Hey Folks,

I know, I know .. I promised yesterday’s post would be the last of this series, but I changed my mind. This is another image of some ice forms on the Kennicott Glacier. I really was hoping to get some nice abstracts of the deep blue glacial ice so common in this kind of landscape, and so totally missing from my files. It took me quite a bit of clambering around (before my injury, of course), and fiddling with my tripod so that I could get this particular composition, but I was glad I did. There was this huge chunk of hanging ice right above me that was a little concerning, and I said my prayers that it wouldn’t fall. I was pretty relieved when I took the shot, grabbed my tripod and camera, and got away before anything untoward happened.

There’s a little dirt and gravel on the side, which I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave there or not. I was tempted to sweep it away before I shot this, but decided not to – mostly because I wanted to get out from under the above-mentioned ice as soon as possible. I could tell from looking at it that the dirt and rock that had fallen had only recently fallen. It would’ve been nice to have a “cleaner” image, but sometimes nature doesn’t hand me a clean glacier, so I made do with what i was given. I’m keen to explore the Kennicott Glacier in a bit more detail and find some more ice like this without the rocks and dirt.

It’s funny how rocks and dirt are intrinsically a part of glaciers, there formation and their processes, yet I’d much rather just photograph the ice and snow without dirt and rocks. We photographers often want to ‘clean up’ a scene, as though that represents the natural world. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not.

I gotta get to the airport and pick a buddy up, or I’m gunna be late.

Cheers

Carl