Alaska Trip Advice Please

I am heading to Alaska in two weeks to visit my sister who just had a baby. She lives about 45min north of Anchorage in Wasilla.

Now this may seem like a crime to some of you, but I will probably only have one full day to devote to photography. So I need some help on the best way to take advantage of the time I have. Where should I go? What should I do?

I love landscape and wildlife photography and would love to focus on that. I probably don't have the gear for wildlife. My longest lens is a 200mm with 1.4 extender on a 1.6 crop camera. And with my limited time, what if I don't see any wildlife? So I'm thinking landscape would be the best way to spend my time. I have a decent wide angle lens and good tripod, and I should be able to find the mountains well enough, but OTOH, if the weather is bad I would be out of luck too.

Denali would be a dream, but its over 200 miles away. Not sure if it would make sense to spend most of my time traveling if I only have one day.

I have never been to Alaska and probably won't be returning for a while (if ever) so I'll take any advice I can get.

Thanks.

If the weather is nice head up the road towards Denali as far as you can. You don't have to be close to photograph the Mt.

Talkeetna is worth a visit also.

What you need is a flight over Mt McKinley, if the weather allows. You can get one from Talkeetna, but that's about 75 miles away. See if you can get a flight from closer to Wasilla. Google is your friend.

Stunning as Denali is (you can probably get an over flight from Wasilla if you want to), you could just head south and up into the Chugach. There are some lakes and old mines and stuff on Hatcher Pass Road (assuming it's open), lots of wildlife, it is a lot closer then Denali and much smaller scale.

Wildlife is easy to find- This moose was walking around in a suburb of Anchorage - the locals didn't even look up.

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Osteo wrote in post #5557302
If the weather is nice head up the road towards Denali as far as you can. You don't have to be close to photograph the Mt.

Talkeetna is worth a visit also.

I read a recommendation to go to the south view point at Talkeetna for the best views of the mountain, but I have no idea if that's the best advice, having not been there myself.

Talkeetna is a best bet for ya if you want Denali pics but don't want to go all the way to the park. In downtown Anchorage, my favorite restaurant called the Snow Goose has an outdoor eating deck and on a VERY clear day, you can see McKinley from there.

The "valley" has a lot of little lakes that make for some great shots. Lake Lucille, Big Lake and Horseshoe Lake are some of my favorites. Check out Thunderbird Falls as well. Its about halfway between Anchorage and Wasilla. Gorgeous trail that ends up at a waterfall.

Actually, I think I posted a thread with some pics from there. Enjoy!

Smaller world, I have a sister who lives in Wasilla also. I plan on someday getting my seaplane rating up there. Take a lot of CF cards and enjoy...

Lynn

I know a lot of people won't agree with this, but since you can always photograph "landscapes", or "wildlife" (maybe not exactly "Alaskan" wildlife) anywhere, or even some "Alaskan" wildlife, i.e. bald eagles, brown/grizzly bears, moose, in quite a few places, my 2 cents is to suggest going for a glacier/iceberg tour.

I'm sure there are small charter boats for rent that go right up close or closer to the big glaciers, (Mendenhall, Hubbard, Sawyer etc) than the big cruise ships can, and also take you up close and "personal" to the smaller, floating icebergs.

Those are the types of beautiful natural subjects that a person can't see anywhere BUT Alaska. (In the North American region, I mean). You may even be able to photograph an ice cave or two, which would be really spectacular.

Again, JMO. Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll get wonderful images, and have a great time.

Canonswhitelensesrule wrote in post #5632013
I know a lot of people won't agree with this, but since you can always photograph "landscapes", or "wildlife" (maybe not exactly "Alaskan" wildlife) anywhere, or even some "Alaskan" wildlife, i.e. bald eagles, brown/grizzly bears, moose, in quite a few places, my 2 cents is to suggest going for a glacier/iceberg tour.

I'm sure there are small charter boats for rent that go right up close or closer to the big glaciers, (Mendenhall, Hubbard, Sawyer etc) than the big cruise ships can, and also take you up close and "personal" to the smaller, floating icebergs.

Those are the types of beautiful natural subjects that a person can't see anywhere BUT Alaska. (In the North American region, I mean). You may even be able to photograph an ice cave or two, which would be really spectacular.

Again, JMO. Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll get wonderful images, and have a great time.

If you wanna go on one of the small cruises, hit up Phillips 26 Glacier Cruises or Kenai Fjords Tours. They operate the tours and are actually pretty impressive.

Wild Country wrote in post #5632332
If you wanna go on one of the small cruises, hit up Phillips 26 Glacier Cruises or Kenai Fjords Tours. They operate the tours and are actually pretty impressive.

I second the Kenai Fjords tours out of Seward. Best thing we did up there.

http://www.kenaifjords​.com …=ppc&utm_campai​gn=general

While in Anchorage, drive down Turnagain Arms and stop off the road to take photos. Whatever you do, don't step on the sand flats along Turnagain Arms. people get stuck in the soft sand, and when the high tide comes...you can guess the rest. The sterling Highway leads to the Kenai Peninsula. Also, a 200mm lens is plenty for taking pictures of moose and such (but don't try bears with it at close range. It's too dangerous). This one was around 100' and moving toward me, so I had to keep on moving away from it to keep it in the frame. I used my wife's XT and EF 200mm lens:

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