Category: Personal

I had been meaning to try this all summer. I figured this may be the last full moon before the snow falls at this elevation. And the sky was clear.

I had seen this done mainly by just one photographer in the lower-48, but I wasn’t sure if he had altered the color balance in Photoshop. But then I read in a book that moonlight is basically reflected sunlight, so it should be the same color temperature as daylight if exposed at the same brightness.

I started shooting about 4 hours before sunrise. All I could see was black and white, the eyes’ rods and cones only operating. The wind was constantly blowing, gusting to about 30 mph. I clicked a shot and was totally surprised as I looked in the camera’s monitor.

Sure enough, the sky was blue — Yes! But then to my amazement, I had no idea that all around me were vibrant, fall colors! I knew the climate 3,000 feet above Anchorage is quite different, but I hadn’t anticipated this. Wow!!!

Though it looks like daylight, this was absolutely shot on a moonlit night, a little less than 3 days after the full moon. The white dots are all stars, and perhaps a planet as well. Some of the photos show what I think are satellite trails, which I may post later. Apparently there are less stars visible on the right because the moon is more brightly illuminating the right side, as it’s not far to the right of this view.

September 7th 4 AM

Powerline Pass near Flattop Mountain

Official sunrise/sunset times for Anchorage, Alaska, Sep. 7th:

7:07 AM & 8:46 PM

Daylight white balance, so this is how it would also look shot with daylight film

Canon 5D Mark II with medium wide-angle lens
very windy

© Jeff Fenske

Hand-held self-portrait —
dimensions stretched by super-wide-angle lens

My uncle, Mom, Ted and other diners watching a paraglider pilot and paying passenger run like crazy to launch over a smokey Girdwood valley, 7/12/09.

Tech Note:
Most of the photos so far at this site were shot in RAW with the compact Canon G10 (including Our Resident Eaglet, by the way). This is an amazing camera, but has one major weakness: the otherwise handy control dials move way too easily. I have to always remember to check to make sure that they haven’t moved each time I take it out of the case. This time I didn’t.

The resulting tiny JPEG still works mostly well enough for a shot this size, but if I had shot instead in the 15 MP RAW format, the blown highlights would have had more detail, and I could have zoomed in on the running paragliders and included that crop as well.

Living and learning.

“My mom is a LIGHT bulb!”

© Jeff Fenske

Girdwood, Alaska – 7/05/09

I was watching the Tour de France’s team time-trial at midnight, when I heard something run by outside. One of these moose calves was galloping all over our yard.

We get many moose visitors, but this is the first time I’ve seen (and heard) one this active.

They didn’t stick around long (but did come back later). Here is their exit.

Momma and twins pass neighbors’ playhouse and swing

© Jeff Fenske

© Jeff Fenske