/// Wild Tracks - Landscape Photography by Eduardo Gallo

WILD TRACKS

Passion for Landscape Photography

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Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, AK, USA

August 2014

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, AK, USA

Canon 5D MkII & EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 1/8s f/8 ISO400 @24mm

Google Earth for this photo
PERSISTENCE

It had been a good day so far. Woke up in the middle of nowhere, just the way I like it. Took a few pictures at sunrise, ate my breakfast, packed my tent, and took off to meet the boat I had chartered the day before to take me back to civilization. There was no wind so the waters were calm, which meant breakfast remained in my stomach instead of feeding the local marine wildlife. I even enjoyed the ride, for a change. Took a shower at a laundromat that doubled up as a restroom for fishermen, truckers, hunters, hikers, and so on. Once clean, I went for a stroll around the marina if only to kill some time before lunch. It did not take long to find an inviting Fish 'N' Chips place with tables outside and views into the Gulf of Alaska. A few pieces of fresh halibut deep fried in something not too healthy, served with generous amounts of something else even less healthy to dip the fish in, and accompanied with a bottle (maybe two) of frigid Mexican beer. As I said above, a good day.

By now I had already been in Alaska for three weeks, had not shaved in about twice as long, and looked more or less as you would expect somebody that has been backpacking for that long. It was one of these places in which you order and pay at the bar, then you take a seat to enjoy your drink, and a few minutes later a guy comes with your food. Tab added up to slightly above nineteen dollars, with tax growing it to twenty-one plus change. I take out a twenty and start looking for coins at the bottom of my backpack, when to my surprise, the owner says that he is sick of the feds and that they can stick their taxes up there. That one thing was collecting taxes from tourists and another taking the hard earned money from fellow Alaskans. So twenty bucks it was. Amen.

After lunch I got in the car and started driving with no destination in mind. Taking it slowly and enjoying the drive. Later in the afternoon a few clouds showed up as the light slowly improved. Somehow I could say that the day had potential, from a photographic point of view, that is. I quickly switched modes from "drive slowly listening to music with nothing else to do" to "I need to find a good location for sunset, just in case this gets really good". Easier said than done in this area, full of forests, dirt roads, and a few lakes here and there, but no landmarks that got my attention. A paradise for fishermen and hunters, but a challenge for photographers. Drove for ever from backroad to backroad, from dead end to dead end, while slowly but steadily the clouds multiplied and grew darker. With not that much time to spare I finally found a place with open views. Too late, as it had already started raining and the light was gone. Resigned and with nowhere else to go, I decided to sleep there and starting pitching up my tent. While I was doing so, the storm moved over, it stopped raining, and the Sun showed itself for a few minutes. Good luck to complete a good day.

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