Ak Summers: How Light Is It...Really? (Kenai, Soldotna: home, work)

[BudinAk]

I've seen many ask: just how light does it get in Alaska, in the summer? The answer is: pretty dog-goned light! Just for grins, I grabbed my camera (a Canon EOS-20D) at 11PM tonight (May 28), went out on the front porch, and shot this picture. No, it's not daylight, but as you can see it's nowhere near dark either. You can plainly see the neighbors yard a block away. Their yard light has come on, but there actually is no need of it...you can see things quite clearly. And....it is still getting lighter day by day...until June 22, the summer solstice. On this day, the sun will rise here at 4:32 AM, and won't set until 11:27PM! As we near within a few weeks of the solstice, it does not get really dark at all here, even at the earliest hours of the morning.
But.....you've all heard the expression: "there's no free lunch...". And that is true here as anywhere. Summer solstice is great...but there is a price to be paid: 6 months later we get the shortest hours of sunlight (about 5.5) and long, long hours of total darkness. Want to drive to work in total darkness? Then drive home later after work, in total darkness? We do.
How light? Light enough to read your newspaper all night long...no problem! Photo has NOT been artificially "lightened" in PhotoShop, or any other software. What you see is pretty much what I saw when I took the photo. All I did to it was to resize it for internet use...somewhere around
100KB is what I usually aim for...

Bud

[Rance]

Hey Bud! I just took this at midnight tonight! Midnight moon over Skilak Lake

[Karla with a K]

Thanks guys , as you know I have been wondering this
Pictures are the best way to understand
Now if that is how light it will be when we come up in Aug I will be a happy happy camper.
karla

[BudinAk]

Originally Posted by Rance

Hey Bud! I just took this at midnight tonight! Midnight moon over Skilak Lake

Nice shot Rance! I was thinking about a midnight pic here too, but fell asleep thinking about it...oh well. How about we save a few summer pics for Karla, just in case it's not this light when she arrives in Aug?

Bud

[AussieMale]

another one of your nice pics Rance

[Rance]

And we were airborn. Even tho it was dark and grey from the overcast...still light enough to see.

Setting up at 6:00 AM


Flying down the Kenai by 6:30 AM...looking northeast over Soldotna


7:00 AM flying up the Kasilof River


And yes...the kings are running


Overlooking the Kasilof River about 8:00 AM, toward Cook Inlet and Redoubt Volcano, which is covered in clouds. But a nice way to start the day!

[mal_flisk]

Right on Rance, great pics, every one of them. Going fishing next week on the Anchor River, gotta get some. Kings, that is.

[Rance]

Rumor has it they are killing the kings down south. And my buddy just caught 2 halibut from the "beach", just below the mouth of the Kasilof River. Now thats gotta be worth trying.

[rotorhead]

Now that would be something, catching halibut with your feet firmly planted on the dirt. Beats the heck out of spooling in 150-250 feet of line with a three-pound sinker every time you feel one of them sneaky critters steal your bait.

BTW, nice aerials there, seen a lot of that particular area myself. Why are you still running skis?

[mal_flisk]

Couple of guys from work went out off of the Anchor this weekend and limited out on halibut every day for 3 days. All chickens but best eats anyway.