if you really ought to have a, a great Northern Lights trip, don't spend your week on a location around the week where the moon is 80% illumination or brighter.

Yeah. 

Because it's much worse to photograph during a full moon, uh, than it is to photograph from downtown Anchorage. Yeah. When it comes to photographing the Northern lines. 

Yep. 

So choose your timing wisely and know the science 'cause. Yes. Uh, in a lot of locations, going out at any clear night might work.

If I'm in the Brooks Range, I know if I go out on any clear night, yeah. I'm gonna see the Aurora Borealis. 

Yep. But 

if I'm down in Anchorage, that's not necessarily the case. 

Yep. 

So knowing the science is gonna help you figure out when to go out and knowing what apps are the best to use. Planning your trip for not only the time of month, but the best time of year.

The Aurora is supposed to active around the fall and spring equinox. Yeah. So if you're gonna be planning your trip. Go during that time of year, during a time of the month when the moon is not super bright, and then going to a location where during that same time it has a higher percentage of clear skies than cloudy skies.

Yep. 

So that's all the starting part, before you even get to thinking about photographing the Northern lines, 

that's still, that's really important though, because you first. Got it. Improve your chances of having them before you can worry about photography. 

Yeah. And there are, it's, it's one of the things that both social media and, and the, you know, uh, journalistic media do a horrible job Yes.

Of is setting realistic expectations about when you can see the Northern lights when and where. And you know, when I, when I'm doing presentations about the Northern Lights, um, in the summertime, I sometime do, uh, visits on Princess Cruises as a guest lecturer, and I'll give a presentation about the Northern Lights and somebody will raise their hand during the q and a at the end and they'll say, yeah, after our cruise, we're doing a land package up to Fairbanks.

What are our chance of seeing the Northern Lights? You know, it's mid-July. 

Yeah. 

It's zero. That's just not gonna happen. No. 

Or 

people who just don't understand it. Why we're canceling our tour. When it's cloudy and there's a blizzard. 

Yes. 

And like you can't see the Northern lights in these conditions, but people, they don't understand that there are people I've ran into people who just refuse to believe that you can't see the Northern Lights during daytime.

Yeah. Um, I don't know if they, maybe they saw Black Panther too many times. Um, but. But, or, or I think there's Guardians of the Galaxy too. Yeah. Where it shows this concept of daylight, Northern Lights. Yeah. But we just don't see them here, if not a thing. If you see the lights in the daytime, something really bad is happening with the sun.

Yes. Yes. There's some, some serious, serious concerns there. Yeah. We're we're 

entering into a post-apocalyptic movie at that point. 

Yes. Yes. And that's a whole, that's a whole other thing where photography is maybe less important than survival. Yes. Um, Carl, what are some of your favorite apps for Northern Lights?

I know different people, like different ones. I'm curious from your perspective, which ones you like or use. 

Well, you kind of, you kinda look at, there's two different aspects of the apps that are useful. Um, one is the forecasting pretty much ignore the 28 day forecasting models. 

Yeah. 

All the apps have the 28 day forecast.

Ignore it. It's just predictive modeling based on what the sun did last month. 

Yeah. 

So it doesn't necessarily mean it's happening this time. At any of the apps, the only app, the only forecast you want to pay attention to is the three-day forecast. 'cause that's based on real-time data on things that are measured that are coming from the sun.

Um, my Aurora Forecast is a, a decent app for using for that purpose. However, when it comes to when I'm out in the field. And I'm looking to see what are the current conditions now and what can I expect in the next couple of hours. The only app I use is called Amazing Aurora. It was created by, uh, somebody who at the time was living in Anchorage, who's a scientist.

He's moved outta state, but he still keeps up the app. And the main feature that I use in that. Is the immediate incoming stream from the solar winds. So there are these satellites that circle the earth and they detect these incoming solar winds streams, which include information like the wind speed, what's the suns, the interplanetary magnetic field doing, and density and other things.

Yep. 

And once those that s hit stream hits the satellites, it's about an hour before that stuff hits our atmosphere. So, and that's realtime data and that tells me exactly what's gonna be happening and when. Yep. So that's the only thing that I use in the field when I, when I have an idea of what to expect in that night when I'm out.

Yep. Love it. Cool. Okay. Any other Northern Lights advice that you wanna call out? Carl? 

Well, definitely.  Like if anything else, you've gotta prepare to be prepared to spend time. 

Yep. 

 If you're, if you're in the Anchorage area, you know, you wanna plan to be out between about 10 and four to 5:00 AM Yep.

And and awake during that time? Hopefully. Yes. That's the hardest part. Or else you might miss something. Yes. Um, or at the very least, if you're really tired, set up your tripod for a time lapse and let it go while you're taking a nap. Done that before. Yes, 

I have too. 

And then the further north you go, you know, the earlier you can start that window, but you gotta be out.

And if you're coming to Alaska to photograph the North Alliance, spend at least a week here and maybe split your time in different locations. Yep. You know, between Anchorage and Fairbanks, or you know, if you're lucky enough, you know, get a, a winterized, you know, camper van or something and then just go around.

Yep. 

And the absolute best place to photograph the Northern Lights, my opinion in Alaska is the Brooks Range. 

Yeah. 

Stunningly beautiful. So you get great landscapes to photograph with the Northern Lights. Plus on any clear night, you're, you're gonna see the Northern Lights every night. 

Yes. Yes. Yeah, I agree with you.

It's amazing up there. Love it. Okay.  Before we move off this topic, Carl, I feel like you might wanna throw rocks at me, but luckily we're doing this over Zoom.  But you know, so many people who are not professional photographers are wanting to get, you know, including me, are wanting to get shots of the Aurora and maybe all they have is their smartphone.

Do you have any pro tips for using a smartphone to get Aurora photos? 

Absolutely.  You know, the great thing about smartphones is they really enhance the viewer experience for people who are not photographers, I. Is there so many of the colors that you, Aurora Borealis that are just simply not visible to naked eye apps in a really active geomagnetic storm.

And even then you might only see a little bit of red or maybe a little bit of purple. So by just holding up a smartphone and not even taking a picture, just using the live view capability on a smartphone. You get to actually see things that you're not gonna see with your naked eye. So that, that alone is a great, great use of a smartphone just for enhancing the Aurora viewing experience.

Yeah. Otherwise, I suggest you wanna get the best photos you possibly can. Uh, get a tripod with a tripod with a cell phone attachment so you don't have to hold with your hand, your photo for however many seconds of an exposure you're gonna do. And then I would get a manual exposure app. For your smartphone.

Mm-hmm. So rather than just using the automatic night mode in an iPhone and both Google and Android have something similar,  those still have limitations on how long you can set the exposure. So I would get a manual exposure app for your phone and just Google it for your whatever model, your phone, you're gonna find the answer to which one is best.

Yep. 

Most of them typically are free. Use that for capturing your photos rather than the default features on your phone. 

Mm, mm-hmm. That's good advice. I like it. Love it.  Alright, so I. Carl, I am curious now as we sort of move towards wrapping up, I have a couple sort of Carl's favorite questions.

Well, a few of those. So one of them would be what, you talked about the Brooks Range already. Are there any other. And for those of you listening, the Brooks Range is the mountains that are north of Fairbanks, but not as far as the Arctic Ocean. So,  it's like the, the mountains in,  gates of the Arctic National Park and the,  the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and places like that.

So are there any other. Places, Carl, that like jumped to mind for you as some of your favorite,  photography locations in Alaska? 

Well, top of the list, the first thing I saw when I moved here,  the person who picked me up from the airport drove me down the turning an arm. Oh, 

beautiful. 

The turning an arm is, it's such a blessing to live in Anchorage and have a place like that that I can just drive to.

I don't have to charter a flight flight or get on a boat or do anything like that. I can just drive down the turning an arm and turning an arm is an ocean body of water. It's an kind of like an inlet. It has all the features of Fjord accepted water. It's too shallow, but it's narrow and it's long and it's got mountains on both sides.

It's absolutely stunning. I could, I could spend an entire year doing nothing but photographing the, turning an arm and never run out of photo subjects. 

Yes. So 

I have to give props to turning an arm and then next I would say what is generally referred to as the Bristol Bay region. 

Yep. 

Which includes. Cat, my National Park, lake Lake Clark National Park,  Antioch, Jack.

It's got,  the wood river, mountains and it has,  stunning rivers and lakes, you know, the highest concentrations of brown bearers in the world.  Amazing landscapes, but also,  it's a cool place to visit if you want to experience a real wide diversity of Alaskan culture and, and lifestyle. 

Yep. 

From commercial fishing to subsistence and,  you know, native culture and there's a lot of stuff going on there.

Yeah. And it's, it's relatively accessible. You've got commercial airline flights from Anchorage on Alaska Airlines, you know, going into King salmon in the summertime and Dillingham, and you can get small plane flights to just pretty much any village in the whole area. 

Yeah, 

I love it. And then aside from that, my third point I would bring up is pretty much anywhere coastal Alaska.

Yeah. I mean 

I, I've seen Coastal Alaska from. Unli, you know, down to Ketchikan. Yeah.  it's all just absolutely stunning and the coastal communities are so cool to visit and kind of get a sense of what it's like to live and that part of isolated Alaska. 

Yeah, absolutely. Love that. Okay. How about your, I know this is impossible.

How about your favorite month for taking photos? 

Yeah, that is pretty much impossible. 

It's a fun thought experiment though. 

Mean I did a whole, I published a whole photo essay in Alaska Magazine a couple of winters ago about why I love winter in Alaska as a photographer. Yeah.  But if I were to pick any one month that has just everything going on, you can think of, that's great to photograph it would be September.

Hmm. How come. 

Well, 

love 

September. Yeah. You still have a lot of great things going on for wildlife viewing. Yep. You've got silk, brown bears are out fishing. You've got the moose rut, you've got changing fall colors and the fall colors are ranging anywhere from peaking by Labor Day Ali down to third to fourth week of September in South Central area around Anchorage.

Mm-hmm. If you wanted to, you could go up and experience full on winter in September up in the Brooks Range. So you could get a full range of summer to autumn to winter in one month, just depending on where you're at in the state. 

Yeah. 

And of course Northern Lights.  Yes. September is, September is one of the peak months for Northern Lights viewing.

It has,  along with March one of the highest activity months. So, you know, you get that bonus too. 

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So to, to wrap up, I'd love to ask you the two questions that I ask everybody who comes onto the pod.  One of them is about restaurants and food. So you're an anchorage.  What are, what is either your favorite restaurant or if that's too hard, I can make it more specific.

Well, favorite restaurant, and this is, this is a place where my wife Michelle and I go when we're really gonna treat ourselves as Kin K Grill. 

Yes. 

Hands down. 

Yeah. 

But, one of the things that really shocked me and that I didn't realize again when I was moving up to Anchorage, you can research all you want, but you really won't get a sense of what it's like to live there until you've been there a while.

Yep. And 

living in anxious made me a real food snob 

because 

we have such good food here, not just the. Kind of the regional cuisine, like Kinka Grill. But you know, we live at the air crossroads of the world. We have people migrating here from all over. Yep. You know, a highly cultural city. And as a result we have a lot of extremely authentic, ethnic cuisine.

Yep. From Korea to Japan, to the Himalayas, to Cuba. It's all fantastic. But 

yes, if I, 

if I were to pick, like, we're gonna shut down every restaurant except for one. It'd be Kin Cake Grill. 

I love it. That's a great one. Okay, so finally, Carl, what is a piece of advice that you would have for someone coming to visit Alaska for the first time?

Don't make it your only time. 

Uh, love that. 

Because Alaska has this reputation of being at Bucket List, and for most people, when they check an item off of their bucket list, it's done. 

Yeah. 

Think of Alaska, more like Hawaii. People who visit Hawaii, they don't just go to one island, they go to Oahu one time.

Kauai the next, Maui the next, yeah. And they don't try to do, you know, Malkai, Kauai, Maui, Oahu in the big island in one trip. 

Yeah. 

So that's the way you need to look at Alaska is having these different islands, whether it's the Arctic, the interior, south, central, Bristol Bay, Southeast, each each is a different island.

And each to spend your time just in that one area so you can really get an appreciation for it. And they look forward to planning your next trip to another island within Alaska. 

I love that. I love that.  Well, Carl, thank you so much for joining me today and,  thanks for coming on the podcast. 

 📍 Well, thank you.

And, and in the language of the people of the region where I live, Chinon, which is Thank you and Athabasca. 

Love it.