Juneau, Alaska

Mendenhall Glacier (2015)

Orcas In The Wild (2015)

For this week's post I wanted to share some photos I took when I cruised to Alaska. I took a cruise with Norwegian and man, was it a blast! The cruise began in Seattle and lasted a week with stops in the Alaskan cities Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, as well as Victoria, Canada. Juneau is the capital of Alaska with a population of about 33,300 people and is simply stunning. Surrounded by water, Juneau is the only U.S. capital that is not accessible by car. The only way to get to Juneau is by plane or boat and it is a popular spot for cruise ships. When I visited Juneau, I went and saw Mendenhall Glacier and went on a whale watching tour. During the whale watching tour, I saw orcas. Orcas, also known as killer whales, are endangered and travel to Alaska during the summer. On the boat, my group saw 6 orcas and 1 orca even came within 5 ft of the boat and looked at us. The orcas were so beautiful and it is quite rare to see them on these tours.

Alaskan Forest (2015)

When photographing Juneau, there was so much to look at so I focused on landscapes and some close ups. Some of the landscapes in Juneau I photographed include Alaskan Forests and Juneau Landscape. I also put an emphasis on nature and not so much on the city with people. Alaska is one of these rare places in the world where you can find forests, glaciers, waterfalls, snow year round, frozen deserts and incredible wildlife. I hoped to capture some of this beauty. The actual city of Juneau is quite large and is considered the 2nd largest U.S. city by size. In fact, to get a perspective Juneau is larger than the entire state of Delaware. Downtown Juneau consists mainly of tourist shops and restaurants. Throughout Juneau there are boat docks just about everywhere. During the summer, Juneau has temperatures in 50s to 60s with even colder temperatures near the Glacier.

Juneau (2015)

Close Up Mendenhall (2015)

For Juneau, I tried to capture an overall view of what the town looks like. It was a difficult photo to take as Juneau is so large. I also did not want to lose too much detail of the houses. It was important to find the right distance so that the moutons and the houses could be visible. I really loved the contrast of the houses and the mountain with the theme of man vs. nature. This is a theme I have often done and love to visit. With our everyday activities and lives it is easy to forget that are on this beautiful planet Earth and we are not alone. Nature is extremely important and part of the reason we can live. I photographed this while on the boat tour. I also captured the Orcas In The Wild and Orcas while on the boat tour.  

Boats (2015)

For Mendenhall Glacier, I wanted to capture not just the glacier but also how quickly it is melting. Each year with raising CO2 in the atmosphere, glaciers such as this one is melting away. This leads to  raising water levels and effects wildlife. This also leads to flooding of coastal cities. In the photograph, you can see chunks of ice in the water. These chucks of ice were once apart of the glacier. Along with raising environmental awareness, I wanted to capture the pure beauty of the glacier. The contrast in colors and textures is quite appealing. This lead me to take Close Up Mendenhall and Closer Up Mendenhall.    

Lastly, I wanted to capture some of the human life style of someone in Juneau. Boats and Juneau Homes were two photographs I took with aims of achieving that. I hope you enjoy my post and more from Alaska and the rest of my adventure to come!

Closer Up Mendenhall (2015)

Juneau Landscape (2015)

Orcas (2015)

Juneau Homes (2015)