Flowers of Skagway

Never having traveled so far from my Chicago roots, it was interesting to me to see the effects of twenty hours per day of sunlight on gardens and flowers. I had visited Halifax, Nova Scotia, on two previous cruises and had remarked that the flowers there in August look as lush as the flowers in Chicago in June. But Alaska has much more sun power than Halifax, it seemed to me.


Touring a garden in Skagway, I was struck with the intensity and clarity of the colors of all the flowers. The greenery, as well, was powerful and beautiful. This particular flower was one of hundreds on display, with a touch of rain on the petals, on an otherwise gloomy morning. Featured among these gardens were kale and other vegetables that were impressive giants in the well-tended landscape.


We get nowhere near as much sun time in Chicago, of course, and I doubt I would like to take the extra sun that Alaska gets in summer. After all, if there is twenty hours of sun on a day in summer, there would likely be four hours of sun on a day in winter. Hard to imagine. Believe it or not, though, I would love to not only take another cruise tour to Alaska, I would love to fly up for a long weekend sometime. In the middle of winter. It would be an adventure!

A poem:

FORGET-ME-NOT

Visitors learn much in beautiful Alaska, noting at times that the
Forget-me-not is the state flower, but no explanation included.
Shouldn't the state flower of this state be some giant showy beauty
Technicolor and about the size of a dining platter
Rather than the classy subtle attraction of the forget-me-not.

Forget-me-not? Who could forget this wonder? Ever?

TRAVELING Magazine

As far as I know, there is no current magazine called TRAVELING. And so I have named my personal Photography Magazine TRAVELING, with issues dated July and August of 2008 as our trip fell into both months. Each issue, by design, has no other pages, just a cover. And I had such a fine time doing the two issues that I retrofitted one from Manhattan and dated it to July 2007.

Working in Photoshop, learning how to handle layers and cutouts and how to resize and rework: it is all so interesting and it continues to open my mind to further experiments. Here I started with the base layer photo of Mt. McKinley and superimposed Wado, Richie Beattie's lead dog. The UPC code was borrowed from a Google image site, but since it will never be scanned it should suffice.

A poem about the piercing eyes of Wado and perhaps about politicians and athletes:

EYES OF THE LEAD DOG

Adventure in Alaska is built on the base of the intrepid dog teams:
Pure power to pull food and supplies or competing racers through the Yukon,
Sleeping in makeshift places well below the zero mark,
Finding trails hidden under drifting snow, avoiding obstacles,
And always lead by one dog, the lead dog, with the piercing eyes.

The lead dog will show you the eye of leadership, not just in the color,
But in the apparent ability to see past the drifts, through the darkness of
Twenty-two hour night, around or over the obstacles, always sighting on
Goals of the team, finish lines, towns or villages, where we need to be.
Eyes of the lead dog may not actually see all that the team needs to know
But the team needs to have confidence that the eyes of the lead dog see victory.

Whether he does or not.

Going to the Dogs

Our first cruise stop was at a quaint town called Skagway and the featured event on our schedule was a ride with the sled dogs. It turns out that the mushing teams need exercise in the summer and some mushers move to a camp near such a town. They then offer enjoyable educational opportunities for the tourists.

The full team is attached not to a sled but to a buggy. With seating for six it is a comfortable ride and the musher stands on back using the reins to direct the dogs. Our musher Richie Beattie has competed in the famed Iditarod winning Rookie of the Year honors. And among the educational things involved in the event was to hear him say that his team would no longer participate in the Iditarod. When asked why, he responded that it is not as much a challenge as the Yukon Quest. The Quest runs a month earlier, so it is considerably colder and darker; it also runs further east through wilder country.

It was interesting to hear him talk to the dogs, always in a calm and supportive voice. They are a true team, man and dogs, working together for survival when competing and training for it when they are not competing. Upon our arrival the dogs were ready to run, straining at their reins, but after their workout they were wonderful, powerful animals who appreciate petting and attention.

Beattie's lead dog, Wado, is shown above. He runs next to his predecessor as lead, his own dad. And we had an exciting ride, and educational afternoon, and a chance to pet and hold several outstanding dogs. Wado's picture seen above is one of my favorite images from the entire trip, as you will see in the next post.

Time Out for the Bard

After spending a wonderful afternoon on Navy Pier in Chicago, I thought we would take a timeout from our Alaska postings for a word about the Bard.

It was my good fortune to locate a young Chicago company called Shakespeare Repertory Theatre in 1991 and enjoyed watching the group grow and expand over the years. Eventually plans were announced for a theatre company on the Pier, a wonderful building was constructed, and the renamed Chicago Shakespeare Theatre came into being. Regular opportunities for all audiences including interested students to see world-class drama and comedy.

Of course, we all know that Macbeth is not only one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies, it is the shortest and thus the one that careens down the track at breakneck speed. The 2009 mounting, directed by Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, features Ben Carlson and Karen Aldridge as the doomed Macbeth couple. They are as powerful and as well-presented as any couple I have ever seen in these roles. Set in modern times and featuring air power in the wars, video reports from the media, and airport waiting while flights are cancelled. But beneath the updating of details, the tragedy looks into a man who becomes lost in his ambition and his wife, how loses her mind when she loses his loving attention. For Chicagoans, this is a must-see.

The Scottish play has been featured here several times, including a 1992 mounting starring Kevin Gudahl and Susan Hart. That version was highlighted by music by Lloyd Broadnax King, pounding his chest, screeching and using various tools and items as instruments. More recently, a Short Shakespeare production covered the complete tragedy in 75 minutes and a Kabuki-style presentation featuring the character of Lady Macbeth. A highly-creative version was Marionette Macbeth, in which all actors were 3-4' tall marionettes controlled by a series of master puppeteers, featuring the Colla Family from Italy. As they manipulated the actors, the lines were provided by seven actors sitting in a chorus format.

The Wednesday matinee had an informative post-production session with several audience members asking some probing questions. Three of the actors including Karen Aldridge (Lady Macbeth) joined the discussion with Marilyn Halperin, Director of the Education Department. Season after season, production after production, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre provides topnotch professional theatre for the people of Chicago. Thanks for the wonderful afternoon and we will return to Alaska tomorrow.

Calving of Marjorie

After our captain had announced preparations to leave the bay, we lingered on deck a while as the ship began to move. Nearly spinning on its center, the other side of the ship was a better place to watch from, so we headed to our own balconies. On the way, we stepped out onto a public balcony that ran across the aft width of the ship. No sooner did we get there than we heard the exciting sound.

It sounded as if Marjorie were clearing her throat to catch the attention of her audience. And then a fairly significant chunk of the glacier tore lose and fell into the bay. Calving is as exciting to watch as pretty much any sort of creation. One thing had existed, that thing changed, and the result was an independent being of its own. Small, fated to a meltdown in the coming days or weeks, but the center of attention for its time in the sun. We saw three such calvings in a short period of time, and then Coral Princess was moving away. We dressed for dinner and looked forward to our stop in Skagway.

Two Poems:

BIRTH OF A BERG

Marjorie Glacier, marquee star of the Glacier Bay ice show,

Bright reflecty white but highly tinted with blue

Rubbed over with as cinders in places

Dripping at times, quiet at others;

Like all stars she commands the stage

Demanding total concentration for the act

And now she clears her throat like a grade-school teacher,

Her thunderous "ahem" turning every eye to the stage

And Marjorie calves once again, filing the sea with icebergs.

STILL AS A GLACIER

Glaciers might fit in many analogies

Cold as a glacier for example might work

Still as a glacier, however, makes no sense

To anyone who watched on runoff or calve

Marjorie Glacier

Deep in Glacier Bay we stopped, still, for over two hours near Marjorie Glacier. Clearly the image of the frozen river works here. In one image we see the vista, the width of the glacier, and in the other a closeup peek at the colors and intricacies we stared at for such a wonderful period of time. As the ship rested, people interested and speaking to one another but quiet, almost respectful, we waited for the glacier to calve.

If a glacier is a frozen river, when a portion of it breaks off or separates, that is called calving. When a glacier calves, the resulting ice dropped into the water below is an iceberg. While the very word iceberg is intimidating in some ways, most icebergs are quite small and would not be harmless to any sizable vessel.

A poem:

MOUNTAIN OF MEMORIES

First visit to Alaska is sensory overload
Glacier Bay is so surrounding with images and sound
A mountain of memories comes home with you --
And a mountain make of rock, not ice,
Since rock will never melt.

After nearly two hours waiting, without success, for a calving, the captain announced that the ship would begin by turning to leave. We would have nearly another hour to hope for the sight of a calving. The result will be in the next post.

Cruising Glacier Bay

Imagine a National Park that has no apparent paved roads; the visitors use the water to see the majesty of the frozen rivers. Most of a day involved cruising by several glacier areas, one more picturesque than the other.

A note on photo composition. Yes, indeed, I have heard of the Rule of Thirds. I can't say I agree with it being a "rule," though; in my Photography Workshop I teach it and the Concept of Thirds. I developed a grid overlay that can show the focal points perfectly, but no rule is better than the eye of the photographer. The reflection of the glacier gently invited me to collect it, to admire it, and to respect it. That is what I tried to do with this image. The power diagonals certainly invite the eye of the viewer to explore.

A note on Photoshop. Yes, I do post process; sometimes heavily and sometimes quite lightly. I know that historically, photographers carried gradient filters for images such as this. In the camera, this image was too light above and too dark below. While the same filter would still work, I have such a filter built right into Photoshop. Using CS2, a full two generations behind the cutting edge, I can do so many things to enhance, to correct, to experiment. I can work hard and I can have fun. And all these efforts are work of the photographer trying to refine the image to become the image he had in his mind.

So, the moral of the dual lesson is simple. Know the rules and know when to break them. Get the image as good as you can in the camera and then do what you must to make it the image you want. If the result is a photograph that please the photographer, it is a success.

We will return to Glacier Bay on the next post and you will meet a Glacier named Marjorie.

College Fjord

Most cruises depart earlier than Coral Princess, and most first mornings are at sea. Meaning if you look at the horizon from an upper deck, you can see a complete unbroken circle and nothing else.

Waking suddenly the first morning and knowing we were to be in College Fjord, not docking but enjoying the scenic views, I felt immediately that we were stopped. Getting up and peeling back the drapes, I saw my first glacier. More blue than white, striped with dusty color in several areas.

I always pictured a glacier as a frozen mountain, but I immediately saw a frozen river. The colors, the sounds, the sights of this entire portion of the trip are etched in my memory as solidly as the images are saved in various places on various media. Something I will never forget.

A poem:

ALYESKA
When visiting Alaska you learn more about Aleuts than Eskimos,
Starting with the Aleut word 'Alyeska,' the name of the state.
These people called this country 'Great Country'
Which certainly is a name that lasts because it is a name that fits.

Still Cruisin'

We interrupt our photos and memories of Alaska this morning for a word about cruising. Our Alaska Adventure was built around a Princess Cruise, and our rail trip took us from the land portion to Whittier where we boarded ship on a Monday evening. We have sailed on three lines: Princess, Carnival and Holland America, all sister lines and all wonderful experiences.

As far as we are concerned, only a few types of people should cruise: those who enjoy food, shows, adventure, relaxation, other people, being alone . . . The vacation that gives you the choice every day how much or how little. Most of us go for the much and save the little for everyday life.

Most cruises board between 1:00-4:00 PM, but the long train ride to Whittier put us on deck nearer to 8:00. Coral Princess is, as expected, a beautiful ship. Dinner, some visiting, and a long day was over. A great night's sleep led us to College Fjord, subject of the next post.

The Alaska Railroad

Driving around big-city suburbs, Chicago in my case, usually involves avoiding railroad crossings as much as possible. Passenger trains are not too bad, all identical silver cars but short and quick. Freights, on the other hand, are long, often slow, and rarely picturesque. No more caboose, no one to wave to. Not what we might remember -- or imagine -- from our early Lionel days.

But every Railfan has a treat in store: The Alaska Railroad. Facing a 9-to-10 hour train ride from Denali south to Whittier to board Coral Princess, I had a wonderful day of railroad education and enjoyment. Much of the route south, we used a single rail line, something I had only seen in movies as distant to my actual life as Doctor Zhivago. How does a train pass heading in the opposite direction. Sure, I knew the term "sidetracked," but I certainly get it better now. Lacking automatic switch devices, our train would stop, a conductor would walk to the switch and make the adjustment. We were sidetracked a couple of times, and I had time to see how things work and to talk to the friendly professional railroaders, both men and women, who operate the lines.

An open-air platform within the width of the rear car gave photographers, poets and train enthusiasts a closeup look at traditional operation of railroads, and the fun of the day was matched with the feeling of learning something wonderful about the growth of the United States.

When we detrained, much of the Alaska adventure was yet to come. Next post up soon.

Wasilla Memory

On our train trips north and south during the Alaska adventure, we passed through a tiny town called Wasilla, not be known in the lower 48 for nearly two more weeks. Knowing that it was the official starting point of the Iditarod, it occurred to me that the well-known race went all the way to Nome, starting from Nowhere.

So pleased that today, on Inauration Day, tiny Wasilla is slipping back into its Nowhere history.

Next post will be about the Alaska Railroad, a great experience in itself. Enjoy the Inaugural Balls.

Backtrack to Anchorage

Image seen all over Anchorage, July 2008

Thinking back on the first few posts, I realize I was in such a hurry to depict Mt. McKinley that I skipped over our day in Anchorage. A bit rain-spattered, the city was so attractive and the people were so friendly that I really could have started here. So today we will cover the only true city in the huge state, population just over a quarter-million. And a wonderful place for an Alaskan adventure to begin.

Imagine a colorful skyline, lots of buildings whose windows act as mirrors to one another, and an in-city river lined with fishermen pulling salmon out of the water one after another. Imagine, too, a wonderful, thought-provoking museum on the history of the state, from Seward to the pipeline. And imagine two adjoining lakes, attached with canals, on which boats are not allowed. Of course boats cannot clog up the lakes -- they form an airport for the many Alaskan private planes.

A great place to visit and I have it in mind that I would actually like to visit again -- in the winter. That might be one of the unfulfilled list items, only time will tell. But last week it was more than 50 degrees warmer in Anchorage than it was in Chicago.

Polychrome Pass, Denali

Denali. Imagine a wildlife park about the size of Massachusetts. And imagine it has only 93 miles of paved road, mostly accessible only by special bus tours. The wildlife is exceptional, and on our one trip we saw bears, moose, caribou, dall sheep, and ptarmigan. But as I thought about my pictorial memories of the trip I remembered a landscape more than anything. Polychrome Pass on a sunny Sunday in July.

We had seen Mt. McKinley on Friday and this vista on Sunday. Wonderful adventures were still ahead in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. More images to follow.

Mt. McKinley in the Sun

Last night I started this blog on my laptop. Only a few hundred pix are on that, so now at the PC I can post my first photograph. Personally, my grandchildren would be my first choice and I could upload any of my past four or five screensavers, but that is personal. I will keep them for myself and work on more general photography. Having made that determination, the choice was really quite simple even though I have more than 26,000 images in my Archives.

Prior to 2008, I had never ventured more than two time zones away from Chicago. Halifax to the east and Las Vegas to the west were my outer limits. To the south, I would think St. Martin was furthest and Halifx would probably qualify for the north border as well. And then we went to Alaska for eleven days of adventure, beauty, and awe for the wonder of nature.

When we saw Mt. McKinley looking like a diamond growing out of the ground, I got several images I like. When we found out later that weather had hid the mountain from tourist eyes for over three weeks, I knew we had our adventure off to a great start. Selected images from Alaska will probably follow in the coming weeks.

After all, this summer will involve travel a lot further from Chicago: London, Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, St. Peresburg, Hamburg. No telling how many images I will have by the first of August!

Rick Beato Photo Opens

It is the coldest January week in over a dozen years in Chicago, I am enjoying the Chicago Blackhawks lead Buffalo, checking in occasionally on Law & Order, and stepping into something new. So here is the first post on Rick Beato Photo.

No commitment to daily posting and no limitation on how fresh the work is. Just a spot that will post pictures I have taken and that I like. Some straight from the camera, others after some work in Photoshop. Offered for anyone who comes by with hopes that he or she enjoys it.

Short background: At 62, a retired high school English/Journalism teacher with 38 years service in a suburban Chicago high school. Among my positions was varsity coach in a half-dozen sports as well as adviser to school newspapers, yearbooks and literary magazines. Since the 2007 retirement from that first career, I have been a successful freelance photographer, specializing in yearbook photography for several schools. The 18 months since my 40-year hobby became a second profession have been a wonderful opportunity to meet people, to read and study, and to learn.

Now I intend to begin this blog, planning a post a week. Or more. Does this one count?