The Streets of Alaska
My annual photo safari road trip needed an upgrade, so I renewed my passport and booked an eleven day cruise of street photography along the Alaskan coast.
The Crown Princess, 19 decks of floating buffets, lounge singers, duty free alcohol, restaurants and bars, left the port of San Francisco for the Inside Passage on May 4th. A variety of excursions at the various ports along the way were offered; my budget allowed for two such trips.
So street photography it is, a Klondike version of the San Francisco photo crawl I do every month.
The first port was Ketchikan. The fog was low and the rain was constant which made outstanding conditions for street photography. The overcast sky made all the colors burst against the forest green hills. I suppose you can call it ‘color as a subject.’ My favorite picture is that of a couple with their camera phones, photographing the cherry blossoms in the town square. However, I also got a nice picture of a red sweater, walking past a yellow pedestrian sign, yellow fire hydrant against a green canopy reaching over a wet sidewalk. This is a great neighborhood for street photography. You got ya kitchy little tourist stores lining the streets that lead back to the docks and the industrial part of town. Then back to the wharf and town square with city hall and community park with a public clock. This was a fun town to shoot.
Juneau was another story. I was scheduled for the first paid excursion, a history walk to the Tredwell Mine, which they called ‘Alaska’s Lost Mine.’ A Ghost Town mine is right in the middle of my sweet spot for photo safaris, and it was canceled. So okay, another afternoon of street photography. Juneau is a nice enough town, at least the area around the dock looks a lot like Santa Cruz or San Diego. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything to shoot that was different, except, the rain. Juneau rain is nothing like California or even Oregon rain. Juneau rain digs through the layers of clothing and seeps into the ligaments to make all movement painful. The wind presses the cold right through me. I tried to make the mist and rain my subject for the day. I like the picture of rain dripping off the street light with the deep black mountain behind.
Due to low tides and high winds, the captain decided that we couldn’t dock at Skagway, so all shore excursions were obviously canceled. No vintage train ride, no salmon bake and no cowboy (49er) Saloon. The Crown Princess had to continue on to Haines, which is another port town. Honestly, the rain and wind from Juneau was still grinding though my joints. As I sipped my coffee in the lounge, looking out over the misty town, I was fully ready to just spend the day on the ship. The cruise director announced the sail time, and all the restaurants we could visit on shore. I refilled my mug and opened my kindle. This will be a fine day to relax.
“... You can also visit the famous Haines Hammer Museum.”
What was that?
“You heard that right, it’s a museum dedicated to stick with heavy smashie thing on the end.”
I grabbed my camera pack and made for the dock. Anyone who dares suggest that I passed up the Haines Hammer Museum to stay dry on the ship will be called out for the filthy liar they are. Next to old and busted ruined towns and structures, odd-ball tourist traps like this are my holy grail.
Once again, the rain and wind was brutal. The dock workers had to reposition the gang-plank, so it took a good 25 minutes to get off the ship. I was soaked to the bone by the time I made it to shore, then it was about a 30 minute walk to the museum. When you see a picture of a hammer in the photo gallery, imagine it’s actually a vintage train, chu-chuing into the mountain mist of Skagway.
The following morning, the ship entered Glacier Bay, which checked the second line on my bucket list to see a real life glacier. After breakfast, I walked back and forth across the ship to see the sites. Eventually, I just went to my cabin, opened my balcony and enjoyed this amazing place while sipping brandy. All these pictures were taken with my Sony pocket camera. Despite the amazing sites of the national park, I really like the silhouette image of the passengers against the cloudy sky.
On our 9th day at sea, we docked at Victoria, Canada, and I saw something I hadn’t appreciated for the whole trip, a blue sky. There isn’t much to say about these pictures. Again, Victoria is a nice town, but it was a lot like San Diego. The small Fisherman’s Wharf at James Bay was fun to walk though, then another 30 minutes to the British Columbia Parliament Building.
From Victoria, it was a couple days back to the Bay Area. I’ll need to consider the merits of another Alaskan Cruise in the future. Perhaps one later in the summer when I can actually see the cool places that were canceled this time.