PHOTOGRAPHY IN GLACIAL ALASKA 



55 



Alaskan "sour-doughs," old-timers, but 

 include a few new-comers or "checha- 

 kos." The "sour-doughs" are characters 

 ■of the greatest interest, representing as 

 they do the last of the American pioneers 

 to westward. The Scandinavian type 

 predominates — men of splendid build, 

 whose eager, alert attitudes as the boat 

 approaches each Alaskan village afford 

 good subjects for the kodaker. 



The cabin passengers present more 

 diverse types. Mining, railroad, and 

 construction engineers ; successful pros- 

 pectors ; capitalists, judges, and commis- 

 sioners ; scientific men in the fields of 

 geology and forestry ; store-keepers, 

 ■cannery managers, and perhaps a writer 

 or two, make up their number. These 

 are more shy of the camera man, but 

 from their conversation one may acquire 

 an all but complete history of Alaska 

 and the current events of its present-day 

 rapid development. 



In passing through the narrow reaches 

 'of the Inside Passage, such as Grenville 

 Channel, the photographer is offered 

 many opportunities, from the deck of the 

 vessel, for pictures of the steep, glaciated 

 cliffs of these passages among the islands. 

 Waterfalls, sometimes extending all the 

 way from a high mountain summit to 

 the sea, but more often emerging from 

 the lips of hanging valleys high up on 

 the slopes, descend between the shelter- 

 ing green of the luxuriant vegetation 

 which everywhere covers the mountain 

 :sides, the water in each case appearing 

 :as slender threads of foaming, white, 

 ihigh-light. 



The first opportunity, however, for 

 securing a truly imposing picture is 

 afforded by the lofty peaks of the Fair- 

 weather Range, all snow-covered, with 

 valleys buried in glacial ice, and tower- 

 ing from 10,000 to 15,000 feet straight 

 lip from the sea-level. These mountains 

 are to the northward of the Inside 

 Passage, and the ship is from 10 to 15 

 miles out to sea while they are in view. 

 A good picture is, therefore, contingent 

 •on a clear day and a suitable lens ; that 

 is, a lens with sufficient length of focus 

 to enable one to get a large image of the 

 distant peaks on the ground glass. 



For such work a telephoto lens is 

 usually recommended, but I have found 

 these very unsatisfactory, because the 

 very small aperture at which they work 

 makes focusing very difficult. In this 

 case it would render their use impossible, 

 as the motion of the steamer would pre- 

 clude an exposure of the necessary dura- 

 tion. A rapid rectilinear lens, furnished 

 by Bausch and Lomb, of 17^-inch 

 equivalent focus, working at f/i6 and 

 fitted with a shutter having a maximum 

 speed of i/ioo second, was found ad- 

 mirable for all kinds of distance work. 



The other great peak and mountain 

 range visible from the steamer, as one 

 sails to the north and westward, is 

 Mount Saint Elias and its setting, the 

 latter sometimes inaccurately termed the 

 Saint Elias Giant Alps. Although Mount 

 Saint Elias rises directly from the low 

 ice-plateau of the Malaspina glacier, it 

 is so far distant from the sea that im- 

 posing pictures of its pyramidal mass are 

 difficult, if not impossible, to get. One 

 opportunity for a striking snap-shot was 

 missed (because the cameras were stowed 

 away) on the first evening after our 

 landing at Yakutat. That was at the last 

 of June, and the sun set directly behind 

 the peak, outlining it in fire and at the 

 same time casting a triangular shadow 

 of the mountain on the sky, high above 

 the summit. The sky-space between the 

 mountain and its shadow was filled with 

 the varied colors, lights and shadows of 

 the sunset glow, while in the foreground 

 the lower mountain ranges gleamed 

 white in their all-enfolding mantles of 

 snow. 



Such opportunities for photographing 

 the peaks of southeastern Alaska are 

 rare, because of the almost continual 

 presence of clouds, and the steady down- 

 pour of rain for much of the time on 

 the lowlands. Again, it is the rain and 

 the consequent humidity which make 

 photographic processes so difficult. On 

 the other hand, the same humid condi- 

 tions provide the snow-fall on the higher 

 ranges, which, in turn, gives rise to the 

 glaciers, on whose presence is dependent 

 much of the pictorial interest of the 

 region. 



