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The clarity of your upclose "people shots" leaves me speechless. The photo of Mark S. is truly amazing.
Thank you!
Actually, while that particular one is very sharp, it is also a little bit too much of a compositional cliche for my tastes. :-) There are some "tricks-of-the-trade" used to make images that look like that, and all except that particular shot have more or less the characteristics that are my "signature". The top image, of Zeta Strickland, is the one that most obviously exhibits my style more than the others.
The one of Mark was really interesting though, because what I "saw" in that picture is exactly what you get... but it just didn't come out until the right "trick" finally reached out and slapped me across the face. That picture is okay in color (except these were shot under a mix of fluorescent and sunlight, which is a horrible thing to do to anyone's skin color), but it didn't pop out until it was Black and White.
Here are a few more interesting pictures, all taken on Saturday. We ended Friday night with at least a dozen trucks southwest of town in the gravel pit looking for a reported polar bear, which didn't seem to exist. But Saturday morning it did! At about 9:30AM the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife shot off a few "crackers" and chased it into the ocean. Danged bear was intent though, and from 100 yards off shore swam north, right in front of Barrow. This promised to be a problem that was obviously going to last all day long, as the bear could hardly make 1 or 2 mph against the wind and current. It tried to come ashore several times, and was chased back into the water each time.
Of course a tour bus followed it along the beach road, as did a crowd that as the day progressed rotated through everyone in town who wanted to see a polar bear. It was windy and foggy in the morning, but the temperature went up and the wind died down as the day went on, so this was pretty good entertainment!
Here it is, just after swimming right past the Ocean Watch:
And then it cruised past the Canadian ice breaker too:
Eventually, about 3PM, the bear made it out past the end of the road and was headed for the whalebone pile at Point Barrow. I followed it a ways, and ended up being stalked. This picture shows the bear intent on me for dinner. It had already covered half the distance between us, and this was the last shot I took before taking evassive action.
A bit of engine noise curbed his apetite. Then a truck came down the beach and that literally sent him running to dive back into the ocean. He gave me a few whistful looks on the way though...
I lived aboard a 41 Morgan Out Island for six years. Every couple of years we sail from Puget Sound to Juneau then back down to Cabo San Lucas via Hawaii. I really miss it.
HEALY is designed to conduct a wide range of research activities, providing more than 4,200 square feet of scientific laboratory space, numerous electronic sensor systems, oceanographic winches, and accommodations for up to 50 scientists. HEALY is designed to break 4 ½ feet of ice continuously at three knots and can operate in temperatures as low as -50 degrees F. The science community provided invaluable input on lab lay-outs and science capabilities during design and construction of the ship. At a time when scientific interest in the Arctic Ocean basin is intensifying, HEALY substantially enhances the United States Arctic research capability
I think that is actually a US Coast Guard ice breaker.
Opps, yes that is the Healy. The Canadian ice breaker Sir Wilfred Laurier was offshore here a couple days before, and I didn't even look close enough to see that it was a different ship.
Despite the press release about how the Healy "substantially enhances" US presence in the Arctic Ocean the fact is that we have less presence than Canada or Russia. The Healy is the US's most advanced breaker assigned to the Arctic (it is the only US breaker in the Arctic!).
The Healy is usually here every summer, and typically is offshore from Barrow two or three times for short periods. This is probably the first year that they have been able to get "high speed" access to the Internet via shore based radio systems, and that may result in repeated passes close by! (If they are within about 20 miles they can get a connection that is significantly faster than the satellite based system they otherwise use.)
The Canadian boat, which is based in Victoria BC, stops on the way to Canadian waters for crew change, mail, and at least a little bit of resupply, but unlike the Healy they don't generally take leave on shore and I don't know of anyone getting a tour of the boat itself. The Healy pretty much treats Barrow as their home port for the summer.
In related science news that mentiones Barrow too:
Quote:
Graphic images that reveal the devastating impact of global warming in the Arctic have been released by the US military. The photographs, taken by spy satellites over the past decade, confirm that in recent years vast areas in high latitudes have lost their ice cover in summer months.
The pictures, kept secret by Washington during the presidency of George W Bush, were declassified by the White House last week. President Barack Obama is currently trying to galvanise Congress and the American public to take action to halt catastrophic climate change caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
One particularly striking set of images - selected from the 1,000 photographs released - includes views of the Alaskan port of Barrow. One, taken in July 2006, shows sea ice still nestling close to the shore. A second image shows that by the following July the coastal waters were entirely ice-free.
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